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

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

His comments arrive amidst a turbulent period for PlayStation's live-service ventures. 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 titles faced cancellations or disastrous launches.

Concord stands as a significant setback, lasting mere weeks before being shut down due to extremely low player numbers. Sony subsequently cancelled the game and closed its developer. Reportedly costing around $200 million (a figure that, according to Kotaku, didn't cover the full development, IP rights, or acquisition of Firewalk Studios), it represents a substantial financial loss.

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).

In his Kinda Funny Games interview, Yoshida, departing Sony after 31 years, stated that if he were current SIE Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst, he would have pushed back against the live-service strategy's early adoption.

“Managing the budget, I was responsible for allocating funds to different game types,” Yoshida explained. “If the company considered that direction, diverting resources from another God of War or single-player title to live-service games wouldn't have made sense.”

He continued, “However, after I left and Hermen took over, the company provided more resources. They didn't stop single-player development, instead saying, ‘These games are great, keep doing that, and we’ll give you additional resources for live-service games.’ They knew the risk; success in this competitive genre is unlikely. But they provided the resources to try. Helldivers 2’s success was unexpected, highlighting the unpredictable nature of the industry. If I were Hermen, I'd have resisted that direction. Maybe that's why they removed me!”

Sony's president, COO, and CFO, Hiroki Totoki, acknowledged lessons learned from both Helldivers 2 and Concord’s contrasting outcomes during a recent financial call. Regarding Concord, he cited the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations.

Totoki also pointed to Sony's “siloed organization” and Concord’s release window (close to Black Myth: Wukong) as contributing factors. He emphasized the need for improved inter-departmental collaboration and more strategic release window selection to avoid cannibalization.

Sony senior vice president for finance and IR, Sadahiko Hayakawa, further compared the two games, highlighting the shared lessons learned across studios, encompassing development management and post-launch content expansion.

Hayakawa stated their intention to balance single-player titles (with their proven track record) and live-service games, acknowledging the inherent risk in the latter while aiming for a diverse portfolio.

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