Sony has acquired legendary developer Bungie, and one of the motivations behind the deal appears to be shared learning. PlayStation Studios wants to make blockbuster service games, with similar legs to the likes of Fortnite and, of course, Destiny – and the platform holder believes that the former Halo creator can help it to achieve its goals.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with [key Bungie employees] like Jason Jones and Pete Parsons, and some of the senior team over at Bungie,” PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst told the PlayStation Blog. “And let me tell you that everyone’s very excited for Bungie and PlayStation Studios to share ideas, share some of our battle scars as well. And really, just learn from each other.”
Hulst explained that launching successful service games is impressively difficult, but Bungie already has expertise in the sector and can help Sony to realise its ambition. “Many people have tried to build a successful live service, and failed,” he pointed out. “Because it’s really hard. So Destiny’s success is very special.”
This week Bungie announced that over one million people had pre-ordered new Destiny expansion the Witch Queen, perhaps once again pointing to the longevity of the product. Sony’s yet to actually reveal what its service game strategy will look like, but we shared some suggestions of series we think would fit the bill through here, and would love to hear your ideas, too.
[source blog.playstation.com]
Comments 37
“Many people have tried to build a successful live service, and failed...”
Especially PlayStation.
How many live service games can one person be hooked to? I'm not gonna pay for 3 different season passes for 3 different games. It's getting ridiculous.
It's like cable TV is back, but you're paying for every channel.
Well hopefully all of them fail. Because me and many other gamers I know play on Playstation for the great single player games you can't get anywhere else. If I want to play a soulless live service game there's already a truck load of selections out there.
@Ken_Kaniff you’re not the only person in the world
@RBMango This, perhaps the key learning they'll get from Bungie is to keep the servers online.
Perhaps they could have paid me a fraction of the money and I’d have told them to not bother with another Fortnite clone that I never would play anyway. Please Sony, stick to writing world class single player stories that bring pure joy to millions of people 😢
@Ken_Kaniff
That's a pretty negative attitude? All PS fans are here for the single player IP's we love and that Sony excel at, as that is all they have to offer at the moment.
There's no indication that expanding into other areas comes at the expense of the experiences we already love, and Sonys other recent acquisitions have clearly shown they are not intending to move away from the business model that makes them successful.
Whilst I'm not subbed to any live service game at present, I'm open minded and I believe if anyone can make an open world live service game I want to sub to, its likely to be Sony, so I've no problem with them going there. Such games can be decent money earners which allows re-investment back into other big titles, if they succeed its a win for everyone.
@BoldAndBrash I agree with you. Ive played many of these service based games and they all require seasonal battle passes and strict scheduled events. With the market so over saturated with these games as is, where do Sony think people have time or money for ten more of these service based games within the next four years, lol?
@Ken_Kaniff What if they make service games that appeal to you and are better than any of the other ones in the market?
Just because you don't like the current options doesn't automatically mean you'll hate what they come up with. Maybe they'll change your perspective on all this.
It's always good to have an open mind at least.
@Rural-Bandit That's a fair look at things. I certainly don't disagree.
An interesting fact I didn't know about: Sony worked with Bungie when designing the DualShock 4 controller - to make sure that it's better for shooters than the previous versions.
@Titntin I think I'm with you on this in that Sony will be making this move to grow the customer base rather than just converting it's existing customers.
There's a lot of people just on PlayStation that don't play the single player games and they will know from running PSN how much money these live service games make. Why not get in on that and take some of that money that people might otherwise spend on Genshin or Fortnite. It's a lot of money to leave on the table.
There's definitely those worries that others have pointed out about there being a load of these games already or them coming at the expense of traditional games but what if gamers start to move away from single player stuff, Sony need to mitigate the risk of that happening.
Personally I want the single player stuff and I'm just not into anything live servicey but I can see from a business point of view it makes sense.
It really does seem that PS are working really hard on trying to push the idea that Live Service games are great and the focus on these WON'T impact upon the SP games.
Personally it looks to me as if it will, maybe not in the short-term but definitely further down the road.
I like stories. They have a beginning, a middle and an end. Games are as much a viable storytelling medium as films or TV or literature. It seems some people in the industry don't like stories, they prefer MTXs and Season Passes and all that bollocks!
@PenguinL I do hear you and understand, but I don't believe that's the attitude Sony have. Maybe I'll be proven wrong!
The examples you quote are all very real, but all those corporations have always just chased the latest trends and where ever the cash is - I had to leave EA 20 years ago because of their attitude and it hasn't gotten any better since.
Sony have not jumped on the micro transaction market for the cheap cash, and I genuinely believe they see their future as making creative single player games, but they want the platform and business to cater for everyone and there are a lot of gamers that enjoy and play subscription games, so why not give them a reason to be on PlayStation?
I've no crystal ball of course, but I don't think people have any cause for concern.
“Many people have tried to build a successful live service, and failed."
I'm almost surprised he's acknowledging that live services are a gamble. Guess that's why they're producing ten of them simultaneously, in the hope that at least one of them will be a hit while the others are left to starve and die.
@Ken_Kaniff Well said, how I feel too.
@get2sammyb Id be open minded if Sony came out and said "These live service games will not effect the single player games we release" and we continued to get our three sp games a year on top of these. Thats not going to be the case though. After this year you'll start to see fewer and fewer sp releases. Because the man power its going to require to put 10 of these out by 2026 is going to come at the expense of the single player games I love.
@art_of_the_kill exactly. So simple yet so many don't get it.
@Rural-Bandit Time will tell. 10 Live Service games in development, all to be released within the next 3-4 years, feels like overkill imo.
I don't think Sony would be stupid enough give up on SP games. It will lose the gen for them as it is part of what made PS4 so strong (aside from third party dominance as well). Gran Turismo and Factions probably already are included that 10 Live Service vice games. Maybe the Old Republic remake as well? Also Sony does not necessarily need a Fortnite here if all 10 of these live service games get a good cumulative dedicated customer base.
@Rural-Bandit I mean - one could definitely argue that the Xbox controller is better (I personally don't like the asymmetrical sticks but that's just because I've been using PS style controllers since the 90s) but I don't think anyone would say DS4 wasn't better for shooters than DS3
@Ken_Kaniff i too hate the things ,but surely there is room for both,Sony want a piece of the pie and if its successful and they put that money into the great single player experiences we all know and love,alls good
With this acquisition I hope (the current) bungie can make games with great single player and multiplayer.
Kinda worrying. Bungie haven’t had a good idea in 7 years.
@get2sammyb
Isn't this a bit of damage controlling?
I'm the biggest Sony Pony there is, but still... This is ridiculous.
I had many season passes going for Apex and Rocket League. I was only playing online at that time, it felt like a job trying to keep up with these pass challenges. I ditched them all eventually and stopped playing online. If the new Fortnite update with the swinging came out then, I'd have a Fortnite pass as well.
I ALSO absolutely LOVE Factions. When that comes in I'll be on its season pass as well for sure.
Too much to keep up with. I know these aren't a must, but still.
These games are developed to keep you hooked. The more you play, the more they earn. Even singleplayer games like Assassin's Creed have become this disgusting slog of time wasting filler.
PS5 is the first gen I'm not excited about. Nothing feels special anymore. Nothing impresses (except for literally ONLY God of War, RDR2, TLOU2 and maybe Horizon).
It's all about getting it out quick and moving on to the next cash cow.
With the amount of sandbox games out there, there are VERY few with Amazon interactive worlds you can mess around with. That should tell you something.
There's no Skate 2 or 3, GTA IV/ V, Spider-Man 2 PS2 (amazing wallrunning and physics with insanely fun learning curve).
Just put out this shallow game, put some nice graphics and fRamErAte on it and it'll sell like hotcakes. That's all you need to do nowadays.
Globally, SONY is suddenly in rush hour and makes rush moves. Time will tell, but I think M$ gave them lemons, and they are squeezing them in own eyes, instead of making lemonade...
This "live service" mayhem, they are trying, will consume itself - implode, and only causes damage. There will be holes (look at current situation - even now lot's of releases are pushed further and these gaps will spread) and soon we may get maybe 1 AAA title a year, because the others will work on 37481206289th dlc for some forgoten live service...
I'm still stunned by their approach on this. I understand it. They've moved the budgets for their single player games up so high there's no hope of getting the desired return from them anymore. Service games can cost less to make and if they succeed earn far more profits. But to say that 10 of the 25 games they claim are in development are service games to release in the next 4 years (meaning more than 10 of those 25 are probably service games to launch in more than 4 years) means both a total shift in direction for their content, and an all-in gamble on producing a ton of games that cannibalize each other's market, and a near guarantee many of them are expected to fail and be quickly scrapped. With the relatively small amount of studios they have compared to the development time and staff requirements of AAA games, that will leave them with a very thin library of first party exclusive games when all is said and done. MS can afford that because with Game Pass they can afford the throw-away games that don't succeed without real impact. And Nintendo can afford it because their production costs are very low, but even they've abandoned all risk. Unless Sparitcus is really good, Sony doesn't have that option.
And they're banking the whole effort on a quick acquisition of a company that, while they have managed to run one of the most successful live service games, have, to date, made exactly one successful live service game that had an advantage of being one of the first (technically Desitny 1 and Destiny 2 are different games, but it's really just an engine/backend overhaul of the same game.)
I understand why they'd be chasing the market, but it still feels too much like chasing the market rather than having a solid plan.
@Voltan That's kind of depressing if Sony required a third party first person shooter company to help them figure out how to make a controller that doesn't suck and isn't painful to hold.....aren't they the hardware experts?!
@Col_McCafferty We often disagree, but this is not one of those times...
@BoldAndBrash Remember, Sammy's a legit live service fan in general though, so he's going to have a bias that tilts toward this content overall.
Between online service games, trophies/achievements, mobile models, games are leaning hard on the psychology of gambling. Much moreso than ever. Not surprising but I've noticed this year a massive push from the actual casinos pushing their gambling apps now with advertising budgets that rival Candy Crush and Clash of Clans. The divide in gaming, both mobile and traditional at this point may well be between those that are sure to notice the signs of gambling addition and intend to avoid it, and those that give in and accept addiction in one form or another.
It’s kinda funny how there was so much bashing to these types of games, with so much of that focus on Fortnite, Destiny, Destruction Allstars, Hyperscape, but now that Sony is buying into it some are all, this might be a good thing, they could make some fun games, they’ll do it right, this will have no effect on their singleplayer games………lol.
@Voltan And that probably explains why the Dualshock 4 was favorite controller of last gen... Even tho I own like 20 Xbox one controllers XD
@OmegaStriver I would have thought Destruction Allstars would scare them a little bit out of live service but apparently not. Also there's no way anyone here can make a convincing argument that Sony should absolutely be making 10 live service games at the same time.
If they had said 2 then most of us would have been perfectly fine with it, if they wanted to go nuts then 3 I think would still be within reason. 10!? is way beyond overkill, you can't say that them making all those games will not take away a single developer from a single player project.
@Juanalf Just imagine if these games are all rip offs of Warzone, Fortnite, Apex, but, a HUGE BUT, they are are 70$ games.
That’s a huge difference when you think about these games. You have a few companies that decided to create free games and figured out a way to make money. Then, you have companies that try to rip off those ideas, and they are not any better, but want to charge the price of a traditional game. Hell, look at Battlefield 2042. Which I didn’t buy even though I’ve loved past BF games.
Bungie only exists today because of Xbox. That's an absolute fact.
I'm not excited at all, don't care for anything Bungie has released.
@BoldAndBrash Exactly right. In years when I was playing first Destiny, I skipped all the other games.
@RBMango What about Gran Turismo, that is a very successful one. But most of their mp games indeed failed.
@viktorcode @NEStalgia
The gambling part is indeed not talked about enough. These types of games are focused on addiction.
I love my fair share of online games, but Sony going this direction is very strange and disappointing
If by excited, Hulst means anxious. Yes, everyone is very excited.
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