Sony still pursuing live-service games despite past setbacks

Sony once planned to launch nearly a dozen live-service titles by March 2026, then cut that target in half. Of the games that shipped, only Helldivers 2 became a clear hit, and the push toward online multiplayer has been a long, messy road marked by ambitious projects that failed to land.

PlayStation’s CEO Hideaki Nishino said live-service games remain central to the company’s strategy. “We believe that live-service games are content that attracts users on a global level, so we want to continue to revitalize the market through both first-party and third-party content,” he said, adding that it’s important to continuously provide new things and keep experimenting.

He pointed to the upcoming Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls as an example of that ongoing effort. Sony’s visible missteps include short-lived releases such as Concord and several cancelled multiplayer projects, including a Last of Us Online spin-off reportedly around 80-percent complete and a God of War multiplayer effort by Bluepoint that was canned before the studio closed.

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