'We Won't Make the Same Mistakes Again': Sony Reflects on PS5's Catastrophic Concord 1

Sony’s vowed not to repeat the mistakes it made with the PS5’s ill-fated live service shooter Concord, saying its “reviewed its processes […] to deeply understand how and why the title failed to meet expectations”.

Speaking candidly as part of a choreographed investors roundtable, PS Studios boss Hermen Hulst said he believed “some really good work” went into first-person shooter, which was dramatically removed from sale in under a month.

But he admitted it wasn’t “differentiated [enough] to be able to resonate with players” after entering a “hyper competitive segment of the market”.

Hulst continued: “We’ve introduced much more rigorous processes for validating our creative, commercial, [and] development assumptions. And we now do that on a much more ongoing basis. And that’s the plan that that will ensure that we’re investing in the right opportunities at the right time, all while maintaining much more predictable timelines.”

The ex-Guerrilla Games managing director pointed to Marathon as a title the company is taking extremely seriously, and he noted that the team is currently reviewing the alpha cycle that the release just concluded so it can better “understand how audiences are engaging with it”.

But Hulst insisted that Sony will not shy away from live service, despite the lessons it’s been learning: “It’s a great opportunity for us,” he remarked.

While enthusiasts will be fuming to read some of these quotes, it’s worth remembering that the vast majority of PlayStation’s revenue now comes through microtransactions. And while it’s scraping a lot of that money off the top of multiformat titles like Fortnite and Genshin Impact, it wants its own money spinners where it pockets 100% of the revenue for itself.

[source irwebmeeting.com]