Support NeoGAF

[ArtHands]

Sony confirms it’s delayed half of its 12 planned live service games | VGC

The company wants to “ensure [these games] are enjoyed and liked by gamers for a long time”…

www.videogameschronicle.com

“We are reviewing this… we are trying as much as possible to ensure [these games] are enjoyed and liked by gamers for a long time,” he said. “[Of] the 12 titles, six titles will be released by FY25 – that’s our current plan. [As for] the remaining six titles, we are still working on that.

 

[Spukc]

Here’s a crazy idea..

Fucking cancel all 12 of em

 

[Krappadizzle]

Sony's most recent statement on the matter:

 

[StealthGoblin]

Here’s a crazy idea..

Fucking cancel all 12 of em

And how do you suggest they have the money to continue to provide the games you want?

The answer is not:

Make more single player games
Do day and date on PC

That won't be enough. They need continuous revenue streams as their operating profit is razor thin.

Add in that Microsoft will be aggressively trying to disassociate COD from PlayStation and that income gets less and less too.

 

[Loxus]

You all could best give up on Sony canceling those games.
The President of Sony has spoken.

 

[Iceternal]

And how do you suggest they have the money to continue to provide the games you want?

The answer is not:

Make more single player games
Do day and date on PC

That won't be enough. They need continuous revenue streams as their operating profit is razor thin.

Add in that Microsoft will be aggressively trying to disassociate COD from PlayStation and that income gets less and less too.

Make good games like Spiderman 2 ? It sold a lot and probably made a lot of profit and has no microtransactions.

 

[Ceadeus]

If only they could maintain a live service game for more than couple years. They've been closing so many servers from PS3 generation up to this gen.

 

[Godot25]

I can only imagine how much "doom and gloom" would be here on GAF if Xbox would came with statement "we delayed 6 out of 12 games."

"Incompetence"
"Xbox can't manage their studios"

With Sony it will be "they know it takes time to release great games"

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Their top studios or the majority of them are like a machine so they produce good or better games. I do hope this means a diversify a little bit more as the live service thing doesn't bother me as long as the games are good and they're single. Player stuff is unmatched. I think if they do a little bit more of their PS2 PS3 era stuff, I think they're going to continue to dominate for a long time as it is. They do know how to run a business but they also have shown in the past that they listen to their fans enough to keep what got them to the dance going.

 

[cireza]

Launching 12 service games was smart without a doubt, but launching 24 would have been even smarter.

 

[Schmick]

Really excited to see how Sony will handle GaaS with Bungie in tow but was Sony really thinking of releasing 12 GaaS titles before 2025! Just shows how naive Sony are when it comes to GaaS and perhaps shows that they are desperate to find another revenue stream as soon as possible.

12!! Fucking hell!

 

[shaddam]

I can only imagine how much "doom and gloom" would be here on GAF if Xbox would came with statement "we delayed 6 out of 12 games."

"Incompetence"
"Xbox can't manage their studios"

With Sony it will be "they know it takes time to release great games"

the difference is that nobody cares about gaas shit

 

[VitoNotVito]

As long as they keep the highest quality standards they can do whatever the f*ck they want. They have my money.

 

[StealthGoblin]

Make good games like Spiderman 2 ? It sold a lot and probably made a lot of profit and has no microtransactions.

And is insanely expensive to make, takes 5 years to do etc. It's high risk all the time with the single player games we enjoy.

It insane to solely pursue a high risk-high reward strategy. Having a mixed portfolio where Sony will get those Single player big hitter incomes periodically with some games that will provide continuous revenue is far wiser.

Alongside that they are growing their PC presence and cautiously growing Mobile.

Their games take a long time, cost a lot of money and they are also expected to be GOTY contenders for the most part. Diversification will help them continue to achieve that.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

If this was Jim Ryan's doing, I am glad that POS is gone.

 

[Edmund]

I can only imagine how much "doom and gloom" would be here on GAF if Xbox would came with statement "we delayed 6 out of 12 games."

"Incompetence"
"Xbox can't manage their studios"

With Sony it will be "they know it takes time to release great games"

Tell me who hurt your feelings.

 

[GreatnessRD]

the difference is that nobody cares about gaas shit

It's way too many of these bullshit gaas out here for that to be true, lol.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

I can only imagine how much "doom and gloom" would be here on GAF if Xbox would came with statement "we delayed 6 out of 12 games."

"Incompetence"
"Xbox can't manage their studios"

With Sony it will be "they know it takes time to release great games"

It's amazing how track records can fuel people's perspective on things.

So yes, I would react more negatively to this if it came from Xbox because they deserve it.

Funny how that works.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Really excited to see how Sony will handle GaaS with Bungie in tow but was Sony really thinking of releasing 12 GaaS titles before 2025! Just shows how naive Sony are when it comes to GaaS and perhaps shows that they are desperate to find another revenue stream as soon as possible.

12!! Fucking hell!

One thing that might help them is to put Naughty Dog on a tighter leash. Maybe having Druckmann in charge of the studio may not be such a great idea.

 

[Danjin44]

And is insanely expensive to make, takes 5 years to do etc. It's high risk all the time with the single player games we enjoy.

I want to see Sony make interesting AA games that’s much more experimental like….

 

[StueyDuck]

I mean these games are mostly from the B and C tier studios and ones they've bought recently.

As long as their big guns are still bringing their big guns to the SP games then whatever .

Just don't bring more spiderman 2 writing, they can go join those C tier live service games where people lose their minds cause a character is non binary

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Really excited to see how Sony will handle GaaS with Bungie in tow but was Sony really thinking of releasing 12 GaaS titles before 2025! Just shows how naive Sony are when it comes to GaaS and perhaps shows that they are desperate to find another revenue stream as soon as possible.

12!! Fucking hell!

Launching 12 live-service games before 2025 was just impossible, how could they make enough content for all of them?

I have a feeling those last 6 games will never see the light of day.

 

[nowhat]

Looking forward to insightful commentary by Men_in_Boxes

 

[Godot25]

Tell me who hurt your feelings.

Nobody. I just think that this double standard is pretty hilarious.

It's also funny because you can't even deny that it would not be the case...

 

[StueyDuck]

One thing that might help them is to put Naughty Dog on a tighter leash. Maybe having Druckmann in charge of the studio may not be such a great idea.

Even wells literally only stepped down as company president this year. So if anything the person you are so mad at that made these decisions for ND left this year

Unless you are one of those people that believe that druckmann literally walked into Amy hennigs office and fired her conspiracists

 

[TrebleShot]

Cancelled

 

[Krappadizzle]

And how do you suggest they have the money to continue to provide the games you want?

The answer is not:

Make more single player games
Do day and date on PC

That won't be enough. They need continuous revenue streams as their operating profit is razor thin.

Add in that Microsoft will be aggressively trying to disassociate COD from PlayStation and that income gets less and less too.

You can't say a strategy they aren't using isn't as effective. They've not done it before.

I agree, I don't think it's the only right move for them going forward, but I'd bet the exposure and larger audience of PC gamers that have a passive interest at best in Sony's i.p.(or no interest in a PS5) is a pretty big chunk of people too.

All this GAAS bemoaning is understandable, I certainly don't like it. But it's not gonna go away and to think all this is some kind of sign of doom and gloom for the genre as a whole are massively overlooking the amount of money attached to it. It's a smart move to pull back on too many GAAS at once, make a few great GAAS as opposed to dipping the toe into too many waters and doing it all poorly.

I don't give a shit either way, I don't play any GAAS games. I do think the genre on paper is sound, it's just that it's execution has been horrible simply because humans are greedy ass clowns and can't do anything the way it should be.

 

[VulcanRaven]

Avengers and the reception of Suicide Squad trailers probably scared them.

 

[VitoNotVito]

the difference is that nobody cares about gaas shit

Oh really? How come Fortnite just set a new record with 44 million players in one day? Looks like a plenty of "nobodies".

 

[StealthGoblin]

I want to see Sony make interesting AA games that’s much more experimental like….

Great - but that won't improve operating profit. I liked them too - but they are now having to plan to fight off Microsoft who are taking games away from them and eating into their revenue.

 

[Perrott]

So out of the 12 live-service franchises that they wanted to have operational by March 2026, they're now aiming at having 6 of them out by that date. This is my best guess as to what that calendar looks like now:

• Out Now: MLB The Show
• FY23: Helldivers II
• FY24: Concord, Fairgame$
• FY25: Marathon, Horizon Online

Project Candem (London Studio), Twisted Metal and Insomniac's MP game are likely coming out in FY26; Factions will probably be repurposed into a companion product to The Last Of Us Part III and come bundled with it (similarly to GTA V/GTAO and RDR2/RDO); and Bungie's Matter and Project Gummy Bears are going to come out when they are ready, but after Marathon's launch in FY25.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Even wells literally only stepped down as company president this year. So if anything the person you are so mad at that made these decisions for ND left this year

Unless you are one of those people that believe that druckmann literally walked into Amy hennigs office and fired her conspiracists

What I believe is that Druckmann was given far too much free reign for Last of Us Part 2 and went massively overbudget. Got far too distracted with being a star and movie scripts, etc.

 

[Kupfer]

GaaS was never the salutary future.
There was a gold-rush atmosphere because there were / are some titles that have gone through the roof.
The success of these games could not be predicted in advance and it was "luck", ultimately also because the concepts were new.
After years of being flooded with GaaS by money-hungry publishers, these games are nothing special anymore and people realize that.
Of course, a lot of money is still being made with them and successful GaaS games will continue to be launched, but you can't seriously believe that you can throw 12 (!) games onto the market and the gaming public will be so stupid as to accept them all with a kissing hand and fuel them with money.

 

[VitoNotVito]

Cancelled

Just like ManU?

 

[StealthGoblin]

You can't say a strategy they aren't using isn't as effective. They've not done it before.

I agree, I don't think it's the only right move for them going forward, but I'd bet the exposure and larger audience of PC gamers that have a passive interest at best in Sony's i.p.(or no interest in a PS5) is a pretty big chunk of people too.

All this GAAS bemoaning is understandable, I certainly don't like it. But it's not gonna go away and to think all this is some kind of sign of doom and gloom for the genre as a whole are massively overlooking the amount of money attached to it. It's a smart move to pull back on too many GAAS at once, make a few great GAAS as opposed to dipping the toe into too many waters and doing it all poorly.

I don't give a shit either way, I don't play any GAAS games. I do think the genre on paper is sound, it's just that it's execution has been horrible simply because humans are greedy ass clowns and can't do anything the way it should be.

Even with the best case scenario of those strategies they won't improve operating profit enough, as the day and date is still tied to those single player games which are taking longer and longer to make.

It is the gaps between the big hits of revenue that Sony needs to plug.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Tell me who hurt your feelings.

You can't hurt Xbox feelings post ABK. If Sony is doing good -> Xbox is doing good, if Xbox is doing good -> Xbox is doing good "When Playstation players pay -> we all win".

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Gamers are a bunch of whiny kiddos.

They're talking strictly about their GaaS productions and 6 titles by FY25 is more than enough, especially if the delays for those coming after that mean they are making sure not to rush games out the door.

This is besides anything else that might be coming in regards to singleplayer games.

 

[winjer]

This is a very bleak and dystopian future, where most games are made to be GaaS.

 

[TrebleShot]

Just like ManU?

Surely you dont mean Manchester United Football Club

 

[StueyDuck]

What I believe is that Druckmann was given far too much free reign for Last of Us Part 2 and went massively overbudget. Got far too distracted with being a star and movie scripts, etc.

Either way. None of naughty dogs issues right now come down to a decision Neil Druckmann has made since he'd only just been made president (and co-president after TLOUpt2 launch).

We just don't have anything to go by for what his leadership will end up producing for the company.

So you should be mad at Evan wells for not whipping druckman, or firing him or whatever fantasy you guys have in your head about tloup2

 

[Danjin44]

Great - but that won't improve operating profit.

These type of games will make their selection more interesting and fun……you know Fun…..I hate this corporation mind-set.

If only type of game allowed to exist are the games that makes most “profit“ then that would just suck all the fun out of gaming industry.

Also it won’t take forever with crazy budget to make these fun AA games.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

I can only imagine how much "doom and gloom" would be here on GAF if Xbox would came with statement "we delayed 6 out of 12 games."

"Incompetence"
"Xbox can't manage their studios"

With Sony it will be "they know it takes time to release great games"

This is a bait post that frankly sounds rather bitter, but whatever.... I'll bite.

One of these companies has a track record of releasing great games while the other, not so much. The doom and gloom MS gets, they brought it on themselves.

 

[Nankatsu]

That's a lot of GaaS.

They should bring back Playstation Home.

 

[3liteDragon]

I can only imagine how much "doom and gloom" would be here on GAF if Xbox would came with statement "we delayed 6 out of 12 games."

"Incompetence"
"Xbox can't manage their studios"

With Sony it will be "they know it takes time to release great games"

Uh yea all of this remains true lmao

 

[makaveli60]

As long as these shitty gaas games are used to provide the money for producing the high quality titles we love, I don’t mind them that much. But if these are being made instead of those then fuck ‘em, cancel them to oblivion.

 

[systemr123]

I can only imagine how much "doom and gloom" would be here on GAF if Xbox would came with statement "we delayed 6 out of 12 games."

"Incompetence"
"Xbox can't manage their studios"

With Sony it will be "they know it takes time to release great games"

Yes because Sony actually delivers great games. On the other side. I don’t like the live service games idea, but I hope Sony will prove me wrong. If it’s service games like No man’s sky for example we could be in for a treat. If it’s more like COD clone after COD clone, bleh.

Also, it means that 6 out of the 12 games apparently are not delayed and are on schedule.

 

[VitoNotVito]

Surely you dont mean Manchester United Football Club

Doesn't feel like after last night.
Ratcliffe has proposed the idea to change the name to Banter FC. Plenty of football supporters believe it was genius.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Well that blows, I was looking forward to not playing them.

 

[Punished Miku]

Communicate. This is a start.

They can literally give you bad news and its better than just not knowing at all.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

And how do you suggest they have the money to continue to provide the games you want?

The answer is not:

Make more single player games
Do day and date on PC

That won't be enough. They need continuous revenue streams as their operating profit is razor thin.

Add in that Microsoft will be aggressively trying to disassociate COD from PlayStation and that income gets less and less too.

Here's an idea that we rarely see these days, make games that have both multiplayer and single player modes.

Not every single player mode has to be an open world 20-30 hour experience. They could make a more linear focused experience at 10-15 hours (or even less) and have a decent multiplayer offering that in itself has a live service approach. This has been the Call of Duty method for 20 years and it's worked wonders for them and Activision's revenue.

Sony also have existing IP that would work amazingly in this way. Killzone, SOCOM, TLoU, Uncharted, Warhawk, Twisted Metal, Wipeout, Syphon Filter and there are probably more that I've completely forgotten about. But no, for some reason they just want to shit out third person action adventure games. At some point, that's not going to be enough and now that MS has Activision, Sony are going to need to up their game.

I find it crazy that Call of Duty's model isn't being replicated more by these massive corporations (if we look specifically from a business perspective). If you add in day and date for PC, they also have the additional revenue stream.