PlayStation Legend Shuhei Yoshida 'Would've Tried to Resist' Sony's Live Service Push

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 Helldivers 2 achieved phenomenal success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever (12 million copies in 12 weeks), other ventures have faltered. Concord, a major setback, lasted mere weeks before being shut down due to extremely low player counts, resulting in substantial financial losses (approximately $200 million according to Kotaku, a figure that didn't cover full development or IP rights). This followed the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game and, recently, two 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, hypothetically positioned himself as current CEO Hermen Hulst, stating he would have resisted the live-service direction. He highlighted the resource allocation dilemma: diverting funds from established franchises like God of War to potentially less profitable live-service games. While acknowledging Sony provided additional resources after his departure, he maintains the inherent risk in the highly competitive live-service market. Helldivers 2's unexpected success underscores the unpredictability of the industry.

Sony's financial reports reflect this learning curve. President, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki cited both Helldivers 2's triumph and Concord's failure as valuable lessons. He emphasized the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations to identify and address issues before launch. Totoki also pointed to Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's unfortunate release window (close to Black Myth: Wukong), potentially leading to market cannibalization, as contributing factors.

Senior vice president Sadahiko Hayakawa further highlighted the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord, emphasizing the importance of sharing these lessons across studios to improve development management and post-launch content updates. He affirmed Sony's commitment to a balanced portfolio, combining its strength in high-predictability single-player titles with the riskier, yet potentially high-reward, live-service sector.

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