Bafta award-winning exec Shuhei Yoshida seems to have broken rank and spoken out against live service games in general.
When it comes to live service games, it feels like the failures far outweigh the successes. While the likes of Fortnite and Apex Legends have remained popular and profitable for years, they’re more the exception than the rule.
Just this year alone, Square Enix called it quits on both Avengers and Babylon’s Fall, Rumbleverse shut down after just six months, and even Apex Legends Mobile met a sudden end despite being fairly popular.
Sony, however, is very enthusiastic about making live services, with plans to launch at least 10 by 2026. Although Sony exec Shuhei Yoshida doesn’t seem as keen as others are.
As a reminder, Yoshida is a veteran of the PlayStation company since its very first console, going on to become president of what is now known as PlayStation Studios.
He eventually stepped down to head Sony’s Independent Developer Initiative, where he assists third party indie studios with launching their games on PlayStation.
He was recently awarded with a prestigious BAFTA Fellowship and, in an interview with The Guardian, talks about how the games industry is defined by talent, not business models.
‘The industry keeps growing and growing, and I hope it keeps supporting and chasing creative ideas and people who try to work on new things. You don’t want to see the Top 10 games every year being almost the same, all games becoming service games … That would be a bit boring, for me,’ he says.
Yoshida will be well aware of Sony’s live service plans and that, according to the company’s stated schedule, that means at least three or four a year. Not only that but Sony spent nearly £3 billion buying Destiny 2 studio Bungie for its experience with live services.
Unsurprisingly, Yoshida gives no indication of whether he’s argued against the plans with fellow execs, but he does talk candidly about how often unannounced games get cancelled; something he takes no pleasure in.
‘PlayStation embraces new ideas, and many of them fail. We do a prototype, we evaluate, we decide whether to spend more time and resources, or we just stop,’ he admits.
‘We cancel so many games. I usually try to convince the developer that I’m trying to save them from getting stuck with this project … We tend to work with people who have very strong ideas, we love these people, so trying to change or stop their project is so hard. It’s all about talent in this industry. I have tried to help them as much as I could.’
With so many live services vying for attention and only a small handful gaining enough of a playerbase to justify their continued existence, it’ll be interesting to see how Sony will try to ensure all its planned titles are succesful.
Ubisoft’s similar plans, to create live service games based on new IP and existing franchises, have so far not been successful, and while there’s probably a fair amount of interest in multiplayer versions of The Last Of Us and Horizon, for now they remain an unproven concept.
Email [email protected], leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.
MORE : PlayStation buys new developer to work on multiplayer PS5 exclusive
MORE : PlayStation buys Canadian studio Haven before it’s even released a game
MORE : Next PS5 showcase is early summer claim multiple sources
Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at [email protected]
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
![GameCentral Newsletter](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/client-mu-plugins/metro-newsletters/signups/images/gamecentral-signup-logo.png)
Sign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they're seen on the site.
Share this with