09 November 2023 , 17:00
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Several publishers continue to chase the live-service game trend, despite titles like Hyenas and XDefiant all facing incredibly troubled starts.
It’s no secret that, for the last few years, PlayStation has been on a mission to build up its live-service game catalogue in a bid to mimic the successes seen with Fortnite, Apex Legends and even Warzone. It’s even had The Last of Us studio, Naughty Dog, working on a multiplayer spin-off pretty much since the sequel launched, and its $3.6 billion purchase of Bungie last year was no doubt a further attempt to claim a slice of the pie. However, it now appears Sony will be easing up on this live-service push going forward.
News of these changed plans comes as a result of an earnings call Sony had with investors, where its president, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki, revealed that the number of live-service titles PlayStation has in active development will be halved. “We are trying as much as possible to ensure [the games] are enjoyed and liked by gamers for a long time,” he said, before revealing that only six of the 12 games will be released in 2025. This casts in doubt that the other six will be out before March 2026, as was the original plan.
Fuelling this decision is no doubt concerns over quality, which Totoki himself cites and has until now been the main issue for PlayStation if rumours and recent reports are to be believed. The Last of Us Part II’s multiplayer is the most well-known case, where faith in the project started to wane after Bungie was brought in to take a look; it’s been indefinitely delayed ever since. Other upcoming PlayStation live-service titles include one based on Horizon: Forbidden West and Helldivers 2.
Doing it live
Funnily enough, just as PlayStation revealed it would be scaling back its live-service game prospects, another major video game publisher announced the complete opposite. Also in a recent earnings call discussing 2023’s third quarter performance, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO explained “Our focus is on transforming our biggest franchises from largely console and PC based with three-four year release schedules to include more always on gameplay through live services.”
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Zaslav went on to say that the explicit goal with future entries into franchises like Mortal Kombat, Batman, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones is for them to “have more players spending more time on more platforms.” This is despite Hogwarts Legacy still being considered one of the best-selling games of the year. Mortal Kombat 1, too, also enjoyed strong sales at launch.
As primarily a single-player gamer myself, I continue to be disheartened by big publishers wanting to chase the live-service game trend. While it’s good to see PlayStation scale back on the push after finding difficulty smoothing out its production pipeline, it’s a shame it had to take this long for it to work out these issues. Issues that I’m sure Warner Bros. Discovery will soon walk into, because it’s hard to imagine the likes of Fortnite and Apex Legends being dropped for something based on a single movie IP.