For the past few years, the build up for PlayStation’s live-service initiatives is slowly being dismantled. Following the upsetting release of Concord – and the subsequent closure of its developer – more & more titles have been closed and redirected towards other means. Currently, there are two titles on the way for release still – Marathon & Fairgames$.
But, the cancelation list is much taller. In January, it was reported that two live-service titles centered around both God of War and an untitled Bend Studio project were shuttered internally at PlayStation Studios. Additionally, it was also reported that a Horizon MMO title was also relinquished as well in January. The most notorious is still Naughty Dog’s Factions II project.
According to the now-departed Shuhei Yoshida, the former PlayStation Studios head told that Factions II was very enjoyable. However, despite his praise, the team did take comments from Bungie to ultimately pull the plug on the effort; PushSquare transcribes from his interview with SacredSymbols.
“The idea for The Last of Us Online came from Naughty Dog and they really wanted to make it. But Bungie explained [to them] what it takes to make live service games, and Naughty Dog realised, ‘Oops, we can’t do that! If we do it, we can’t make Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.’ So that was a lack of foresight.” Yoshida does elaborate that the approach initially for Factions II was on Naughty Dogs’ behalf and not a mandate from leadership.
“From my experience, when studios see the company has a big initiative, [they realise] riding on that gives them a better chance of getting a project approved and supported. It’s not like [current PS Studios boss Hermen Hulst] is telling teams they need to make live service games, it’s likely mutual.” Yoshida simply bookends the discussion by stating, “Yeah, it sucks,” towards the growing number of canceled titles in the vein of live-service at PlayStation.
Are you surprised by this outlook from Yoshida on PlayStation live-service?
Source: Sacred Symbols
