PlayStation To 'Revitalize The Market' With Live Service Games Despite Concord, Marathon, And Destiny

Despite its rocky relationship with live-service games that was epitomised by the layoffs at Bungie this week, PlayStation has doubled down on its commitment to the genre and has claimed that it wants to 'revitalize the market'.

Typically, PlayStation has bossed the gaming market with resoundingly successful RPGs and single-player action-adventure titles, including the in-house exclusives like The Last of Us and Ghost of Tsushima.

Where it doesn't excel is multiplayer live-service games, which have struggled industry-wide after the social boom of the pandemic has quietened and players have pivoted back to individual escapism habits.

But as the next wave of consoles dawns upon us, Sony clearly thinks that the social-oriented and competitive online games are making a big comeback, and the gaming giant will be putting faith in its own live-service games again.

Sony stands by live-service games as the future, despite ending Destiny 2

In an interview with Famitsu, Sony Interactive Entertainment President Hideaki Nishino revealed that PlayStation is far from done with live-service games and intends to 'revitalize the market' in the near future.

"We believe that live service games are content that attracts users on a global level, so we want to continue to revitalize the market through both first-party and third-party content," Nishino said.

This came just a day after Destiny 2 was sunset, marking the end of one of their better ongoing products.

Currently, Sony's plethora of studios is developing two titles that intend to be live-service products.

Fairgame$, a 'competitive heist experience' serving as an extraction title with a twist, has been in the works at Haven Studios since 2023, with the Canadian team having learned from its time lending a small hand on the massive flop that was Concord.

A multiplayer spin-off of Sony's best franchises is also on the way, as Horizon Hunters Gathering was announced earlier this year, although it will hope to go better than the God of War and The Last of Us' respective scrapped concepts. Initial looks at the game indicate that it could be a resounding success, taking the series in an incredible, quirky new direction.

Fans also have high hopes for Destiny 3, although that project has never felt further away with Bungie's staff cuts.

A very mixed bag of results so far

First-party live-service titles have typically not done too well for PlayStation.

The obvious example of this is Concord, which was delisted just two weeks after it launched and issued full refunds to players as one of the biggest financial flops of all time.

Although it wasn't as bad, Destruction AllStars was a - pardon the pun - a car crash, and was delisted this year too.

Even one of the most recent live-service games published by Sony has run into some heavy hurdles already. Just three months after its release, Marathon has been impacted by the Bungie layoffs, which ceased Destiny 2 production.

Bungie

According to emails obtained by Bloomberg's Jason Schrier, the Bungie cuts have affected senior Marathon developers such as General Manager Scott Taylor and Engineering Directors Brad Fish and Eamon McKenzie.

"We have made the decision to reduce Bungie’s workforce, affecting a significant number of employees, including most of the Destiny team and some Marathon team members,” reads an internal message from Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hermen Hulst.

Marathon is expected to continue its live-service support for months to come, but it faces an uphill battle to get back on track.

There are examples of Sony-published live-service games that have succeeded, though.

Typical of the sports genre, MLB The Show has been a fruitful game with years of support. The same can be said for Gran Turismo 7, which recently achieved its highest peak of all time before the arrival of racing competitor Forza Horizon 6.

Then there's Helldivers 2, which roared to immediate success (more than the small studio could have ever imagined) and continues to be played by an active and devoted fanbase.

All in all, we can expect PlayStation to continue creating live-service games and supporting third-party ones, as it hopes a social boom will reignite with the next wave of console releases.

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