When asked about Sony's foray into games as a service, Totoki says that in this genre «we are still in the learning process,» and adds that when a new intellectual property like Concord goes on sale «it is not «You know the result until you try it.» Consequently, the company's reflection is that during the development of the games they should have «many more doors», that is, more internal tests or evaluations as well as an adjusted schedule to do them at the right time. In the case of Concord, the company believes it should have examined the project «much earlier.»
For his part, vice president Sadahiko Hayakawa has commented that they intend to share the lessons learned, both from successes (Helldivers II) and failures (Concord), with all their studies. Sony's goal is to create a portfolio of titles that combines single-player games, «which are our strong suit» and the projects that the company says are most likely to be successful due to their renowned intellectual properties, with the games as a service, which seek to maintain themselves over time and where there is a predisposition to assume «some risk» after launch.
The learning curve of games as a service is being really complicated for Sony. In 2022, the company acquired Bungie in exchange for $3.6 billion, a move that, among other things, sought to speed up the launch of games as a service. At that time the intention was to put more than 10 games on the market as a service in the next four years, a plan that has come face to face with reality. Layoffs at Bungie, The Last of Us multiplayer canceled and Concord closed two weeks after its launch. For now, the only big success in this field is Helldivers II.
In the portfolio of already announced games as a service we still have Fairgame$ and Marathon. The first is missing in action, while the second Bungie says he is on the right track. Regarding single-player games, the known roadmap goes through Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yotei.