PlayStation delays several planned live service games to make sure people will actually like them

Sony Interactive Entertainment, the company behind PlayStation, has confirmed that it’s now only planning to release half of the live service games that had been pencilled in for the coming years within that window.

The publisher revealed this change to its agenda during a call (thanks, VGC) discussing its earnings for the second quarter of the 2023 fiscal year, having previously suggested that it was aiming to put out 12 live service games by the end of the fiscal year that concludes in March 2026. However, it now seems as though six of these twelve have been pushed back.

Sony president, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki said during the call that the company is “reviewing” the situation, adding: “we are trying as much as possible to ensure (the games) are enjoyed and liked by gamers for a long time.”

Totoki added that six of the games are still currently on track to come out by the 2025 fiscal year, while, when it comes to the other six, SIE is “still working on that.” The executive also made sure to stress that Sony's attitude towards and commitment to doing more when it comes to live service and multiplayer-focused games hasn’t changed.

Earlier this year, the publisher revealed that it had been using freshly acquired studio Bungie to help evaluate the progress being made on the live service titles it had in development. More recently, however, the Destiny 2 developer and a number of other PlayStation-affiliated studios have laid off a number of staff - though it is important to note that in Bungie’s case, the studio’s management reportedly took responsibility for the cuts internally, rather than laying any blame at Sony’s feet.

The publisher’s Q2 report did also include some positive news for SIE, with its gaming division having reported a 32% year-on-year increase in revenue. This looks to have been partly driven by the fact the company shipped 4.9 million PS5 consoles during the three month quarter.

Overall, Sony has now shipped around 46.5 million PS5s in total during the console’s lifetime to this point and seems relatively confident in projecting that these strong hardware sales will continue in the near future, with the new PS5 Slim set to hit the market en masse very soon.

If you’re keen to get a look at how this new model compares to the older version of the PS5, early teardown videos have suggested it to still be a pretty chunky boy, even if it is lighter than its predecessor.