The PlayStation 5 is in a curious position right now, and not exactly in a good way. As noted by VGC via Sony’s most recent financial briefing, the system has sold 65 million units. They pushed out 3.8-ish million units in just the last quarter alone. While that is impressive, it’s also down from the previous quarter’s hardware sales-wise. Then again, on the gaming front, they had a big quarter thanks to some key 3rdparty titles. Even with that, though, there are some concerning elements of what came out of that briefing, including Sony’s viewpoint on what kind of games to make next.
For example, when asked about its recent live-service failures, with one sticking out in particular, one of the Sony execs noted:
“We intend to build on an optimum title portfolio during the current mid-range plan period, that combines single-player games, which are our strength and which have a higher predictability of becoming hits due to our proven IP, with live service games that pursue upside, while taking on a certain amount of risk upon release.”
While that sounds like a “reasonable” answer at first, you have to wonder if it really is. The reason we say that is that live-service games have been killing a lot of people’s profits and expectations recently. We’re not even focusing just on Sony with this one. If you look at what happened with Warner Bros in 2024 across two very different live-service titles, you’ll see what we mean. They lost a combined $300 million in revenue and had to do some tax writedowns to compensate for it!
While Sony is in a better position than Warner Bros. with its games, the failure of Concord and the cancellation of a certain multiplayer game set within a beloved IP that had been in development for years should’ve rung some serious alarm bells for them. That goes double when you see the comments that Sony made about the first game’s failure and how the company “isn’t sure what to expect” with certain live-service games until it tries them.
However, most DO know what will happen with released live-service games. If it’s not the best thing ever, it won’t make the profits that many, MANY companies think it will. You can look across all developers and publishers, and you’ll see that fact play out repeatedly.
Sony should focus on its first-party gaming lineup, as that’s what helped its sales in this past quarter, and it’s what gamers want to play going forward.
