Sony may scale back its live service game development efforts

In recent years, Sony has been ramping up its development of ‘live service' games, in hopes of generating more recurring revenue through multiplayer hits, rather than consistently relying on single-player blockbusters. Sony reportedly has as many as ten live service games in development right now, but sources now claim that Sony is “uncomfortable” with this new direction.

Sony Interactive Entertainment President, Jim Ryan, is leaving the company in early 2024. During his time as head of SIE, Ryan spearheaded the launch of the PS5 console, the first wave of exclusive games and behind the scenes, he also worked on diversifying PlayStation revenue by bringing select games over to PC and by greenlighting the development of numerous live service projects.

According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, people at Sony are “uncomfortable” with the switch to live service game development. The model has proven to have risks in the past and plenty of other major publishers have failed to break into that market.

Sony acquired Bungie to assist in future development of live service games, which has led to delays in projects like The Last of Us Factions.

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KitGuru Says: Ten live service projects is a bit much but I'd like to see Sony try its hand at a few, just as long as it doesn't come at the sacrifice of the single-player games PlayStation fans have come to expect.

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