Following the announcement of PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan‘s departure in 2024, reports have emerged that Sony’s game studios are struggling with the company’s pivot to live service. Sony has maintained that it’ll continue to deliver blockbuster single-player experiences, but Ryan’s tenure saw a massive push into games-as-a-service that insiders say isn’t going as well as the company had hoped.
PlayStation Studios have very little experience with live service games
Insider and journalist Jason Schreier penned a lengthy article on Bloomberg exploring reactions to the news of Ryan’s departure, revealing that amid the success of PS5, PlayStation’s shift towards live service has been “an uncomfortable pivot” for some first-party studios.
According to Schreier, PlayStation Studios have spent nearly a decade building teams with experience in single-player cinematic blockbusters. As a result, pushing live service has produced mixed results. Three major Sony studios — Guerrilla Games, Naughty Dog, and Insomniac Games — are working on live service projects, some of which have reportedly been canceled or overhauled.
Sony made the high-profile acquisition of Bungie and made no secret of its desire to use the studio’s expertise in the live service arena. However, insiders are skeptical of the move and have expressed concerns about the lack of a “coherent vision” within PlayStation, further complicated by what some view as “misplaced bets” on niche products like PSVR and the newly unveiled PlayStation Portal.
