PlayStation Pushback: Shuhei Yoshida Resisted Live Service Expansion

Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida reveals he would have resisted Sony's controversial push into live-service gaming. Yoshida, head of SIE Worldwide Studios from 2008 to 2019, expressed concerns to Kinda Funny Games about the inherent risks Sony acknowledged in this investment.

This statement comes amidst significant challenges for PlayStation's live-service titles. While Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever, other ventures faced cancellations or disastrous launches. Concord, in particular, stands as a major setback, lasting only weeks due to extremely low player counts, ultimately leading to its cancellation and the closure of its developer. The project's reported $200 million development cost, which Kotaku indicated didn't fully cover development or IP rights, highlights the financial losses. This failure follows the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game and, recently, two unannounced live-service titles—a God of War project from Bluepoint and another from Bend Studio (Days Gone developers).

Yoshida, departing Sony after 31 years, hypothesized that, as CEO Hermen Hulst, he would have opposed this direction. He explained his budgetary responsibilities and the potential conflict between allocating resources to live-service games versus established franchises like God of War. While acknowledging Sony's provision of additional resources for live-service development, he emphasized the inherent risk and low probability of success in a highly competitive market. Helldivers 2's unexpected success underscores the unpredictability of the industry.

Sony's financial call further illuminated the situation. President, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki discussed lessons learned from both Helldivers 2's triumph and Concord's failure. Totoki cited the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations, suggesting that Concord's issues should have been addressed much sooner. He also pointed to Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's release window, potentially leading to market cannibalization due to its proximity to Black Myth: Wukong.

Senior vice president for finance and IR Sadahiko Hayakawa further emphasized the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord, highlighting the valuable lessons learned and the intention to share these across studios, improving development management and post-launch content strategies. The future PlayStation live-service portfolio will balance the proven success of single-player titles with the higher-risk, higher-reward potential of live-service games. Several projects remain underway, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.