2026 isn’t very far away in gamer years. Our favourite titles take years to make and are increasingly expensive to produce, meaning developers and publishers are frequently looking for ways to make the creative process more lucrative and streamlined to avoid taking any unnecessary risks. That’s why sequels, remakes, and remasters are increasingly common; because they all but guarantee a profit that might otherwise go unearned. It sucks and is woefully cynical, but that’s the direction we're going in so buckle up and accept it.

The industry’s growing infatuation with live service games became even clearer during Sony’s latest financial earnings call when the company said it hopes to develop a grand total of 10 games in such a mould by 2026. That is only four years away, meaning it aims to have almost a dozen titles under its belt in under four years time that maintain the same level of player retention as Destiny 2, Fortnite, or Apex Legends. Yes, good luck with that, since I think it’s borderline impossible to create ten entire games with enough quality to remain culturally relevant when the market is already so incredibly saturated.

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Such a move is also a far cry from Sony’s current trajectory, which is a keen rejection of service-based products and a continued dedication to traditional narrative blockbusters like The Last of Us Part 2 and God of War. These games are beautifully made, but they occupy a mould that has provided PlayStation with ample success and a leading position in the console wars that it is yet to surrender. The strategy is working, but if Sony is willing to change, it must be aware of how much money is in the live service market, and how its shareholders will soon realise its console brand is yet to dip its toes in the pool.

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I imagine Sony’s recent acquisition of Bungie has something to do with this strategy. With Destiny 2’s Witch Queen expansion having already surpassed one million pre-orders, it comes with a built-in audience and will allow Sony to begin curating a selection of live service titles that will look and play best on PlayStation. The platform has always been infamous when it comes to gating off content or offering exclusive goodies to those on its side of the fence, and this attitude will almost certainly continue as its portfolio of studios expands and the reality of its live service ideas come into the limelight. Now we can use the term ‘launched’ fairly loosely here too. The number is potentially inflated to appease shareholders and is a favoured benchmark rather than reality, so there’s a high chance most of these games will be stinkers and not on the level of something like Ghost of Tsushima. It just ain’t feasible.

That, and the majority of live service games are designed to take up all of your time. If you fail to log in on a regular basis or miss out on a seasonal update you will inevitably be left behind and forced to catch up, wading through myriad mechanical systems and dense lore to even stand a chance at feeling relevant again. I tried logging into Destiny 2 for the first time in a year last month and immediately gave up. The act of keeping up with every major game under the sun nowadays is inevitable, and you’d make yourself miserable to even consider such a goal. So, why on earth does Sony think ten whole live service games is reasonable? I'm not even sure it’s sold enough consoles to make such exclusive endeavours a worthwhile reality. Well, I certainly won’t be playing them, and will be one of many annoyed if the console brand decides to abandon its prestige exclusives in favour of such things.

Apex Legends

Sony’s Game Pass rival is absolutely on the way, and will mark a shift in its corporate strategy for the coming years that will likely seek to combine a service ecosystem with its continued slate of beloved exclusives without rocking the boat. I’m not sure it can have its cake and eat it like this, and will only serve to highlight shortcomings in the console space that we’ve all been ready and willing to accept for quite some time. Seriously though, 10 live service games in four years? No God of War sequel is worth this kind of nonsense.

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