Sony’s leadership has revealed through its Q2 2023 investor call that 6 of the 12 upcoming live-service PlayStation games that were supposed to come out before March 2026 have been delayed. This shows that the industry’s push towards games-as-a-service titles is moving forward and has become a pivotal part of every major publisher, whether gamers like it or not.
We are reviewing this… we are trying as much as possible to ensure these games are enjoyed and liked by gamers for a long time. Of the 12 titles, six titles will be released by FY25 – that’s our current plan. As for the remaining six titles, we are still working on that.
That’s the total number of live service and multiplayer titles. Mid-to-long-term we want to push this kind of service, and that’s the unchanged policy of the company. It’s not like we stick to certain titles, but game quality should be the most important thing.
Sony Leadership
It’s good to see that Sony is committed to ensuring quality over meeting deadlines, but the change in focus is nevertheless concerning. Sony has reliably delivered some of the best single-player narrative-focused experiences in the industry. And fans worry that Sony might jeopardize that in this newfound aim to have a live service presence.
You’ve spotted correctly that we have invested in live service games because that’s incredibly exciting for us. We have quite a few now in development or conceptualization, so yes, we are setting up capabilities internally.
Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios at Sony
Sony’s Push Towards Live-Service Games & The Games That Got Delayed
This began with acquiring Bungie for $3.6 billion, which provided Sony with expertise in the area. That is also the reason why Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us spin-off multiplayer game Factions, was likely canceled without even a gameplay reveal. Naughty Dog would probably have returned to the drawing board if it hadn’t been canned.
As for the live-service titles that Sony has decided to delay, since we don’t even know the names of these games, it shouldn’t matter much to gamers. But this trend of live-service games not meeting player expectations and getting delayed as a result is concerning. WB’s Suicide Squad announced its shift to the games-as-a-service model and was met with a lot of friction from fans of Rocksteady’s past works.
Sony also confirmed that total PlayStation 5 sales have reached 46.9 million units, with software sales being led by Spider-Man 2, which sold over 5 million copies before the start of November. And with the release of the new PlayStation 5 model, sales are likely to see a spike over the holidays.
