PlayStation had a better 2024 than it should have. Now it needs to focus

digitaltrends.com:

Table of Contents Shifting strategy Finding focus

This time last year, PlayStation had given us a roadmap for the brand’s direction moving forward. It made grand commitments to live-service titles, put heavy investments in a mobile initiative, and continued to launch new hardware. If one were to judge PlayStation’s 2024 on the rubric it set for itself, it would have been a failure. But that doesn’t tell the full story.

PlayStation’s 2024 felt like a restructuring phase. On the software side, we saw PlayStation embracing young players again, a decision that netted it a big Game of the Year win. Behind the games, we saw even bigger changes, specifically with the appointment of two new co-CEOs, Herman Hulst and Hideaki Nishino, that may have radical implications for the brand going forward. All of this sets the stage for a needed pivot for a brand that flirted with disaster in 2024. The only problem? That new vision hasn’t been communicated yet, and fans’ good will may be in short supply after a year of ups and downs.

Shifting strategy

Sony had a lot of pots on the stove this year, which made it a rollercoaster ride for fans. If there was one message PlayStation wanted to communicate as clearly as possible in 2023, it was the commitment to finding 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 struggled to get off the starting blocks. Naughty Dog made the wise decision to cancel its Last of Us Online project to focus on single-player IPs such as the upcoming Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, but the real casualty was Concord.

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There’s perhaps never been a game release quite as dire as Concord. Plenty of games have come