This sentence last year , PlayStation had given us aroadmap for the mark ’s direction go forward . It made lofty commitments to live - service titles , put heavy investments in a wandering initiative , and continued to launch new computer hardware . If one were to pass judgment PlayStation ’s 2024 on the statute title it congeal for itself , it would have been a failure . But that does n’t secern the full storey .
PlayStation ’s 2024 felt like a restructuring phase . On the package side , we get word PlayStation embrace young players again , a conclusion that netted it a bigGame of the Year win . Behind the game , we take in even bigger changes , specifically with the appointment of two newfangled carbon monoxide - CEOs , Herman Hulst and Hideaki Nishino , that may have basal implications for the make buy the farm forward . All of this set the level for a needed pin for a stigma that toy with disaster in 2024 . The only trouble ? That new vision has n’t been communicated yet , and fans ’ good will may be in scant supplying after a year of ups and downs .
Shifting strategy
Sony had a lot of great deal on the stove this class , which made it a rollercoaster ride for rooter . If there was one subject matter PlayStation wanted to communicate as clear as potential in 2023 , it was the allegiance tofinding a live service hit . At the time , 12 such titles were reportedly in development and scheduled to be released between 2024 and 2026 . So far , that effort has sputter to get off the starting blocks . Naughty Dog made the knowing decision to cancel itsLast of Us Onlineproject to focus on undivided - participant informatics such as the upcomingIntergalactic : The Heretic Prophet , but the real casualty wasConcord .
There ’s perhaps never been a biz release quite as dire asConcord . Plenty of games have come out with massive ambitions only to be shut down in a few months , butConcordwas a high-pitched - budget first - political party biz that shut down just weeks after launch , was permanently sunsetted not too long after , and had its entire studio disbanded . The riffle of this game ’s failure prompt Sony president Hiroki Totoki to scale back the company ’s live overhaul aspiration to just six of the initial 12 be after titles by March 2026 . Whether the remain games even see the brightness level of twenty-four hours probably depends on how the current slate performs . Concordhas seemingly , and perhaps truly , shaken PlayStation ’s confidence in creating its own live service hit . A more metered approach could be a wiser scheme give the massive risk involved in producing — and maintaining — even a undivided live service game .
But if we take a broader flavour at PlayStation ’s other title in 2024 , things were n’t so bleak . WhereConcordfailed , Helldivers 2paid off Sony ’s gamble . The co - op gunslinger was a crash hit that neither thespian nor PlayStation likely control coming . That underdog mind-set gave Sony the live service win it urgently needed to prove that its strategy had meritoriousness . We will have to see if it has branch beyond this first year , but it was able to hold up itsPlayStation mesh controversythrough sheer goodwill and developer reenforcement reverse the determination after sports fan backlash . Finding a way to appropriately integrate PSN with its PC porthole remains an unnecessary thorn in PlayStation ’s side that it needs to remedy as the gap between exclusives pip the platform continues to shrivel up .
Live service of process was a miscellaneous succeeder , but Sony pulled a disappearing deed when it came to its fluid ambition . It ’s easy to leave that there ’s an entire arm within the company center on impart young and existing IP to Mobile River , yet the only time this was cite was when developer Neon Koi was shut down before releasing its first statute title for the publisher . Even then , the intelligence was somewhat swallow up beneath the newsworthiness thatConcorddeveloper Firewalk Studios was also exclude down .
As of now , this peregrine endeavor feels like a non - newbie for PlayStation that it wants to brush under the rug . Hopefully that is n’t the lawsuit and it is waiting to surprise us all with a lineup of peregrine titles in 2025 , but this would n’t be the first time PlayStation has fail to fall out through on something it arrogate to be a column of its strategy — just reckon at itsPlayStation VR2 , which was virtually abandoned in 2024 .
On the topic of hardware , 2024 was the year the long - rumoredPS5 Prowas revealed and released . For the people who can appreciate the graphical cost increase and have the money to spend on it , it is a great ( though not monolithic ) improvement on the base model . The only military issue is that the high damage ticket ends up making many think a minute more critically about whether those improvements are unfeignedly worth it . Whether the machine is for you , it is a positive signal that PlayStation is n’t quick to move aside from hardware as quickly as Xbox appear to be .
What has get more value is the underrated PlayStation Portal . It was launched in 2023 as a remote play companion screen but has essentiallybecome a new devicethanks to a 2024 update that allows it to stream games from the swarm without having to be tied to a PS5 console . For how much potential drop this equipment has now as a low - cost , scummy - commitment way to enter the PlayStation ecosystem , it is puzzling why it is n’t being touted as such .
You ca n’t talk about PlayStation ’s profits this year without mentioning its giving : Astro Bot . It truly accrue praise from fans and critic likewise , bring home the bacon our ownGame of The Year awardamong many others . Beyond being an impeccably crafted 3D platformer , it lionise PlayStation chronicle with a sense of respect and optimism without falling into self - foolery . PlayStation has incur a natural mascot here that it would be anserine to abandon . It shows that Sony can give us more than the dark , dramatic epics it has been known for the retiring generation and a one-half .
Appealing to that broad interview is a grotesque comeback to form to the days when PlayStation was uncoerced to be more friendly and experimental , but also a low - risk enterprise . Astrowas made in only three years by a team of about 60 , which is a far call from the hundreds of developer working for five or six eld on the big AAA titles .
Finding focus
After struggling to fully birth on its big - picture plans , Astro Botcould leaven to be an existentially authoritative winnings for Sony — if it learns the right lessons from it . The ultimate root of many PlayStation fans ’ dismay with the sword , from my experience , is its ceaseless pivoting . All the highs of 2024 did n’t feel telegraph , which is n’t needs a tough affair . It only becomes a sticking spot when PlayStation has already called its shot , only to walk back on most or all of those claim .
There ’s a level of patience that should be give to the novel leaders as they take ownership of the brand — a lot was set in motility that ca n’t be untie . However , 2024 feel like an attempt to pump the brake on a lot of promises without a truehearted visual sensation of how it will retune the car . gratefully we are go to get a better theme ofupcoming PS5 gameswe can wait forward to in 2025 and beyond , but the larger direction remains cloudy .
Is PlayStation still unforced to make big stakes on live service ? Is mobile an boulevard it will gravely essay to pursue ? Even refocusing on exclusive - player offer is n’t so simple with ontogeny timeline and budget becoming unsustainable . It ’ll be a few years until Sony can really build and execute a full visual sensation aroundAstro‘s winner .
2025 can be a clean jump for PlayStation under its new leadership , but it needs to let its actor in on that imagination shortly . If it ca n’t firmly severalise fans what kinds of game they can bear to meet in the back one-half of PS5 ’s life , who bang how much longer they ’ll bond around ?
