Sony’s president, COO and CFO confirmed during the format holder’s latest earnings call that it has cut the number of planned live service games launching within the next few years by half.
The PlayStation manufacturer previously confirmed that it was planning on releasing 12 live service games by the financial year ending March 2026, spurred on by the acquisition of Bungie, which is a leading developer in live service content with the likes of Destiny.
However, Hiroki Totoki confirmed overnight that Sony has been reviewing its live service output and scaled back its release schedule. There’s now six games launching by FY25, with the others yet to be handed a release window.
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. [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.
That’s the total number of live service and multiplayers titles [and] mid-to-long-term we want to [push] this kind of service and that’s the unchanged policy of the company. It’s not like we stick to certain titles, but game quality should be the most important [thing].
Previous reports suggested that a number of Sony studios were left feeling uncomfortable with the company’s pivot to live service games, which was spearheaded by the now-departing PlayStation boss Jim Ryan. The executive will be leaving his role with Sony in March 2024, which makes you wonder if Sony management are now scaling back in wake of his impending departure.
Sony also announced in its latest financial results that the PS5 has now shipped 46.6 million units worldwide.
[Source – VGC]