Topher
Gold Member
While Microsoft has struggled to produce first-party hits anywhere close to the scale of PlayStation, Sony itself is no longer satisfied with just selling tens of millions of copies of critically acclaimed games. They want to get into live service, and by “get into live service” I mean spend billions of dollars chasing those ongoing revenue streams.
It was a big driving force behind their purchase of Bungie, steward of one of the most successful live service games around right now, and they’ve just debuted Marathon, a PvP-only live service extraction shooter. Neither are exclusive to PlayStation, but the idea is that Sony will rake in some of that cash on all platforms.
But it’s more than that. Bungie has been tasked with teaching other Sony devs to make their own live service games. All in all, Sony has said they’re working on 12 different live service games, some known, some unknown, and that by FY2025, they will be investing 60% of their budget into live service games. This isn’t necessarily a scaling down of single player games, which will continue to be made and have the same level of cash invested, but a new surge of resources into live service.
To that I say…good luck.
This feels like a dangerous road for Sony. We have seen many large publishers try and fail to move into the live service space. The nature of the genre necessitates and certain level of failure, and a high one at that. There are many, many games that tried to chase Destiny and failed. Tried to chase Fortnite and failed. Tried to chase Overwatch and failed (and Overwatch itself is borderline failing now).
Sony has to understand that its near-perfect batting average with its single-player games is about to tank with a lot of inevitable live-service failures. And before this is even starting it’s…already starting. The Last of Us Factions has been delayed, without even having a release date, after a report that the game was struggling, and many developers were being taken off the project. Supposedly Bungie itself “reviewed” the game and was worried if it would engage players. It certainly seems like it’s on the road to potentially being cancelled.
And that’s Naughty Dog! Not just one of the best single player developers in the industry, but they made some legitimately good multiplayer modes for their games in the past. But a PvP-only, live service battle pass game is far different than putting a multiplayer mode in your game, and this was one of the most high profile live offerings Sony was making. Now, it’s drowning.
The only announced live service game that Sony is making I have any confidence in is Bungie’s own Marathon, partially because of Bungie’s history of great gunplay, partially because there are relatively few AAA competitors in the extraction shooter space.
It feels like Sony’s eyes may end up being bigger than it’s stomach here. Bungie may be able to tell other developers what’s a good or bad live service game, but it’s a rough genre that’s producing a ton of failures. A report out today cited the idea that bosses wanted Arkane to get into the live service game by totally changing their design philosophy for Redfall, meant to be a microtransaction-supported, ongoing live service co-op shooter. Now it debuted to disastrous scores and any future “live” content is in question. Similarly, everyone is looking at Rocksteady with skepticism for the exact same reason, given that they’re going from single player Arkham games to…a live co-op loot shooter with Suicide Squad that everyone looked at sideways when it debuted gameplay footage.
Sony is dominating the console space alongside Nintendo. The PS5 is on track to be one of the best-selling consoles ever. I suppose so long as there is no dramatic shift away from single player games and live service games are added that could be okay. And yet I do wonder what the entire Naughty Dog Factions team might have been able to produce otherwise had they not spent years on an extremely troubled project.
Sure, it’s possible Sony produces some live service hits. Find your own Fortnite and you can print money for a decade. But this is digging for gold in a deep, deep mine, one that may not turn up much of anything at all, and then you’re stuck in a really big hole.
I know it is Paul Tassi, but.....
It was a big driving force behind their purchase of Bungie, steward of one of the most successful live service games around right now, and they’ve just debuted Marathon, a PvP-only live service extraction shooter. Neither are exclusive to PlayStation, but the idea is that Sony will rake in some of that cash on all platforms.
But it’s more than that. Bungie has been tasked with teaching other Sony devs to make their own live service games. All in all, Sony has said they’re working on 12 different live service games, some known, some unknown, and that by FY2025, they will be investing 60% of their budget into live service games. This isn’t necessarily a scaling down of single player games, which will continue to be made and have the same level of cash invested, but a new surge of resources into live service.
To that I say…good luck.
This feels like a dangerous road for Sony. We have seen many large publishers try and fail to move into the live service space. The nature of the genre necessitates and certain level of failure, and a high one at that. There are many, many games that tried to chase Destiny and failed. Tried to chase Fortnite and failed. Tried to chase Overwatch and failed (and Overwatch itself is borderline failing now).
Sony has to understand that its near-perfect batting average with its single-player games is about to tank with a lot of inevitable live-service failures. And before this is even starting it’s…already starting. The Last of Us Factions has been delayed, without even having a release date, after a report that the game was struggling, and many developers were being taken off the project. Supposedly Bungie itself “reviewed” the game and was worried if it would engage players. It certainly seems like it’s on the road to potentially being cancelled.
And that’s Naughty Dog! Not just one of the best single player developers in the industry, but they made some legitimately good multiplayer modes for their games in the past. But a PvP-only, live service battle pass game is far different than putting a multiplayer mode in your game, and this was one of the most high profile live offerings Sony was making. Now, it’s drowning.
The only announced live service game that Sony is making I have any confidence in is Bungie’s own Marathon, partially because of Bungie’s history of great gunplay, partially because there are relatively few AAA competitors in the extraction shooter space.
It feels like Sony’s eyes may end up being bigger than it’s stomach here. Bungie may be able to tell other developers what’s a good or bad live service game, but it’s a rough genre that’s producing a ton of failures. A report out today cited the idea that bosses wanted Arkane to get into the live service game by totally changing their design philosophy for Redfall, meant to be a microtransaction-supported, ongoing live service co-op shooter. Now it debuted to disastrous scores and any future “live” content is in question. Similarly, everyone is looking at Rocksteady with skepticism for the exact same reason, given that they’re going from single player Arkham games to…a live co-op loot shooter with Suicide Squad that everyone looked at sideways when it debuted gameplay footage.
Sony is dominating the console space alongside Nintendo. The PS5 is on track to be one of the best-selling consoles ever. I suppose so long as there is no dramatic shift away from single player games and live service games are added that could be okay. And yet I do wonder what the entire Naughty Dog Factions team might have been able to produce otherwise had they not spent years on an extremely troubled project.
Sure, it’s possible Sony produces some live service hits. Find your own Fortnite and you can print money for a decade. But this is digging for gold in a deep, deep mine, one that may not turn up much of anything at all, and then you’re stuck in a really big hole.
Sony’s Live Service Triple-Down Is A Dangerous Road For PlayStation
While Microsoft has struggled to produce first-party hits anywhere close to the scale of PlayStation, Sony itself is no longer satisfied with just selling tens of millions of copies of critically acclaimed games. They want to get into live service
www.forbes.com
I know it is Paul Tassi, but.....
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