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Sony has built the PlayStation brand over the years mainly around strong single-player games and AAA film productions. A few years ago, however, the company decided to make a significant push into the live-service segment and started investing huge amounts of money in games-as-services. Former PlayStation head Jim Ryan openly spoke about the plan to create as many as 12 such projects by 2026. Today, it is already clear that the strategy did not yield the expected results. Many games were cancelled before their release, some projects turned out to be financial disasters, and several studios were simply closed down. For many PlayStation fans, this is one of the most controversial decisions by Sony in recent years.
Sony has cancelled a number of games-as-a-service and closed more studios
One of the biggest symbols of the problems became Concord, which ceased operations just moments after its launch. Soon after, the Firewalk studio responsible for the project was also closed. However, this is just the beginning of the list of issues. Sony has cancelled, among others, the live-service versions of God of War, The Last of Us, Twisted Metal, and the Spider-Man project from Insomniac. In recent years, the London Studio, Neon Koi, and Bluepoint Games have also ceased operations. Particularly the closure of Bluepoint caused great surprise, as the studio was responsible for highly regarded remakes such as Demon's Souls and Shadow of the Colossus.
PlayStation returns to single players after an expensive lesson
More and more evidence suggests that Sony is beginning to withdraw from its aggressive live-service strategy. The company has clearly reduced the number of developing projects and is refocusing on the classic single-player games that PlayStation has been known for over the years. The problem, however, is that many studios and projects have already been sacrificed during this strategy. Some gamers believe that the chase for the trend of service games has cost Sony a huge amount of money and led to the wastage of the potential of talented teams. The industry is also increasingly talking about how the live-service market is becoming increasingly difficult even for the largest gaming companies.
Sony tried hard to enter the world of gaming services, but many projects ended in cancellation or studio closures. PlayStation is likely returning today to a safer model based on large single-player games, but the cost of this strategy has proven to be exceptionally high.
source: gamerant
