Sony confirms delay to half its planned live service games

Sony has halved the number of live service games it plans to release by March 2026 from 12 to six.

Back in February 2022, Sony stated it aimed to launch over 10 new live service games. The news came days after it acquired Destiny developer Bungie

Now, however, it seems plans are being scaled back to ensure each live service game's quality, as Sony president, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki explained on a call discussing the company's latest financial results (thanks VGC).

"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," said Totoki. "[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 multiplayers titles [and] 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]."

One of those 12 games is Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game, which is still in development but needs "more time", according to reports from May. Development had slowed following the Bungie acquisition, with the studio raising concerns about the game.

At the release of Sony's PlayStation Plus subscription service, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan stated his belief live service games were the future.

"That phenomenon of the live service game... that has, in a very large part, fuelled the enormous growth in the gaming industry that we've seen over the last ten years," he said at the time.

"I think that trend towards live services will continue, and if you look for a model in our category of entertainment, which supports sustained engagement over a long period of time, live services games arguably fit that bill better than a subscription service."

Reports from September have since suggested Sony's pivot to live service games "may not pay off the way Jim Ryan had once hoped". Ryan is set to retire from Sony in March.

By contrast, yesterday Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav said during its latest earnings call the company would focus on live service games.

"Our focus is on transforming our biggest franchises from largely console and PC based with three-four year release schedules to include more always on gameplay through live services, multiplatform and free-to-play extensions, with the goal to have more players spending more time on more platforms," he said.