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[LectureMaster]

Concord Responsible For PlayStation's Latest Live-Service Cancellations, Says Insider

Following reports on more live-service cancellations from PlayStation, it has been said that the games were scrapped due to Concord.

tech4gamers.com

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PlayStation has kicked off 2025 with two new cancellations. Following scrapped projects like The Last of Us and Twisted Metal, the gaming giant has stopped the development of a live-service God of War title and Bend’s live-service project.

More information has appeared on the situation since initial reports surfaced yesterday, revealing the exact thought process behind this decision. As per a reliable leaker, Concord is to blame for these scrapped games.

Why it matters: Concord became a colossal failure that was shut down mere weeks after its release. Its failure has completely changed PlayStation’s approach toward the genre.



As reported by Jeff Grubb, Concord’s debacle has led to a major reassessment of the company’s GAAS (games as a service) projects. He states that projects already in development are now likely to be cancelled more often than not.

This happened because of Concord. That’s what I’ve been told.

-Jeff Grubb

PlayStation had already cancelled a number of its 12 live-service games announced several years ago. The latest reports raise the total further, with less than five of those titles now expected to see the light of day.

Ultimately, Sony’s gaming focus has now shifted toward quality over quantity. Titles like Helldivers 2 will likely serve as the template for future releases, with Concord becoming an example of what not to do.

As for the future, fans can still expect to see Fairgame$ coming out later this year. Elsewhere, Guerrilla Games’ Horizon series is set to receive an MMO and another multiplayer project, showing a few signs of life for PlayStation’s GAAS (games as a service) initiative.

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[LectureMaster]

As I make the title. We actually had some insightful threads at the time.

Opinion - Concord flopping = The end of the live service trend chasing

EDIT: https://blog.playstation.com/2024/09/03/an-important-update-on-concord/ It truly is the end. Redfall Sega's Hyenas Square's Foamstars Ubisoft's Skull and Bones Suicide Squad And now Concord. With Concord being an even harder flop than even the most staunchest of haters could have...

www.neogaf.com

Opinion - Can Concord terrible reception make a change in Sony investments in live service games?

We all know that Concord would be a flop, I think that even Sony expect that (after the State of Play trailer), but all expectations was overcome. Concord managed to have less concurrent players on Steam than massive flops like Redfall, Skull and Bones and even Gollum. I think this is something...

www.neogaf.com

 

[Shifty1897]

What if the Five Aces you hunt down in Intergalactic are metaphors for Sony's last five live service games?

Edit this was supposed to go in Men_in_Boxes thread but it's here now and it's staying.

 

[ProtoByte]

So they've wasted 6 years just to retvrn to Shawn Layden's first/best/must policy? Well well well.

Hulst needs to be gone.

 

[Topher]

This happened because of Concord.

 

[GHound]

This happened because of Concord. That’s what I’ve been told.

By the tens of thousands of people who saw it coming no doubt.

 

[hinch7]

Now go make games that people want to play, instead of chasing the golden goose

 

[Buggy Loop]

So where do we add these financial losses

On Concord's fault right? Easy over $400M right guys? No more argument there?

 

[LectureMaster]

This happened because of Concord.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Only a true bonafide 100% certified insider could ever come to know such top secret information.

Grubb haters in shambles.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Herman gonna get himself fired.

 

[simpatico]

So where do we add these financial losses

On Concord's fault right? Easy over $400M right guys? No more argument there?

Tab is still open

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

So they've wasted 6 years just to retvrn to Shawn Layden's first/best/must policy? Well well well.

Hulst needs to be gone.

Shawn Layden started the live service discussions/push

 

[March Climber]

So they've wasted 6 years just to retvrn to Shawn Layden's first/best/must policy? Well well well.

Hulst needs to be gone.

I thought old Jimbo was the one to blame for the Live Service Initiative...and he is gone.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Herman gonna get himself fired.

I mean,

Its like calling a bomb disposal dude when there's already a crater. The guy has a shitshow soon as he stepped in. I'm sure Sony management understands.

 

[LectureMaster]

I thought old Jimbo was the one to blame for the Live Service Initiative...and he is gone.

My man took me a min to recognize you changed the avatar.

 

[Gamerfan81]

Concord is just one of the nasty symptoms. The real and deadly disease to the industry, hell to any industry is the horrible ideology behind that made Concord.

 

[Osaka_Boss]

These could all have been triple AAA single player games, but Herman and his hench decided to Go for GaaS shit that now goes down the drain. Hope the nihonjin at SONY keep pressuring his ass until It becomes a cauliflower

 

[laynelane]

I think this is a very obvious repercussion for Concord's failure. Sony, and company really, can only absorb so much financial loss. I only hope they're serious about using it as a template for what not to do. When the majority of customers can see a game's failure from a mile away, it's apparent there was very much a lack of constructive oversight on the project.

 

[ArtHands]

 

[MayauMiao]

Shawn Layden started the live service discussions/push

What did he pushed? It seems like he was trying to push it back.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

if that is the case, intergalactic should be next

 

[Generic]

Sony will struggle this generation because they lost their ability to make multiplayer games.

Meanwhile Mario Kart 9 with PS4 graphics will sell 60 millions of copies.

 

[Barakov]

 

[CLW]

So where do we add these financial losses

On Concord's fault right? Easy over $400M right guys? No more argument there?

 

[Pegasus Actual]

How you gonna make a game so bad it manages to cancel itself somehow post launch and then cancels other games on top of it?

 

[Kacho]

Shawn Layden started the live service discussions/push

sauce?

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Chuds are winning

 

[PurePlatinum]

When you consider the opposite, this is good news. The alternate reality headline is

“Despite concord flop song greenlit more of the same crap”

 

[ProtoByte]

Shawn Layden started the live service discussions/push

Two things can be true at once: Shawn Layden as he sounds now is completely invested in the Tencent view of gaming. As he was during most of his tenure at PS, he had the right idea. Even Hulst has been there for a similarly long time. They all seem to have lost sight of it.

I'm glad Layden's no longer at PS, but Hulst needs to go too. They both pushed this live service shit, probably to better their chances as climbing the corporate hierarchy. It will be a good lesson to show that the tenure of such executives is cut abnormally short.

 

[Kabelly]

I wanted Factions so so bad. It was the only one from the initiative I was really excited for. Espcially after TLOU2 released. Just imagining how violent and visceral an online game like that could be with TLOU2 graphics and the smooth gameplay. Factions 1 was just such a good mode. Wasn't too bloated but the gameplay was just fun.

Too bad ambitions for onlines games are so high now. They can't just be fun modes. They need to be money sucking systems.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

sauce?

What did he pushed? It seems like he was trying to push it back.

Summarizing from memory, just previous interviews I watched a long time ago. He said that the Live Service push is basically a dream scenario if you hit it big and can capture recurring revenue. He did say that achieving success was difficult, and that to pursue such a strategy does require a lot of eggs being cracked along the way.

Two things can be true at once: Shawn Layden as he sounds now is completely invested in the Tencent view of gaming. As he was during most of his tenure at PS, he had the right idea. Even Hulst has been there for a similarly long time. They all seem to have lost sight of it.

I'm glad Layden's no longer at PS, but Hulst needs to go too. They both pushed this live service shit, probably to better their chances as climbing the corporate hierarchy. It will be a good lesson to show that the tenure of such executives is cut abnormally short.

Shawn Layden doesn't want to make blockbuster games. He says they are too expensive, and take too long to make. That's why I refer to him as Lameduck Layden. The guy lacks ambition and all the stuff he announced was all fairly tame under his tenure.

 

[Golgo 13]

When you consider the opposite, this is good news. The alternate reality headline is

“Despite concord flop song greenlit more of the same crap”

True. But this means 5-7 years before we see any kind of meaningful output from these studios that have been tied up in this bullshit. Not to mention the hit to morale.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Damn Concord was a waste of money and resources that could be used by other developments, Hermen Hulst is stupid.


I wish with all my heart that Horizon and Intergalatic were a colossal failure.

 

[Salz01]

I don’t think it’s just Herman, Jim Ryan is probably more to blame.

 

[proandrad]

Shit... Concord saved gaming.

 

[Grizzled Ghost]

Shit... Concord saved gaming.

The mistake was not charging $100 dollars, it would've revitalized the industry.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

I really have to wonder how long it's going to take Sony to properly pivot after this whole mess, and what the fallout is going to be. There's a major first-party content drought incoming, and I have to wonder if Hermen will be on the chopping block before long... considering he's not just the co-CEO; he was also the guy that led them down this path when he was heading up Studios.

 

[blacktout]

I'm so glad we have more Concord news. We've reached the level of schadenfreude where just seeing it mentioned in a thread title causes my brain to release endorphins.

 

[ZehDon]

The number of their studios that have been sent back to the drawing board is going to create a first party drought for the second half of this generation.

 

[Karak]

The number of their studios that have been sent back to the drawing board is going to create a first party drought for the second half of this generation.

This is absolutely true. It will create some space for some 3rd party titles to get some breathing space but its absolutely going to cause some gaps. Even with accelerated development because you for sure also don't want these teams turning around and rushing out a game either.

However, as we discussed a couple weeks ago when hearing that Sony was relooking at stuff, as this isn't the first time its been discussed, I also still think that companies wont at all let loose of the service desire as even 1 very successful one is a goldmine for a long ass time. Also the farther away from Concord we get the more revisionist history and the past will feel softer and it will start back up.

 

[StereoVsn]

I mean in one sense that is right. They didn’t say it was a good future!

 

[samoilaaa]

I don’t think it’s just Herman, Jim Ryan is probably more to blame.

thats right

Sony Projects Launching 12 Live Service Games By 2025

What these live-service games could be are currently unknown.

www.gamespot.com

"Jim Ryan doubled down on Sony's commitment to increasing its live service offerings in the coming years during the Game & Network Services portion of Sony's 2022 Business Segment briefings.

As you can see in the slide below, Sony wants to double the number of live-service games it operates in 2023 as compared to this year, going from three to six. By 2024, it wants that number to reach 10, increasing even further to 12 in 2025"

But hurman has the same mentality

 

[DenchDeckard]

Herman and Jim. The worst thing to happen to Sony and Playstation since it's inception.

Give playstation back to the Japanese after this bean counter has done his work. Or pay Andrew House everything he xould ever want to come back. That guy loves games and is Kojimas real friend and speaks fluent Japanese.

 

[Majukun]

being able to learn from your mistakes is a good thing.
too bad it took so much money and so many people's jobs to learn how the gaas genre works, skyrocketing profits for a handful of winners, but dust for the others.
it's not the kind of genre to go all in, either with the number of projects and the costs of them.
this entire business model started on mobile for a reason.

 

[Clear]

The point I think being missed is that Helldivers 2 proved the strategy to be right, but the execution of the other projects to be wrong.

That's what's being reorientated to.

Its also worth considering how the rest of the gaming landscape has shifted over the last few years gives a lot of context to what Sony decision making.

A really obvious example of this is the rapid rise to prominence of content from China and Korea, particularly in the action genre. With Wu Kong and Stellar Blade both being substantial hits, and several more titles like Phantom Blade in the pipeline the single-player demographic is being well served, so it makes sense for other types of product to be covered by first party. Especially as Insomniac, ND, and Sucker Punch and Guerilla are evidently continuing to produce their established franchise offerings, what is the ideal way to use these other studios?

 

[Hookshot]

Concord the destroyer of a generation of Sony games. Guess we can now say the true cost of this game is $800m - $1b or maybe even higher.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

So, in the end, The Professor taught us all a good lesson.

 

[Bernardougf]

Herman gonna get himself fired.

"Retired"

Edit:

In the end The professor was not the hero we wanted but the hero we needed.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

They missed the first part with most of these games and went way to big too start. HD2 being the exception. They should have put less all in one basket and filter out to different design ideas and let the game grow naturally. It’s how all the other live service games grew.

I mean Fornite was a lower budget base building game before it almost died. The orginal first mode of battle royal was barebones half broken game. But it did enough right to get its footing. The game didn’t even have anything to buy the first few weeks.

Start small makes changes in feedback early. Some will fall but some would have a chance to grow organically.