Last year, Sony announced it has plans to bring a large amount of first-party live service games into the market, expanding outside of its usual single-player adventure repertoire. While this was originally revealed as 10 projects, today in an earnings call, it was revealed that the live service games in development have increased to 12.
While the number has increased, half of them have been hit with delays internally. Instead of releasing the entire lot by March, 2026, as originally announced, six have been pushed back indefinitely.
"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," says Sony president, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki. "[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 multiplayer 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].”
Sony acquired the Destiny studio Bungie in 2022 for 3.6 billion as part of its heavy pivot into developing live service titles. The studio was said to be lending their expertise to other Sony studios for their own debut live-service games. Bungie’s Marathon and Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us multiplayer portion should be a part of this 12-games lineup.
Recently, a report stated that Bungie's revenue from Destiny 2 has dropped sharply, with layoffs and project delays (including for Marathon) also happening. With Sony PlayStation head Jim Ryan retiring in 2024, it's unclear what direction the company will take going forward for its first-party studios.
Via VGC
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