Sony executives shared many details on PlayStation strategies during the company's Q1 2025 investors call Q&A. For example, we received confirmation that there will be a shift from a hardware-centric business model to a platform business model focused on engagement beyond PlayStation consoles.
We also reported earlier from the Q&A that Bungie's Marathon is expected to launch by March 2026. Bungie is set to lose most of its independence as it slowly gets absorbed into PlayStation Studios, despite initial statements at the time of the acquisition. The thorn subject of PlayStation live service games was touched repeatedly during the Q&A, and Sony Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao admitted that the plan (which originally targeted 10 live service games released by March 2026) hasn't gone as smoothly as they would have liked. At the same time, she pointed out that it's not all doom and gloom, and those lessons will be helpful for future projects.
Last year, Concord was canceled, and this year, Marathon was postponed, so somewhat negative news has been coming out. But if you look at the we look at the past five years, five years ago live service games were almost non-existent for PlayStation Studios. Now, we have Helldivers 2, MLB The Show and Gran Turismo 7, and Bungie's Destiny 2, so we have these four live services contributing to sales and profits in a stable manner. For Q1 2025, live service ratio was about 40%. For the full year, it's a little less, probably between 20 to 30%. So, in terms of the transformation, it's not entirely going smoothly, but from a longer term perspective, if you look at the changes over five years, you see that there has definitely been change. Of course, we recognize that there are still issues, many issues, so we should learn the lessons from mistakes and make sure that we introduce live service content where there's less waste and it's more smooth.
Helldivers 2 is undoubtedly the biggest PlayStation success in the live service segment, but it didn't even come from a first-party studio. That alone is telling in how much Sony still has to learn to be successful in this elusive category of gaming. Marathon's fate will no doubt mark a pivotal moment - will it soar like Helldivers 2 or flounder right away like Concord? We'll know more in a few months.
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