PlayStation boss on Concord, live games: 'We want to fail early, and fail cheaply'

PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst comments on the disaster of Concord and Sony's current plans for more live service games.

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PlayStation makes most of its money from microtransactions--$8.7 billion in FY24--so it's no surprise that Sony chased the money with its games-as-a-service plan. Sony initially wanted to release 12 live games by March 2026 but that plan was significantly cut after Concord's expensive $250 million failure. Now Sony is much more reserved with its PlayStation live game ambitions, relying on existing games like Gran Turismo 7, MLB The Show, Destiny 2, and Helldivers 2 to pull in money while work continues on new titles like Bungie's now-delayed extraction shooter Marathon, as well as Haven Studio's Fairgames.

Now we have new comments from PlayStation boss Hermen Hulst on the topic. In a recent interview with The Financial Times, Hulst says that he'd prefer if Sony's live games didn't leave craterous holes in organizational budgets when they fail: "I don't want teams to always play it safe. But when we do fail, I would like for us to fail early and cheaply."

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Sony management has acknowledged the live games roadmap has "many issues," and internally, PlayStation has initiated "rigorous" testing phases for these games (these had originally been conducted by Bungie, which led to the delay and ultimate cancellation of The Last of Us live game, and potentially even the delay of Bungie's own game Marathon...yet it remains unclear if this testing is still conducted primarily by Bungie).

While Sony once put high importance on populating its live games catalog and releasing a dozen titles onto the market, Hulst now says that the amount of games is no longer of high value.

"The number [of live games] is not so important. What is important to me is having a diverse set of player experiences and a set of communities," he said, likely pointing to Helldivers 2's playerbase, which still remains strong over a year after release.

In regards to Concord's failure, which led to a very costly write-down for Sony, Hulst reiterates that PlayStation has an experienced team of testers who scrutinize every aspect of these new live games. This could add another layer of testing on top of the kind that's already being done for Sony's marquee singleplayer games, such as Insomniac's new Wolverine game.

"We have since put in place much more rigorous and more frequent testing in very many different ways. The advantage of every failure is that people now understand how necessary that [testing] is."

The last bit of info from Hulst is a very interesting quote that delves into the core of Sony's current entertainment-first business strategy. Sony doesn't just want to create IPs for the games market; it wants these new intellectual properties to build a following, turn into a franchise, sell copies, make money via microtransactions, and then after that, hopefully get adapted into a TV show and/or a movie via the company's own internal PlayStation Productions and Sony Pictures divisions.

The goal here is synergy, but that doesn't come easy...or often.

"We take a very intentional approach to IP creation, in understanding how a new concept can turn into an iconic franchise for PlayStation, that can then again become a franchise for people beyond gaming."