Unannounced Games from PlayStation Studios Have Been Cancelled

Cancelling some of those expensive yet worn out sequels would be a good start. I would like to see some new IP.

A 2nd game is okay but a lot of Sony's IP is onto the 3rd+ game now.

obviously London studios game has been cancelled with the closure wonder what the others were

There goes the live service investments. Let’s hope they refocus on the single player titles that made the PS4 such a winner.

Don't worry folks, Until Dawn Remastered is still coming out this year and we have rumours of Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster and Uncharted 1 Remaster.

And who knows, if we're lucky we will get a PS5 Pro enhanced version of TLOU Part 1 Remake of PS4 Remaster of a PS3 game. Fingers crossed!

Such a bad time to be in the game industry. After all the hype and growth it seems to be collapsing abit....

Gutted for the people losing their jobs regardless of if it was live service games or not (no proof either way). Especially trying to find a job in the industry going forwards

AA gaming is the way to go

@Shepherd_Tallon it's too early to know if Helldivers 2 will drive them to do more GAAS but hopefully we don't see many more. I just wish TLOU Factions was given to another studio to finish

@Professor_Niggle without a doubt we will see more from Sony and live service stuff

@TrickyDicky99 I wouldn't say no to remakes of the OG uncharted trilogy 👀

Hopefully no single player games.

Honestly I hope the rumored multiplayer horizon game was cancelled, (not the south korean one)

Known canceled projects over last couple years:
Pixelopus new game
Factions 2
London studio game
Deviation's game.
.
With significant cuts from firesprite maybe either twisted metal or their horror game?

JFC Sony…

This is the last thing we need to hear right now.

Yo.hopefully more smaller video games gets made also.the budget of this games are really high.word up son

Honestly pathetic. Seems like they’ve announced more cancelled games than they’ve actually released the last two years and for good measure let’s add an entire studio closure on top.

@Stickleman The rumour was just the 1st Uncharted

Sony needs to let studios release some indie or smaller AA type games as side projects. Similar to what Xbox studios seem to be doing. They may not light the world on fire, but at least it keeps releases going and brings variety. I haven't been excited for a Sony game, or bought one on release since TLOU2

@Darylb88 I also want this but if anything they probably lean heavier into the known franchises and licensed IP. New IP is risk and everyone is avoiding risk right now.

Sequels, remasters, reboots, and licensed IP is probably everyone's plan for the next few years.

@Stragen8 they're mainly crap though, I'd rather wait 4 + years for a stunning title , rather than 2 years for that game pass fodder

GaaS ones hopefully 🤞

@TrickyDicky99 You said this to poke fun but I could definitely see most of those if not all coming true 😬

I wonder if the canceled projects include some second-party stuff, such as the rumored Sumo Digital or People Can Fly games.

@Darylb88 Those sequels are the big selling games, from a business point of view it wouldn't make much sense to cancel those.

If there live service titles than I’m happy

Is this why PS said that there won’t be any first party game in 2024?

Eye opening statement from hulst
Now I suspect Jim was gently pushed out.

It feels like playstation in last few years geared up to become a big producer of online games at great cost including bunjie purchase.
And now there's been a switch to reduce that massively and return to what they traditionally do .
London studio and their fantasy GaaS game wiped out, last of us online gone hence layoffs at naughty dog also , suspect the gurrelia layoffs are horizon online , fire sprite twisted metal etc etc

Will Jim get the last laugh with Helldivers success and maybe Concorde and marathon?
Or is hoki doki toroki right that companies like bunjie and the live service stuff is an expensive pit

Hoping these are those games as a service titles no one wants. Those will inevitably fail and cause even more layoffs.

@Savage_Joe They meant there won't be any first-party games based on their big IPs this year, not first-party games in general.

I wouldn't be surprised if most of those cancelled games were the live service games. Almost all the ps studios seemed to be working on at least one. If this is the case then I can't help but say good riddance. A ***** situation either way though.

I feel like the "shifts in the market" part refers to service games specifically.
Executives at WB thought Suicide Squad was a good idea when they had it designed and we know how that turned out.
Single player story-driven games don't go out of style and don't compete with each other as much.

Edit: Bloomberg claims a Twisted Metal live service game was cancelled at Firesprite

Of course, the workers pay the price an not the guy that made this decision and went away on a golden parachute. Despicable.

Sorry for all the people whove lost jobs and I hope they land on there feet!Try building a 1st party game for the headset you released.I know its got a lot of games but giving it no 1st party support(except for cotm)is a bit *****....especially at £520.I own a quest 3 as well and you certainly see meta supporting there headset!

So no one is assuming any of the cancelled games are for PS VR2? Those can’t be huge money makers, not a large enough install base.

If Sony does have a PS5 Pro to announce now might be a good time, even if they don’t have any games to play on it, just to change the narrative. I guess FF7R2 releasing in 2 days will help.

Bet it was a remake of the getaway that I have wanted forever. Not liking all the cancelations sony.

@Jswift56

No it was not the get away , it was another online service game. It wasn't a secret what London studio was doing, the art is on the web

A terrible time for those employed in the video games industry right now. My thoughts are with those who have been made redundant and I hope that they are able to quickly find another source of employment.

This is yet another indicator that the video games market is struggling to generate the revenue required to support anything outside of the most successful of titles. Companies are seeking to streamline their development cycles, increase efficiencies with regards to staffing numbers and decrease spending by reevaluating their portfolio of current projects.

It’s also clear that Microsoft’s redundancies earlier in the year were a reflection of the state of the entire industry rather than entirely borne out of the acquisition.

Hopefully the industry can transition through this difficult period and emerge stronger and healthier for those employed within it and the fans who support its existence.

Unannounced games cancelled. Games I didn't know existed won't ever exist. No problem then.

@Americansamurai1 Firesprite had 3 games in development so I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of theirs.

The 3rd one was supposed to be a AAA narrative adventure game.

We have recently learned from Sonys latest financial results that their single player exclusives are not viable and cost too much money, so why does everyone think that they are now going to double down on those games, that we know are too expensive and risky. It makes no sense.

I really hope Sony start releasing some double AA games like Nintendo and Microsoft already do, it seems the most sensible approach from a business perspective

Seems sensible to me.
Sony wants to make something the size of Fortnight - while Helldivers is no doubt impressing the execs with how much it is exceeding expectations, it is not the sort of thing they wanted with their push into live services. If you can tell at an earlier stage that something isn't going to do Fortnight levels of success (and that's what you're chasing) then no sense in sending good money after bad.
We know from the Insomniac hack that Sony was looking to shutter a studio - hopefully London was it and we won't soon be reading about Bend going that way.

Wasn't like they were putting out much in the last few years anyway. Whats another couple of years with only third party timed exclusives, smh. 🙄

@MrMagic looks like it was the twisted metal live service titles. It seems like of the layoffs were live service related. I guess Jim live service plan is the reason he's out.

@Ken_Kaniff
Weird stuff.

Hell divers, FF7r , stellar blade, ronin, death stranding.
That's 5 exclusives just off the top of my head. Probably be more, You gonna buy them and finish them all along with the 3rd party titles?
Is their worth reduced somehow because it's not made by a Sony owned studio ?

I'm perplexed by the state of gaming.
Everyone has reported record breaking heights yet they all prepare for the "Future"?
Whats the future? Is it the establishment of A.I. into the industry so they get rid of what they consider "dead weight" after that very establishment? Very confusing.
2023 was such an amazing year and 2024 is strong in regard to JRPGs. Its all so contraticting to what has been the Last few years. I just dont get it.

This rather feels like the "second shoe" dropping from Toroki's comments at the shareholder meeting & asking the studios to be more efficient.

Whilst it's never easy to be in the hot seat deciding what projects to green light & stick with (or not),when I look at missed opportunities to bring certain ps3 locked (& some ps2 titles that got HD PS3 ports),titles to PS4/5 gens but seen some questionable remasters of ps4 titles it does beg some questions around Mr Hulst's decision making since taking over.🤔

Shawn Layden gave a rather controversial interview post SIE about the costs of development during the ps4 generation. His observations that either sinking more into making 40-50hr open world time games would lead to ways needing to recoup that,or players be happy with 20hr games at the then last gen range pricepoints.
Feels like a bit of that is coming home to roost if several AAA G.A.S.S. titles had been the focus.

Sony really needs to right this ship. All they need to do to right the public image, (although layoffs can not be righted especially to all those people now unemployed and unable to feed their families) is announce a PlayStation showcase, announce any upcoming First party game in the works and announce the PS5 Pro. Just because they wont be releasing anything major this year does not mean they can not announce it and start to build hype. I don't care if it is two years out, at least give people an idea of what to expect.

@Anthony_Daniels Again timed exclusives that I will be able to play anywhere eventually. Where's the PS5s worth?

@Americansamurai1 Yeah I just heard and apparently according to Jason Schrierier, the game hadn't even been greenlit by Sony yet.

It is strange though I would have thought that one had a good chance at being a hit because the show was pretty popular but I guess with it just being in preproduction or something it was probably going to take years to come out.

I would like another Twisted metal game though but it would be better if it wasn't a live service game anyway.

@MrMagic yeah I was shocked to see that it was still in early development and not even greenlit. Feel like we heard about it since 2020. I would hope that they just do a remake of 2 or black.

@Ken_Kaniff Where exactly are you gonna be playing them except maybe a PC to which at this point is a given the PS games are going there.

@Americansamurai1 Yeah a remake of either of those would suit me just fine and I guess Firesprite were busy making the other 2 games so that one never really got off the ground.

Really sad to see all these people lose their jobs along with the projects they put all their time and effort into. But if most of these were live service games as rumored then at least Sony was smart enough to look at the perception and current state of live service and realize they really didn't need that many. Jim Ryan's push for that really screwed alot of their studios.

@pharos_haven An Xbox or Switch 🤷‍♂️

So every live service game

@MrMagic hoping their two games are both single player games.

@Milt define “first party games in general”. I think you’re contradicting yourself or confusing the term with “third party exclusives”.

@Ken_Kaniff

Timed exclusives you'll be able to play elsewhere eventually lol.

Okay let me make this clear for you, you'll likely NEVER see Helldivers, stellar blade, rise of ronin , Concorde or death stranding on Xbox.
These are ALL SONY PUBLISHED and owned.
you may see final fantasy rebirth in a decade since there's not even a hint at remake being on Xbox so good look waiting for that.

Tell you what since you enjoy waiting years because "timed exclusives have no value" I remembered another playstation only game this year, silent hill 2. you may be able to play that next year on Xbox I guess.
Maybe you're still waiting decades later for that metal gear solid 4 timed exclusive to head to Xbox too

@Savage_Joe I meant smaller first-party titles that aren't major in Sony's eyes (like Spider-Man or God of War) and new IPs like Concord.

"Creator led" as long as that creator is in turn led by market and management. So, not really "Creator led" at all.

I like to think that, with what is happening within the gaming industry recently is due to the fact that GTA6 & the Nintendo switch 2 is coming out soon, everyone is going to flock to that game and nothing else, it's really gonna hurt other studios especially if they have a set release date at the same time as GTA6 but that is one of many reasons, I can imagine they have it in mind though and they're getting prepared for the setback.

@Anthony_Daniels Good argument man. I'll give you credit for that response. Atleast there was some thought and knowledge put into it.

In this context I'm amazed that people are still talking about a PS5 Pro or even a PS6. The "future" is probably made of middle-cost AA games that recycled the same assets and technology. Pretty much what From Software is doing with success.

@trev666 A balanced amount of Triple A games with some smaller games is always a good idea.

@Sakai They are viable.

Spend $250M and you only need to sell around 4M copies in its first few months to make a profit. And the game will still sell over the following years

Cancelled projects are always so sad because it usually very likely means they were promising and not too mainstreamy. Hence them being cancelled because no hope of mainstream success.

It's pretty messed up that Jim Ryan paraded around London Studio last week knowing full well that the team and their current project(s) were being scrapped. I cant imagine sitting there and letting these developers congratulate me on retirement while knowing I would be there longer than they will.

Again, sad that people again are losing their jobs because of suits that don't play games cutting development costs by making remasters of games that don't sell. How many of you guys asked for a remaster of until dawn?

Remasters don't sell in huge numbers. Licensed games cost too much, and paying third parties for exclusivity and massive advertising budgets sooner or later will take it's toll. And now it has.
It's more important to engage your customer base and motivate them than shove an advert in their face every time they click on YouTube. I bet Sony could have released 2 or 3 games first party this year from the 3rd party game advertising budgets alone and probably another couple from the paid 3rd party exclusives.

New IPs are considered risky, yet the biggest sellers making waves on the market are new IP's that are fun to play. Palworld had no advertising but word of mouth alone sold 20+ million copies at just under £25. It's time Sony started taking notes, or things will, I dread to say, get worse.

What a load of BS. Keep on "winning" there, Sony. 😒😒 The fanboys are now especially in ZERO positions to bash the competition now for said competitors issues.

Smaller AA games are the better route, as least to me. So much money for the bloated development costs and key staff for those AAA games (how much return is being considered profitable for these games?), buying Bungie, and then the shift to numerous GaaS not working out as planned. If I were Totoki, I wouldn't be too happy either were I told what was being handed off to me.

I feel Sony is going to work more with third party developers to make second party games. Pretty much going back to their roots.

At least we'll still get a steady diet of the same damn thing rather than anything different. Oh, wait, we're not even getting that anytime soon...

Some great games obviously, but this still doesn't really sit well. It basically confirms we will continue to get primarily 3rd person action adventure games with little variety otherwise outside of 2nd party titles they buy the publishing rights for or 3rd party timed exclusives.

It has been pretty clear the studios in the past that made smaller quirky titles are being shutdown.

Japan Studios got restructured, Pixel Opus gone, London Studios now. Even though MM is pretty small, they are not safe either.

Expensive (California) studios got hit too, SM2 being triple the budget and ND literally wasted resources on Factions for 7+ years.

I feel for the people but nothing new, Sony has been always cut throat see Zipper, Evolution and Liverpool last gen.

This industry is broken af. I have no clue what the solution is but it seems the whole industry needs some kind of total reboot on the business end.

"sometimes, great ideas don’t become great games" for sure. It's why I find most old great ideas stay that way, we get formuliac games nowadays or ideas ruined and continued forever. Thanks devs in some genres. Sigh.

That aside it's unfortunate but some probably didn't have the ground to last. Some were still early so not too much lost hopefully. Would have been interesting to hear what they are but gaming industry secrets of course. Besides the London one of course was talked about, Twisted Metal rumour or certain prototyping/concepts sounded cool. Whatever others were or not just logos.

@Martijn87 yeah I can see the PS5 being like the PS2 again. More focus on second party deals.

At least they've got Bungie to show for it

Cool, Sony don't bother making fantasy games and now they've cancelled one 👍 congrats

@TrickyDicky99 not really. With sonys profit margins being less than 6%, and investor would almost be better off putting their money in a bank than investing it with Sonys, less risk and the same reward.

This was all explained in their latest earnings call and Push just did an article about it aswell mate

@Sakai An investor? I'm on about Sony themselves spending the $250M on a game, not an investor

@TrickyDicky99 when they are making very luttle money and have alot of debt as a company? A very difficult sell to shareholders and investors. It's why their share price has dropped because its not a good look for the market.

Shareholders expect a return on investment and less than 6% profit from hundred of billions is very poor and hardly any industries around the world operate under such razor margins, its unsustainable.

@Sakai Playstation is a platform holder, they need to attract people to their platform and 1st party exclusive games are one of the ways to do this. The primary purpose of 1st party games is to get players into the platform, it's not to make as much money as possible from the game, if it was then they would just put the game on all platforms day one.

I would argue 1st party games don't even need to make a profit, they can be loss leaders, like the hardware was, to get people onto the platform.

@TrickyDicky99 well yes but again what's the point to any of it if they are making such little money even after selling all those consoles?

Bank accounts have close to 6% interest these days, exactly the same margin as Sony is operating under. Its unsuastainable. Something has to change and fast, which Sonys CEO acknowledged during their last earnings call.

@Sakai Because Sony makes money, like all platform holders, by selling 3rd party games and their MTX's

Sony makes more money from 3rd party MTX's than all 1st and 3rd party game sales combined.

How do you think Valve makes their money from Steam? They don't sell a console nor make games.

Apple makes more money from gaming than Sony does and again they don't make gaming hardware nor games.

@Sakai Fortnites biggest platform is Playstation, Sony gets a 30% cut

Fifa, COD, GTA, NBA, Genshin etc etc etc and Sony just sits back and gets 30%.

This is how they make money, it's not 1st party games or console sales, or even subscriptions, the biggest share of the pie is 3rd party MTXs and game sales.

MTX's/DLC roughly accounts for 34% of all money Playstation makes. Game sales (1st and 3rd party combined) roughly accounts for 26%.

@TrickyDicky99 yes I know that, but even with all those sales from Fortnite, COD etc they are still making very little money, less than 6%. Hardly any industries around the world operate under those margins.

Sonys market is not increasing in size at all, but their costs have ballooned. This is why they increased the prices of their games and subscription, but it has not helped.

Selling more consoles at a loss due to an increase in manufacturing costs and the heavy emphasis on discounting the console price (which they have had to do the last 12months) means they are struggling.

It's not sustainable, something has to change. The CEO of Sony explained all this at their last earnings call

@Sakai Because they are selling less games and their associated MTX's

When you give people reasons to spend less money in your eco-system then guess what, you'll get less money spent in your eco-system.

@Sakai And FYI, Xbox is in an even worse position, they bet on the subscription model and it's totally failed, hence putting their games on Playstation.

The real winner in all of this is PC.

@TrickyDicky99 people are actually spending more with Sony as a company, not less, that's why they reported record revenue.

That is not the problem. The problem is their business model is unsustainable without changes, as explained by Hiroki Totoki the other week at their earnings call.

@Sakai Sony are generating more revenue because console prices, games prices etc have increased. Naturaly inflation will mean most companies revenue increases

But they are selling less games and their associated MTX's.

All this time and money spent on about 12 MP/GAAS titles, together with a failing Bungie investment. It's PS3 all over again. There are enough MP/GAAS titles made and most of them fail. But making a good Single Player game is an art and PS is very good at it. Keep doing that.