Sony announced <a href="https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/01/31/sony-announces-its-acquiring-bungie-for-36-billion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it was acquiring Destiny 2 maker Bungie for $3.6 billion</a> in January of 2022. A week later, in a quarterly financial results briefing, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki revealed that <a href="https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/02/02/playstation-plans-to-launch-10-live-service-games-by-2026-but-dont-expect-single-player" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PlayStation planned to launch more than 10 live service games by March 2026</a>, with Bungie helping the company in the space. In an earnings call held today, Totoki stated that of its 12 live service games, it will only release six by Fiscal Year 2025, which ends March 2026, as reported by <a href="https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sony-confirms-its-delayed-half-of-its-12-planned-live-service-games/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>VideoGamesChronicle</em></a>.
Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Bungie was evaluating some of PlayStation’s in-development offerings, including Naughty Dog’s Last of Us multiplayer project, which is reportedly on ice. It seems that evaluation has led to Sony retooling its approach as the company has delayed at least six live service games.
“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,” Totoki said on the earnings call, according to VGC. “[Of] the 12 titles, six titles will be released by [Fiscal Year 2025]. That’s our current plans. [As for] the remaining six titles, we are still working on that.”
Totoki continues, stating, “That’s the total number of live service and multiplayer 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].”
In terms of PlayStation multiplayer offerings, we know it acquired Firewalk Studios in April to develop a AAA multiplayer game, and we also know the next Last of Us game, assuming it is still released one day, is a multiplayer Factions-like project. Rumors point to Guerrilla Games working on some kind of online multiplayer game set in the world of Horizon, too. Plus, Bungie is working on Marathon, and while it will be released on PlayStation 5, it’s also coming to Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Only time will tell which six live service games PS5 owners will be playing by March 2026, and which ones have been pushed to sometime beyond that.
For more, read about how Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, a single-player-only game, is PlayStation’s fastest-selling first-party game, and then read about how the PS5 has surpassed 46.5 million units sold.
[Source: VideoGamesChronicle]
How do you feel about Sony’s live service direction? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Game Informer
