PlayStation Legend Shuhei Yoshida 'Would've Tried to Resist' Sony's Live Service Push

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

This statement comes amidst significant challenges for PlayStation's live-service ventures. While Helldivers 2 achieved phenomenal success, selling 12 million copies in 12 weeks, other titles faced cancellation 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 reported $200 million development cost (Kotaku), which didn't even cover IP rights or studio acquisition, highlights the financial losses. This failure follows the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game and, more recently, two unannounced live-service titles – a God of War project at Bluepoint and another at Bend Studio (Days Gone developers).

Yoshida, departing Sony after 31 years, hypothetically suggested a different approach if he were in Hermen Hulst's (current SIE Studio Business Group CEO) position. He emphasizes the budgetary considerations, arguing against diverting resources from established single-player franchises like God of War to potentially risky live-service projects. While acknowledging Sony's increased investment in live-service games post-his departure, he believes the inherent risk of success in this competitive market was underestimated. He highlights Helldivers 2's unexpected triumph as evidence of the unpredictable nature of the industry.

Sony's financial reports corroborate these concerns. Hiroki Totoki (Sony president, COO, and CFO) admitted lessons learned from both Helldivers 2's success and Concord's failure. He cited the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations, pointing to a “siloed organization” and poor release window timing (concurrent with Black Myth: Wukong) as contributing factors to Concord's downfall. Sadahiko Hayakawa (Sony senior vice president for finance and IR) further emphasized the contrasting outcomes and the importance of sharing lessons learned across studios, aiming for a balanced portfolio of single-player and live-service games.

Despite these setbacks, several PlayStation live-service games are still under development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.