The CEO of PlayStation announced that the company is taking steps to reduce the effects of cancellations

PlayStation's CEO, Hermen Hulst, outlined strategies Sony is adopting to reduce the impact of unsuccessful projects, such as the game Concord, and to foster innovation in successful, original intellectual properties (IP).

In a conversation with The Financial Times, Hulst stated, “I don’t want teams to always play it safe, but I would like for us, when we fail, to fail early and cheaply.” He mentioned that Sony has implemented more stringent and frequent testing methodologies, acknowledging past oversights highlight the necessity of these evaluations.

Hulst expressed that the precise number of live service releases is not a priority for PlayStation at this moment. His focus is on offering a variety of player experiences and fostering communities. He is especially keen on developing IPs that could expand into transmedia opportunities, similar to the influential franchise, The Last of Us.

He elaborated, “We take a very intentional approach to IP creation [...] understanding how a new concept can turn into an iconic franchise for PlayStation, that can then become a franchise for people beyond gaming.”

Last November, Sony's president, Hiroki Totoki, remarked on their ongoing learning process regarding live service games, especially following Concord's disappointing performance. Details were shared about the game's removal from sales merely two weeks post-launch due to poor sales figures, which precipitated the shutdown of Firewalk Studios, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz.

“With regards to new IP, of course, you don't know the result until you actually try it,” Totoki pointed out. “A structured approach with user testing and internal evaluations, including more proactive implementation, is necessary. Such steps should have been initiated much earlier.”

He also noted that the organisational setup, with its silos, made the developmental and sales processes more complicated than ideally desired.

Sadahiko Hayakawa, Sony's senior vice president for finance and investor relations, added: “We aim to distribute what we’ve learned from our successes and failures across our studios. This includes managing title development and enhancing the provision of expanded content after a title's release to bolster our development management framework.”