Despite Concord’s Failure, PlayStation to Continue Focus on Live Service Titles, Alongside Story-Driven Games

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While Firewalk’s Concord might be one of the biggest gaming busts in history, it seems it’s not enough for Sony to halt development of live service games (Games as a Service or GaaS). On the contrary, the PlayStation division will focus on GaaS games, though this doesn’t mean there’ll be less emphasis on story-driven titles.

In a recent interview with Japanese gaming publication Famitsu, Hermen Hulst, co-CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, was asked about Concord’s failures, and whether there are any changes in the PlayStation division’s strategy for live service games.

Expect More Live Service Games From PlayStation

Hulst replied stating (translation via Google), “The game business is constantly changing due to various factors, including technological advances, new genres and ways of playing. However, one thing that remains constant is people’s desire for great entertainment experiences, and attention to games continues to grow. However, this has also created competition, and like many companies in the industry, we have had to make changes to our business to solidify a more sustainable operating base.”

Adding to that, Hulst mentions how “Going forward, we will continue to focus on developing live service titles along with the story-driven single-player titles that our players want,” and cites Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers 2 as one example of a live service game that has found success.

“We are learning a lot as we establish the ability to develop high-quality live service titles within SIE. Helldivers 2 attracted many players through continuous content provision and achieved results that support the potential of live service titles,” notes Hulst.

Given how much money live service games rake in, it’s not surprising that Sony still wants to push through with more games fitting the mold. Unless we’re mistaken, Bend Studio (Days Gone) is working on a project with a live service element based on job listings, and on what we’ve found about the studio’s in-development project so far.

While live service/GaaS games have a bad rep among gamers, it isn’t a bad model to chase after, as long as it’s done right. Some games that managed to pull it off include Helldivers 2, Apex Legends, and most recently, NetEase’s Marvel Rivals. Who knows? Maybe Bungie’s Marathon will be the big breakout hit Sony has been chasing after regarding live service games, though we expect even if that’s the case, it won’t stop there.

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