Live service has ruined this console generation

Every now and then, news comes along that hits you like a bolt from the blue. I'm not trying to say that I'm some kind of oracle who knows when things will and won't happen, but after 25 years in the industry, I do have some insight, at least. Despite this, I was completely unprepared when it was revealed on Thursday evening that Bluepoint Games is closing down.

This is the studio that collaborated with Sony and developed the new versions of Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls on their behalf, and which was acquired by Sony in the latter half of 2021, welcoming it to the PlayStation family less than four and a half years ago. At the time, it was a highly interesting studio, and PlayStation fans were delighted and began speculating about what they would do next.

Perhaps it was time for that Bloodborne remake everyone was hoping for? However, there were also rumours of remakes of Killzone 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2 - projects that would undoubtedly have pleased fans and probably sold well. Since then, there hasn't been a single PlayStation event where speculation hasn't run rife about whether we would get to see what Bluepoint has been working on.

But... as we know, we haven't received any news, and it wasn't until last year that reports revealed what had happened. Bluepoint hadn't been working on a remake, nor had they been working on a stunning and spectacular single-player game (which is what they are, or rather were, experts at) - but on a multiplayer game with a clear live service component, set in the God of War universe.

At this point, I was already tired. I have travelled around and met countless developers and studios. There are certainly those who treat their job like any other office job, but my perception is that the people who make the games are gamers, like you and me. They play, they are passionate, they decorate their workplace with lots of figures and nerdy things, and they have game-related t-shirts. The fact that they are a small cog in a large machine where they have little opportunity to actually influence anything does not change that. And I am willing to bet that extremely few developers at Bluepoint Games have said they want to try to force multiplayer into the God of War world on a live service basis. No one has ever asked for that.

Or... some have done so, by the way. Like the executives at Sony. After years of repeatedly saying that they want to invest more in live services, they had talented studios such as Lucid Games working on Twisted Metal with live service components, Insomniac made the live service game Spider-Man: The Great Web with a live service setup, and Naughty Dog made The Last of Us: Multiplayer with live service. For more on Sony's failed live service projects, we have a new article here.

Game developers are passionate gamers, and they tend to dislike live service as a concept just as much as the rest of us. Of course, I can't prove it, but I will never believe that all these talented developers would simultaneously decide that they wanted to transform popular single-player games into multiplayer games while milking players for money. Just look at all the developers who are stepping out of the shadows of the giants and establishing their own studios, and how much better they are at delivering what players actually want.

There is also a tremendous amount of cynicism built into this way of working (which is not unique to Sony; all publishers chasing the live service gold are guilty of this). A strong and profitable live service game requires a huge number of players who continuously spend money on season passes, skins and "pay to win" items. Sony knew very well that not all of these games would become popular, self-sustaining games that would generate significant revenue; they had anticipated that several of them would fail, some before release and others afterwards. In short, games are deliberately developed as collateral damage, while simultaneously attempting to convince their community that it will not affect their core games.

The result is now evident in an almost tragically empty release schedule. Bend Studio, Media Molecule, Naughty Dog, Polyphony Digital, Santa Monica Studio and Sucker Punch have together released only one game throughout this generation that was specifically developed for PlayStation 5, namely Ghost of Yotei. Otherwise, Polyphony Digital has only released Gran Turismo 7, which also came to PlayStation 4, while Santa Monica Studio has released God of War: Ragnarök, which also came to PlayStation 4. And studios such as Bend Studio, Media Molecule and Naughty Dog have not released a single game - and may not do so, as Sony is expected to launch PlayStation 6 in 2028 (or 2029).

The first-party initiative has mainly been led by Horizon developer Guerrilla, which has released three Horizon games and has three more in the pipeline (the latter three being Horizon Steel Frontiers in collaboration with NCSoft, Horizon Hunters Gathering and a Horizon single-player game) - as well as the masterful Insomniac, which has released three PlayStation 5 games and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which also came to PlayStation 4.

Developing games takes time, and developing lavish live service games that are designed to last for years, complete with multiplayer and more content, takes even longer. And it is the latter that everything has been geared towards. The single-player games that made Sony beloved and PlayStation the biggest, however, are conspicuous by their absence. No one can seriously believe that this is being done for the players' sake, can they? Where is this generation's new major Sony-created game series that can take its place alongside God of War, The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima and Horizon?

The focus is entirely on milking existing game series for all they're worth, and even though we haven't seen a single user in the comments section asking for live service multiplayer based on, for example, the Ghost of Tsushima world, that's exactly the type of game that all the energy is going into.

I would go so far as to say that Sony should be incredibly grateful that Microsoft has acted so poorly and slowly with its gaming ventures over the past ten years. After offering far too little for many years, the Xbox machine got into gear in earnest last year. That was the same year they were forced to realise that they have far too much development capacity in relation to their market share in the console market (Xbox sales are poor), and in 2025 it was largely Microsoft that made PlayStation exciting, and the same can be said about 2026 with Fable, Forza Horizon 6, Gears of War: E-Day and Halo: Campaign Evolved.

Had Microsoft not dragged its feet and made such questionable decisions five years ago, resulting in a more even race with Sony today, I believe that PlayStation 5 would have been in serious trouble with the deluge of major games. It is Microsoft's own incompetence that has been Sony's salvation over the past two years.

This generation has been exploited for money in an unprecedented way. Every new game has been seen as a kind of lottery ticket, where the big win is a Fortnite-like live service success. What do you do if you don't win on a scratch card? Well, you throw it away without giving it much thought. Maybe we'll win next time instead?

Again, it's not just Sony that has acted this way - look at Microsoft with The Initiative and their Perfect Dark or Rares' cancelled Everwild - but I'm really starting to feel that this is something of a lost generation. For example, God of War, Killzone, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus debuted on the PlayStation 2, and Team Ico delivered masterpieces with Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.

On the PlayStation 3, we were able to enjoy Infamous, Little Big Planet, MotorStorm, Resistance: Fall of Man, The Last of Us and, of course, Uncharted (including awesome sequels in most of these series). On PlayStation 4, we were introduced to new series such as Bloodborne, Days Gone, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon, and Marvel's Spider-Man - and, of course, a complete reboot of God of War.

For PlayStation 5, it's easier to make the list. Astro Bot and Returnal. We thoroughly love the former and named it Game of the Year, but surely we can agree that it's still a bit thin and doesn't quite have the same weight as many of the previous generation's contributions? And reviving dried-up brands isn't always the easiest thing to do; you need new blood and new offspring.

Just imagine what it could have looked like without former PlayStation boss Jim Ryan's stated focus on strong brands and live service for Sony. If Bend had been allowed to deliver Days Gone 2 and if Bluepoint had been allowed to make a complete remake of Killzone 2 or a new single-player adventure. Or if Naughty Dog hadn't spent so much time on remasters and remakes of both The Last of Us titles (and of course the discontinued multiplayer game). Yes, or if London Studio had been allowed to finish its fantasy game?

You see, my grumbling has a reason. Billions upon billions have been unsentimentally thrown straight into the bin. Sometimes games have been released and lasted a couple of weeks (in the case of Concord, less than that), after which the plug has simply been pulled - all while players beg and plead for more of what made PlayStation so beloved and popular. While we can pull out the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 (and, for that matter, the PSP and PS Vita) from storage to enjoy our first-party favourites, in about ten years' time there will be few games for the PlayStation 5 that it will even be possible to go back to. The servers have been shut down.

Many others and I have pointed out before that this generation has not delivered, which is usually countered by the argument that there are good third-party games instead. And... that's true. But if third-party games are what we gamers are supposed to live on, then I question whether consoles have any raison d'être. In that case, a Steam Machine or similar is a better alternative. Significantly more games and significantly cheaper games, as well as the ability to choose the level of performance you want. And if, as a TV gamer, you're wondering whether it might be better to switch to PC gaming instead, then you really have to conclude that the console manufacturers have done a really poor job.