Sony CFO Lin Tao has admitted that the company's live service focus hasn't gone according to plan, but stressed that there's still some good news on the horizon. The infamous failure of Concord has left a stain on the video game giant's live service ambitions that it hasn't been able to shake, especially amid a more recent string of challenges. While Sony has acknowledged these issues, it still seems confident in its vision.
The company has been vocal about its desire to make games-as-a-service a core part of its business model moving forward. Sony Interactive CEO Hermen Hulst announced that PlayStation would continue to build its live service portfolio after the success of Helldivers 2 during an investor presentation earlier this year. Since then, Sony has not had the strongest track record with these titles, but there may be some bright spots amid the negative press, too.
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Sony CFO Doubles Down on Live Service Plans Despite Recent Failures
In a Q&A session following Sony's latest quarterly financial results presentation, Tao admitted that "somewhat negative news has been coming out" about its live service games. More specifically, she referenced the ill-fated Concord and the recent news that Marathon has been delayed indefinitely amid rising tensions at Bungie and poor playtesting results. Despite those setbacks, Tao reaffirmed the company's commitment to live service games, saying that while "it’s not entirely going smoothly" right now, a long-term look at Sony's work in this area paints a more positive picture.
Earlier in the presentation, Sony had revealed that titles like Helldivers 2, Destiny 2, and MLB The Show were responsible for more than 40% of its first-party software revenue this past quarter. Tao also pointed to the fact that live service games were virtually nonexistent for Sony five years ago, but now it's generating considerable profits from them. She went on to say that "we recognize that there are still issues" with its more recent live service attempts, but that it will learn from them to drive future success. That reflects the same sentiment Hulst had in an earlier presentation, where he claimed Sony would not repeat Concord's mistakes after that game failed to take off.
Still, Marathon and Concord are not the only worrying signs for Sony's live service ambitions. The Edge of Fate proved to be Destiny 2's worst-performing expansion in recent memory, emphasizing a larger trend of dwindling player counts for the game. Despite it all, Sony does not appear to be slowing its approach to live service titles anytime soon. How exactly it will respond to these recent hiccups is unclear, but its executives still believe this route is right for the company.
- Date Founded
- May 7, 1946
- Headquarters
- Minato City, Tokyo, Japan
- Subsidiaries
- Sony Pictures, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Imagesoft, Sony Online Entertainment
- Consoles
- PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PSP
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