But, while that decision makes sense, Sony just revealed that it plans on releasing at least 10 live-service games in the next 4-5 years.
In a recent earnings call, Sony revealed that the 10 live-service games in development will all be released by 2026. Furthermore, Sony has hired third-party studios to work on the said games, which would explain why we haven’t heard much about them. In his statement for PlayStation’s acquisition of Bungie, SIE President & CEO, Jim Ryan, revealed that Destiny 2’s success as a live-service title was a primary factor. Ryan also explained that Sony wants to make more live-service games, which the recent earnings call proved even further. What is interesting here is that Sony’s bread and butter have always been single-player games. Case in point, Naughty Dog, which is Sony’s flagship studio, made a name for itself working on mostly solo games like Uncharted, The Last of Us, Crash Bandicoot, and Jak and Daxter, among others. The same goes for newly acquired studios like Housemarque and Bluepoint Games. Then again, Sony has proven over the past two years that it’s flexible, releasing games like Days Gone and God of War to the PC. It appears that the venture to live-service titles is just Sony’s latest attempt at diversification. If nothing else, Sony does have the manpower to work on a big live-service game. In comparison, Sony’s “offerings” in this department are rather slim compared to its main competition. Case in point, Microsoft has Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, and Halo Infinite. Also, while Epic Games is not a console manufacturer, Fortnite’s success is proof that live-service games work. With Bungie’s expertise with live-service games at their disposal, Sony has a bright future in this extremely profitable corner of the gaming market. In other news, Sony just dropped thirty minutes of Gran Turismo 7 gameplay footage ahead of the game’s March 4 release. Fans are now hoping that Sony will do the same for Sifu and Horizon Forbidden West, both of which are expected to launch on February 8 and February 18, respectively.
