Shuhei Yoshida, a former PlayStation executive who served as President of SIE Worldwide Studios from 2008 to 2019, recently expressed reservations about Sony's push into live service video games. In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Yoshida acknowledged the inherent risks Sony knew it was taking by investing in this genre.

The PlayStation live service landscape has been turbulent lately. While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 achieved unprecedented success, selling 12 million copies in just 12 weeks and becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever, other Sony live service titles have not fared as well. Notably, Sony's Concord turned into a major disappointment, surviving only a few weeks due to extremely low player engagement before being discontinued entirely, along with its developer.

The financial impact of Concord's failure was significant, with initial development costs reported at around $200 million by Kotaku. This figure did not cover the full development expenses, nor the acquisition of the Concord IP rights or Firewalk Studios itself.

Sony's troubles with live service games didn't stop there. Following the Concord debacle, the company canceled Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer project and, most recently, two unannounced live service games—one from Bluepoint, working on a God of War title, and another from Days Gone developer Bend.

Yoshida, who recently concluded a 31-year tenure at Sony, reflected on the company's strategic direction. He indicated that, had he been in the position of current Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst, he might have resisted the shift toward live service games. Yoshida emphasized the importance of not diverting resources from successful single-player titles to fund these riskier ventures.

Despite the challenges, Yoshida noted that Sony did not abandon single-player games entirely, instead providing additional resources to explore live service opportunities. He highlighted the unexpected success of Helldivers 2 as a testament to the unpredictability and excitement of the gaming industry.

In a recent financial call, Sony president, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki discussed the lessons learned from both Helldivers 2 and Concord. He admitted that Sony should have implemented earlier development checkpoints, such as user testing and internal evaluations, to identify and address Concord's issues before its launch.

Totoki also pointed to Sony's "siloed organization" and the timing of Concord's release as factors that might have contributed to its poor performance. He suggested that better coordination across Sony's internal teams and more strategic release timing could help avoid future failures.

Sony senior vice president for finance and IR Sadahiko Hayakawa further elaborated on the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord, emphasizing the company's commitment to sharing these lessons across its studios. He outlined plans to strengthen Sony's development management system and to create an optimal title portfolio that balances the company's strengths in single-player games with the potential of live service titles.

Looking ahead, Sony continues to develop several live service games, including Bungie’s Marathon, Guerrilla’s Horizon Online, and Haven Studio’s Fairgame$.