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Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida reveals he would have resisted Sony's controversial push into live-service gaming. Yoshida, who led SIE Worldwide Studios from 2008 to 2019, expressed concerns to Kinda Funny Games about the inherent risks involved in Sony's live-service investments.

This statement comes amidst significant challenges for PlayStation's live-service titles. While Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever, other ventures have faltered. Concord, for example, proved a major setback, shutting down after a short period due to extremely low player numbers. The project, initially budgeted at approximately $200 million according to Kotaku, ultimately failed to recoup its investment and led to the closure of its developer.

Further compounding Sony's struggles, The Last of Us multiplayer project was canceled, and recently, two unannounced live-service games—a God of War title from Bluepoint and another from Bend Studio (Days Gone developers)—were reportedly scrapped.

Yoshida, departing Sony after 31 years, speculated in his interview that he would have opposed the live-service strategy had he been in the current CEO's position. He highlighted the financial implications, suggesting that diverting resources from proven single-player franchises like God of War to live-service games was a risky allocation of funds. He acknowledged that Sony provided additional resources for live-service development but emphasized the inherent risk in a highly competitive market. The unexpected success of Helldivers 2 underscores the unpredictable nature of the industry.

Sony's financial reports reflect this mixed bag. Hiroki Totoki, Sony's president, COO, and CFO, admitted that lessons were learned from both Helldivers 2's success and Concord's failure. He pointed to the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluation, suggesting that Concord's problems should have been identified and addressed much sooner. Totoki also cited Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's unfortunate release window, potentially leading to market cannibalization with the release of Black Myth: Wukong, as contributing factors.

Sadahiko Hayakawa, Sony's senior vice president for finance and IR, further emphasized the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord, highlighting the importance of sharing lessons learned across studios to improve development management and post-launch content strategies. He reiterated Sony's intention to maintain a balanced portfolio, combining its strengths in single-player games with calculated risks in the live-service arena.

Despite these setbacks, several PlayStation live-service games remain in development, including Marathon (Bungie), Horizon Online (Guerrilla), and Fairgame$ (Haven Studio).