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PS5 Exec Doesn't Want To See Gaming's Future Dominated By Live-Service Games: "Boring"

Topher

Topher

Gold Member
PlayStation boss Shuehei Yoshida wants the gaming industry to continue to chase its creative dreams.

Although PlayStation is in the midst of a big push into live-service games, one executive with the company doesn't want to see the games industry become too homogenous. Speaking to The Guardian, PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida explained that the talent of game developers is what drives the industry forward, but he did admit that seeing the best-selling games list dominated by live-service titles would be "boring" for him.

"The games industry will never cease to be a fun place. The industry keeps growing and growing, and I hope it keeps supporting and chasing creative ideas and people who try to work on new things. You don’t want to see the Top 10 games every year being almost the same, all games becoming service games," Yoshida said. "That would be a bit boring, for me."

Sony has an ambitious goal to launch 12 live-service games by 2025, and it recently acquired developer Firewalk Studios from its previous parent company, ProbablyMonsters Inc. Firewalk has worked on Call of Duty, Destiny, Apex Legends, Halo, and other titles since it was formed in 2018. Sony says that Firewalk will help it realize its live-service goals alongside other studios working on these projects, including Bungie and Haven Interactive Studios.

At the same time, Sony is still working on the prestige single-player games that helped define the PlayStation brand during the 2010s, essentially giving fans of PlayStation the option to have their cake and eat it as they're given more choices. Sony always has several projects in development, and as Yoshida explained in the interview, the company cancels "so many games," as it experiments with and then evaluates different concepts.

For the rest of 2023, PS5 has a big year ahead of it. Horizon Forbidden West's massive Burning Shores expansion is now available, Final Fantasy XVI launches for PS5 on June 22, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is rumored to release in September.
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www.gamespot.com

PS5 Exec Doesn't Want To See Gaming's Future Dominated By Live-Service Games: "Boring"

PlayStation boss Shuehei Yoshida wants the gaming industry to continue to chase its creative dreams.
www.gamespot.com www.gamespot.com


This is a few days old, but I haven't seen it posted yet.
 
diffusionx

diffusionx

Gold Member
There's a limit to how many live service games can be successful, because most gamers can only play one. Two if they are a maniac. And now we see that publishers are willing to drop games if they aren't Destiny (does anyone really think MultiVersus will come back?). Realistically if Sony can find success with 2 out of those 12 it will be a massive victory. That's how crazy this GAAS market is.

Fake said:
Yoshida should be the new ceo. Love this guy.
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Never gonna happen, he got demoted/Gunpei'd.
 
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Skifi28

Skifi28

Member
Does his opinion carry any weight within the company after he stepped down or is he just a popular figurehead these days?
 
vivftp

vivftp

Member
I'm sure no one will take his quote out of context so as to push whatever agenda they may be championing, right? I know it's hard with the headline that's trying to do that, but I'm sure folks will take the time to read the article and full quote before posting and not just react to that headline. Right?

... Right?
 
Crayon

Crayon

Member
Most overacting to the words live service. It's more or less synonymous with multiplayer for like ten years now.
Gass extends into single player games a bit too, but people acting like they are releasing 6 hero shooters and a half dozen Farmvilles.

I play a few live service games. Gt7, and multiple fighting games. Gt7 is always online, somewhat intrusive (classy and minimal by those standards though) and it's awesome. There are benefits of changing to that format. Fighting games benefit greatly.

Firewall ultra, factions and apparently twisted metal are coming and who would honestly have a problem with those. Maybe I scrolled past someone using their words and elaborating on the recoiling reaction.
 
TexMex

TexMex

Member
Is there anyone in the industry more universally loved. Never heard a bad word about him. Love him on twitter too.
 
Topher

Topher

Gold Member
vivftp said:
I'm sure no one will take his quote out of context so as to push whatever agenda they may be championing, right? I know it's hard with the headline that's trying to do that, but I'm sure folks will take the time to read the article and full quote before posting and not just react to that headline. Right?

... Right?
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Jimmy Fallon Reaction GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
 
sono

sono

Gold Member
If you imagined for a minute I didn’t know what a live service game is how would you explain it
 
March Climber

March Climber

Member
My biggest issue with live service games is that when it comes to PvE games, you end up with a bunch of titles with unfinished narratives, because they had a specific roadmap planned out but the audience left before it was done. With MMOs I've come to terms with this, but I don't want this to spread to other single player or co-op titles that should have fully written stories.
 
vivftp

vivftp

Member
March Climber said:
My biggest issue with live service games is that when it comes to PvE games, you end up with a bunch of titles with unfinished narratives, because they had a specific roadmap planned out but the audience left before it was done. With MMOs I've come to terms with this, but I don't want this to spread to other single player or co-op titles that should have fully written stories.
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Sony's gone on the record multiple times stating that they believe live service games can have great stories. We also know that TLOU MP will have its own story. Given SIE's history of narrative rich games, I don't think we have much to worry about on that front.

Just a few more weeks til the rumored Showcase and we'll get our first look at their live service efforts.
 
March Climber

March Climber

Member
sono said:
If you imagined for a minute I didn’t know what a live service game is how would you explain it
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A game that mimics what MMOs do but is not an MMO, like Genshin Impact or to a lesser extent, Destiny 2. Daily quests, constant content updates, possible gacha mechanics(lottery system using a currency that you will eventually have to pay for), cosmetic and other minor microtransactions, etc. It's a game that tries to get you to log into it as much as possible every day so that you don't miss out on a new piece of content, and you can try to earn little scraps of that payable currency through free methods, and that content can be taken away at any time to make you feel like you missed out on an exclusive feature, character, or moment.

The reason this causes an issue with single player or co-op content more than PvP content is because you end up with unfinished stories and a lot of 'to-be-continued' moments and at worst, like Destiny 2, they can remove entire sections of the base game to put in new sections and you'll never see that base content again.

It's literally a physical manifestation of FOMO and it can suck at times.

Edit: One of the best examples of how everything that could go wrong, and went wrong, with a PvE live service game is that Avengers video game. Everything after the Kamala Khan arc feels like the last third of MGSV, with missions that mostly lead nowhere narratively because they were never fully finished story-wise, and you're left with this feeling of unfinished emptiness or 'what could have been' that you wouldn't have gotten if the game were just a really fun straightforward 15-20 hour co-op campaign and that's it.
 
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Kadve

Kadve

Member
Considering that pretty much all "Live Service" games have bombed recently. I don't think we should worry.
 
DaGwaphics

DaGwaphics

Member
Hopefully everything can just stay balanced and we get a good mix of everything. If Sony hits with one or two of these and the $ invested there are returned at more consistent rates and over a longer period of time than their SP games, it will be interesting to see if they can maintain the balance or if they chase the profit margins.
 
midnightAI

midnightAI

Member
The Alien said:
While I don't necessarily disagree, typical Sony shitting on the things Sony doesnt/can't do.
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Oh, you mean like GT7 and Destiny, oh and upcoming games like TLOU factions (or whatever it will be called) and the other GaaS games they are working on, things like that?
 
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