The company isn’t giving up on live service games, even though Sony hasn’t had much luck in that area so far.

During a direct investor interview, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) CEO Hideaki Nishino addressed the company’s future, starting with cloud gaming—which has become increasingly popular in recent years. PlayStation has been working on cloud gaming for 11 years now, with such services a fixture since the PlayStation 3 era. Still, Nishino emphasized that the cloud gaming business model needs to be sustainable for long-term growth, and despite all the tech advances, he believes most players still want the classic, local hardware-based experience—one that isn’t dependent on unpredictable network conditions.

This basically means PlayStation 6 will still run games locally. But Nishino also underlined that Sony is committed to exploring new and more sophisticated ways for gamers to engage with its content and services—a statement that seems to nod at the still-unannounced PlayStation handheld, which has been the subject of plenty of recent rumors.

Hermen Hulst, CEO of Sony Interactive Studio Business Group, detailed Sony’s new approach to content, services, and multiplatform releases. He explained that the company carefully manages how and when its franchises appear outside PlayStation consoles, hoping to reach new audiences—especially with single-player games, which are a defining strength of the platform. These games are showcases for PlayStation hardware, and Sony is always considering how (or if) to bring them elsewhere. So it looks like the current strategy—eventually porting single-player hits to PC—will continue for the foreseeable future. (Astro Bot next?)

Hulst also spoke about Sony’s ongoing commitment to live service titles, learning from both the early wins (like Helldivers 2) and stumbles (like Concord). Regarding Concord, Hulst admitted that although the team put in a lot of work, the game launched into a hyper-competitive market and wasn’t unique enough to stand out. The clear aim is to avoid making the same mistakes with PlayStation’s next big live service bet: the Marathon reboot.

“We remain absolutely committed to building a diverse and flexible live service portfolio. MLB The Show, Destiny 2, and Helldivers 2 are great examples of the kinds of titles we want to make. They’ve already built lasting experiences and strong communities across a wide range of genres. This provides a solid foundation for everything we want to achieve in this area. We’re continuing to invest in new live service projects, and Helldivers 2 perfectly shows what we can accomplish when everything clicks. That game has been a real breakout hit, drawing in and retaining a big community. Its ongoing success is clear in the monetization—microtransactions now account for more than half its total revenue. We’re also excited for the upcoming release of Marathon, expected this fiscal year.”

“Live service is a huge opportunity for us, but it brings some unique challenges. We’ve talked about Helldivers 2’s early success, but with Concord, we faced a number of issues. The team worked hard, but the game ended up in a hyper-competitive segment and just wasn’t differentiated enough for players to care. We’ve reviewed our processes so we don’t repeat those errors. We’ve put in much stricter, ongoing checks for all our creative, commercial, and development decisions.”

“This plan makes sure we’re investing in the right projects at the right times, with more predictable schedules. For Marathon, our goal is to launch a bold, innovative, and truly immersive game. It’s the first new Bungie title in over a decade, so naturally, we’re excited. We’re monitoring the closed alpha the team just finished and learning as we go, using our insights to gauge audience reactions. Some feedback has been mixed, honestly. But that’s helpful—testing is exactly why we do this. When Marathon launches, it’ll have the best shot possible. This cycle of testing, iterating, and retesting is crucial to live service success, both before and after launch,” Hulst said.

Marathon, Bungie’s legendary franchise reboot, is currently set for September 23 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC—unless it gets delayed (something we’ve covered as well).

Source: WCCFTech, WCCFTech, Inwebmeeting, Inwebmeeting