Sony Group President, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki looked back at the failure of hero shooter Concord and promised new single-player blockbusters as part of the company’s new financial report.
Image source: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Let us remind you that Concord was released on August 23 on PC and PS5, but did not take off. Just two weeks later, Sony shut down the game servers and returned money to all customers, and two months later they closed the development studio, Firewalk.
«We’re still learning at the moment,” Totoki said regarding gaming services. “And in general, when it comes to new franchises, you never know until you try.”
At the same time, Totoki admitted that the company could have done better with Concord: in terms of production processes (user testing, internal reviews), interaction between different departments and choice of release dates.
«This year we launched two service games. Helldivers 2 was a big success, but Concord had to be canceled. We have gained experience and learned from both,” added Senior Vice President of Finance Sadahiko Hayakawa.
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Sony also assured that it “plans to continue to release major single-player games every year, starting with the next fiscal year” (which begins on April 1, 2025).
Over the current medium term, Sony intends to create an optimal portfolio of games that will combine single blockbusters from proven franchises and risky service games.