Alright, so picture this: Sony, the giant we all know, kinda stumbling, right? Their CFO, Lin Tao, had this almost comically polite way of saying things didn’t exactly pan out with the live-service games. Imagine dropping a bomb like “not entirely going smoothly” after a wild year where Concord just tanked, and Bungie’s Marathon got, like, totally sidetracked. Anyway — wait, no, here’s what stuck with me.
So Tao’s defending their approach like, “Hey, sure, we’ve face-planted a few times, but look, successes too!” They’ve poured hundreds of millions down the drain, yet she’s like, “Oh, but in the last five years, blah blah, we’ve actually got Helldivers 2, MLB The Show, Gran Turismo 7…” You know, the sales pitch. But here’s a twist — I mean, Helldivers 2, that thing’s rockin’ it with 12, maybe 15 million copies sold. But let’s be real, Destiny 2 isn’t exactly a newborn, having dropped way back in 2017 when Bungie was under Activision’s wing, before Sony stepped in. And MLB The Show gets a new version every year, feels like calling it “live-service” is stretching it, honestly. Gran Turismo 7? Yeah, gets those monthly updates. Sure.
Rumor mill says Concord might have set them back 200 to 400 mil. Sales? Maybe pocketed a mil? Balance? What balance? Tao’s spinning it like this fresh revenue thing they didn’t even dream of five years ago, isn’t that something? Apparently, live-service was about 40% in Q1, and they’re aiming a bit less for the year. Changes over five years? Sure, there’s a shift. Just… unclear if it’s forward.
Sony knows it’s a bit of a mess, they’re not sugarcoating it. Tao’s all about learning from their screw-ups, cutting out the useless junk, and smoothing it out. Marathon’s disaster led to some radical moves — like, talk about crisis prevention. Indefinite delay after its alpha flopped and plagiarism chatter. And canceling more live-service gigs earlier this year? Adds another layer of doubt. Stable medium? Maybe not.
Yet they’re oddly cheerful about the future. Guess when you’ve got cash, you can afford to stumble a bit. Too bad they haven’t nailed down how to spare folks from job losses while figuring this out.
