Yoshida on Sony's Live Service Shift

Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida revealed he would have resisted Sony's controversial push into live-service gaming. Yoshida, President of SIE Worldwide Studios from 2008 to 2019, told Kinda Funny Games that Sony acknowledged the inherent risk in this investment.

Yoshida's comments arrive amidst a turbulent period for PlayStation's live-service titles. While Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 achieved phenomenal success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, other ventures faltered. Sony's Concord, for example, stands as a significant setback, lasting mere weeks before being shut down due to extremely low player numbers. The game's closure also resulted in the shuttering of its developer.

Kotaku reported that Concord's initial development cost approximately $200 million—a sum insufficient to fully fund its development, and not including IP rights or the acquisition of Firewalk Studios. This failure follows the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game and, more recently, two unannounced live-service titles—a God of War project from Bluepoint and another from Bend Studio (Days Gone developers).

Yoshida, who recently departed Sony after 31 years, discussed PlayStation's live-service strategy in his interview. He stated that were he in Hermen Hulst's (current Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Business Group CEO) position, he would have pushed back against the initial live-service direction.

“Managing the budget, I was responsible for allocating funds to various game types,” Yoshida explained. “If the company considered that path, diverting resources from another God of War or single-player title to solely focus on live-service games wouldn't have made sense. However, after I left and Hermen took over, the company provided significantly more resources. They didn't stop single-player game development; instead, they provided additional resources for live-service games, acknowledging the risk involved. The chance of success in this competitive genre is slim. Helldivers 2's success was unexpected, highlighting the unpredictable nature of the industry. Personally, I would have resisted that direction. Perhaps that's why I was removed from first-party development!”

In a recent financial call, Sony's Hiroki Totoki (President, COO, and CFO) acknowledged lessons learned from both Helldivers 2's success and Concord's failure. He cited the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations for Concord, suggesting a failure to identify and address issues early in development. He also pointed to Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's release window, potentially leading to market cannibalization (its launch coincided with Black Myth: Wukong).

Sadahiko Hayakawa (Sony senior vice president for finance and IR) further emphasized the lessons learned from both games, highlighting the intention to share these insights across studios to improve development management and post-launch content expansion. He also stressed the importance of a balanced portfolio combining single-player titles (with their higher predictability) and riskier live-service ventures.

Several PlayStation live-service games remain in development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.