Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida reveals he would have resisted Sony's controversial push into live-service gaming. Yoshida, SIE Worldwide Studios president from 2008-2019, expressed concerns to Kinda Funny Games about the inherent risks Sony acknowledged in this investment.

This statement comes amidst significant challenges for PlayStation's live-service titles. While Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever with 12 million copies sold in 12 weeks, other ventures have faltered.

Sony's Concord, for instance, is considered a major setback, lasting only weeks due to extremely low player counts. The game was subsequently canceled, along with its developer. The project's reported $200 million development cost (Kotaku), which didn't even cover IP rights or studio acquisition, highlights the financial losses. This followed the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game and, recently, two more unannounced live-service titles – a God of War project from Bluepoint and another from Bend Studio (Days Gone developers).

Yoshida, departing Sony after 31 years, stated that if he were in Hermen Hulst's current position (CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Business Group), he would have resisted the live-service push. He explained his budgetary concerns, arguing against diverting resources from established franchises like God of War into the riskier live-service sector. He acknowledged Sony's increased investment in live-service after his departure, emphasizing that the company understood the risks involved but chose to proceed, hoping for successes like Helldivers 2.

Sony's financial reports reflect this learning process. President, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki highlighted lessons learned from both Helldivers 2's success and Concord's failure, emphasizing the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations. Totoki also cited Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's release window (close to Black Myth: Wukong) as contributing factors to the game's poor performance.

Senior vice president Sadahiko Hayakawa further emphasized the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord, noting that lessons learned would be shared across studios to improve development management and post-launch content strategies. The company plans a balanced portfolio, combining its strengths in single-player, high-predictability titles with riskier live-service ventures.

Despite these setbacks, several PlayStation live-service games are still in development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.