He also revealed that Sony will continue to develop live service games, despite the fact that people have limited time and money.
Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE) software lineup hasn’t been as impressive in the current console generation as it was in the previous one. Due to its aggressive live-service strategy, SIE has released several games, such as Firewalk Studios’ ill-fated Concord and Bungie’s Marathon reboot, that failed to meet players’ expectations. Nevertheless, President Hideaki Nishino confirmed that they will continue to focus on live-service games while hinting at a PlayStation 6 designed to meet evolving global gaming needs.
When asked whether PlayStation would continue to focus on live-service games, Nishino left no room for doubt. Since the success of live-service games requires as many players as possible, PlayStation will continue to consider multiplatform releases on the PlayStation 5 and PC. Meanwhile, single-player, story-driven games will remain console exclusives, although PC ports would not hurt desktop consoles. This is the first time a PlayStation executive has explicitly addressed this issue. As for the future of PlayStation, Nishino didn’t reveal much, but he did acknowledge that things are changing.
“We believe live service games attract users globally, so we aim to revitalize the market with first- and third-party content. Our focus is not only on promoting new releases but also on what we can do with older titles in the medium to long term. This year, we are planning to release our own live service title: Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and we hope everyone enjoys it. With live service games, it’s important to continuously provide new content. The genre itself is relatively new, and I think many people are experimenting with different approaches, so we also want to continue taking on challenges in that context.
Platform selection is originally determined based on the characteristics of each title. If releasing on PC maximizes a title’s gaming experience, we will consider it. Currently, our main policy is that for single-player games developed in-house, we will refine the gaming experience on PlayStation. For live service games, we believe it is important to have more people play online, so we are considering the PlayStation 5 and PC as the primary release platforms.
People’s lifestyles naturally change over time. In this context, I think the meaning of games as a form of entertainment and how much time people spend playing them will also change. The important thing is how we respond to these emerging needs. In the future, I believe we can develop interesting new game console experiences by utilizing technologies that can be used in various forms and locations. Although PlayStation is strongly associated with playing on a living room TV, we plan to release monitors and speakers so that it can also be played comfortably in other locations. The PlayStation Portal was developed as part of this effort. “We want to continue challenging ourselves to provide gaming experiences that suit increasingly diverse lifestyles,” said Hideaki Nishino in a new interview with Famitsu celebrating the magazine’s 40th anniversary.
Although they haven’t said so outright, the mere mention of the surprisingly successful PlayStation Portal strongly suggests that the company is working on other handheld concepts, such as the rumored PlayStation 6 handheld. With the massive increase in component prices driving up costs for consumer products, it will be interesting to see how PlayStation handles the challenges that next-gen platforms will face.
