Sony has revealed that they are looking to hire more people for one of their live service games.
As reported by Insider Gaming, PlayStation has put up a new job listing for a UX/UI Design Lead. The job listing says that the applicant:
“will drive the UX of an Unannounced Project from prototype to production, from early technical planning and user flows, playtesting and tweaking the UI of the shipping game. Most importantly, you will work with a fun, dedicated, and passionate cross-discipline team devoted to turning a creative dream into a new franchise at PlayStation.”
The applicant is required to have “experience leading or directly supporting leadership in an ongoing live service game”. The listing says it would be ‘nice-to-have’ if the applicant also has “experience with building across a variety of platforms (PC, Console, Mobile) “ and “familiarity with development using Unreal Engine.”
Most interestingly the job is remote, though the applicant has to be in the United States. This listing is laid out in such a way that it does not share any hints on what this game could be, and for that matter, what studio is involved. As we know, Sony has been cancelling their live service games after the failure of Concord. We reported on Jeff Grubb’s claim that Concord was the actual reason for those cancellations.
But we know that Sony is still committed to making live service games, and may be making more. Of course, Fairgame$ and Marathon are still going concerns, and Guerrilla’s Horizon live service title may be announced and released this year as well.
Subsequently, we recently reported on rumors that Sony built a new studio in LA headed by Jason Blundell. That studio seems to have been built to replace Deviation Games, which was also making an online multiplayer title. Sony invested in the title, but later pulled their support as various staff left, including Blundell. Deviation Games has since closed.
While we know that Blundell is making a game for Sony, and Guerrilla is making a live service Horizon game, neither project has been announced. So this UI/UX Director could be working for either project, or both of them.
Unfortunately, fans who want Sony to give up on live service games are just not going to get their way. They may say one thing, but what Sony sees is there were not enough units sold of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to avoid layoffs at its studio, Insomniac Games. Subsequently, Square Enix ended their relationship with exclusive titles as they also found that PlayStation gamers alone aren’t enough to make their big budget games like Final Fantasy XVI profitable.
If anything, Sony will want to make a live service title that makes players happy enough that they will adopt it and build a fanbase. For all their faults, this is what happened to Fortnite, Overwatch 2, Helldivers 2, and recently, Marvel Rivals. Will this unannounced game find that secret formula to success? We may not even find out what this game is for a few years.
