Sony has admitted its live service strategy hasn’t gone ‘smoothly’ to date, with games like Concord and Marathon teaching important lessons for the future. In a recent investor Q&A related to the company’s Q1 2025 earnings (first reported by Edmond Tran of This Week In Videogames), Sony CFO Lin Tao was surprisingly candid about recent missteps.
In this meeting, shareholders asked direct questions about the impact of Marathon‘s recent delay, and the nature of Bungie as a studio, which opened the floodgates into a discussion of live service games, and Sony’s future outlook.
Per Tao, while Sony has faith in Marathon and doesn’t expect the game to be cancelled, the game, and its delay, has seemingly inspired changes at Bungie.
Sony on changes to Bungie and Marathon
‘At the time of acquisition, we were offering a very independent environment,’ Tao said. ‘However, thereafter, we have gone through structural reform, as we announced last year. So this type of independence is getting lighter.’
‘So Bungie is shifting into a role which is becoming more part of PlayStation Studios. In the long term, you can see this as an ongoing process, so the direction is to become part of PlayStation Studios.’
Tao’s comments imply a shift towards greater control of Bungie, perhaps inspired by Marathon‘s long development cycle. Rather than having studios operating independently, with this possibly leading games down the ‘wrong’ path, there will now be an attempt to have PlayStation Studios as a more cohesive unit, with Sony oversight of all owned studios.
Sony’s future live service ambitions
As further reported by This Week in Videogames, the release of Concord has also shaped Sony’s approach to live service content, as well as studio oversight. This game was infamously shut down just two weeks after launch, due to low sales and player engagement. Developer Firewalk Studios was also closed, as part of this decision.
‘Last year, Concord, and this year, Marathon was postponed. Somewhat negative news has been coming out,’ Tao said of Sony’s recent live service pushes. ‘But if you look five years ago, live-service games were almost non-existent for PlayStation Studios.’
As noted by Tao, live service content remains relatively new for Sony, but there have been some notable successes, which are motivating the company to continue experimenting.
‘We have Helldivers 2, MLB, [Gran Turismo 7] and Bungie’s Destiny 2. So we have these four live services contributing to sales and profit in a stable manner,’ Tao noted. ‘In terms of the transformation, it’s not entirely going smoothly, but from a longer-term perspective, if you look at the changes over five years, you see that there has definitely been change.’
‘Of course, we recognise that there are still issues – many issues – so we should learn lessons from mistakes and make sure that we introduce live service content, where there’s less waste and it’s more smooth.’
Going forward, it appears Sony maintains confidence in its live service ambitions, although it has acknowledged that many mistakes have been made in the journey to achieving stable, profitable releases. With the company’s plans remaining in flux, and Marathon‘s status still in the air, we’re likely to see many more changes to Sony’s strategy in the months and years ahead.
Also on ScreenHub: Games Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP) 2025 schedule announced
IGEA has officially announced the Games Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP) 2025 schedule, confirming a range of speakers set to deliver in-depth talks, covering various aspects of game development, and the wider games industry.
One of the headline keynote speakers for GCAP 2025 is Jordan Mochi, solo developer of the AGDA award-winning Conscript. Mochi will deliver a candid talk providing ‘a grounded and personal look into the multi-year journey behind Conscript‘ focussed on adaptation and learning. Notably, Mochi developed the game with no prior background in game development, instead self-teaching himself every aspect of game creation.
