Despite Concord’s Massive Failure and Ceasing Content Support for Destiny 2, Sony Says They Will Continue to Pursue Live Service Games
Even if Concord was a major bust for Sony’s PlayStation division, and first-party studio Bungie has winded down content support for Destiny 2, expect more live service games from the company.
This was something Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE) big cheese recently confirmed, and even touched on one of the company’s upcoming live service offerings.
Speaking to Japanese gaming publication Famitsu as part of their 40th anniversary, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino talked about the PlayStation business.
Expect More PlayStation-Published Live Service Games in the Future
One of the questions asked of the CEO was to share his future outlook on live service games, and how to summarize PlayStation’s efforts for it.
Nishino answered, “We believe that live service games are content that attracts users on a global scale, so we want to continue revitalizing the market through both first-party and third-party content. Not only does it appeal to new titles, but we are also considering mid- to long-term possibilities that can be done with older titles, for example, Genshin Impact. We also ran campaigns for new PS5 purchasers, offering 10% off in-game currency.”
“Also, this year, as part of their own live service title, ‘, we plan to release ” We also plan to release ‘MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls’ as our live service title,’ so we hope everyone enjoys it. I’d be happy if it becomes popular,” he added.
Just to leave any doubt off the table, the SIE boss was asked whether this meant that live service games will continue to be made.
Nishino mentioned, “That’s right. For live service games, it’s important to consistently provide something. The genre itself is relatively new, and I think many people are trying various things, so we want to keep challenging ourselves within that framework.”
While Concord, Destiny 2 and even Marathon might be used by critics to argue that Sony is going down the wrong path, there are also successful titles such as Helldivers 2 that prove there are gamers who will embrace the formula.
Unfortunately, live service success has been hard to achieve for Sony, as for every game like Helldivers 2, there are also casualties like Concord, and even titles that never see the light of day and instead just get cancelled.
The latest news regarding live service games from Sony is the significant number of layoffs at Bungie, which have affected “most” of the Destiny development team and even some Marathon staff members.
Nishino’s admission of pursuing live service games shouldn’t come as a surprise, either, as the CEO has previously mentioned that while single-player games will be exclusive to PlayStation platforms moving forward, live service games will continue to be released on PC.
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