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- PlayStation’s live-service push has been far from smooth so far.
- Games like Concord have failed, while The Last of Us Multiplayer, Twisted Metal, and more have been canceled.
- Out of the nearly 15 major projects, over half can be considered failures.
PlayStation’s live-service plans kicked off a few years ago, resulting in major releases like Helldivers 2 earlier this year. However, it would not be wrong to say that the gaming giant’s ambitions have been far from successful.
Looking at the list of games released and announced by PlayStation, it’s clear that Helldivers 2 is the exception rather than the norm. In fact, more than 50% of the live-service projects have either failed or been canceled altogether.
Why it matters: PlayStation likely spent millions of dollars on each of these projects. Concord alone had a budget of over $100 million, so these failures could prove to be huge setbacks for the business in the long run.
The following list shows PlayStation’s biggest live service projects over the last few years.
- MLB The Show – Succeeded
- Helldivers 2 – Succeeded
- Foamstars – Failed
- Destruction All-Stars – Failed
- Concord – Failed
- Last of Us 2 Multiplayer – Canceled
- Payback From Bungie – Canceled
- Twisted Metal – Canceled
- New IP From Deviation Games – Canceled
- New IP From London Studio – Canceled
- Spider-Man: The Great Web – Canceled
- Marathon
- Fairgame$
- New IP From Bend Studio
- Horizon multiplayer
- Horizon MMO
Most of these projects are still in development or have been canceled. Looking at the list, six major games have been canceled so far. Among these, Spider-Man: The Great Web made the most sense since it was canceled very early on.
Naughty Dog’s live-service ambitions were thwarted quite late into development, while the entirety of London Studio went down recently. Another team impacted by layoffs was Deviation Games, leading to yet another canceled project.
Leaks also suggest that Twisted Metal is no longer in the works. Similarly, Bungie’s Destiny spin-off Payback seems to have been canceled early in development. In terms of the launched games, both Concord and Destruction All-Stars have failed after release.
Foamstars, while technically not a PlayStation first-party release, was marketed and released as a console PlayStation exclusive. Following a lukewarm reception, Square Enix has gone free-to-play with this title.
This means that 9 of the 16 games have been failures.
Looking at the next projects, Bungie’s Marathon is reportedly in trouble. Fairgame$ also looks like it could follow in Concord’s footsteps, but PlayStation still has time to make changes after facing challenges navigating the live-service landscape.
The titles from Guerrilla Games and Bend Studio are more or less a mystery for the time being.
Anyhow, it’s clear that PlayStation’s live-service plans have not worked out too well. Perhaps it was for the best that the gaming giant recently decided to scale back its ambitions. It now plans to launch six major titles by 2026.
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[News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than three years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
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