Sony has had its eye on the live-service games industry for several years, but has hit a few rough patches along the way. The company’s Chief Financial Officer, Lin Tao, still believes the live-service genre is worth pursuing despite Sony’s recent financial setbacks with titles like Concord and the recently delayed Marathon.

During a Q&A session following Sony’s latest financial reports, Tao spoke to concerned investors about the company’s live-service push and acknowledged the setbacks, but stated that the company has made progress in the last five years. Addressing the elephant in the room for Sony’s investors, Tao stated,

“Last year, Concord shut down, and this year, Marathon was postponed, so somewhat negative news has been coming out.”

Concord, a live-service title developed by Sony under Firewalk Studios. The live-service 5v5 multiplayer shooter launched in 2024, but due to minimal reception with user scores as low as 1.9 on Metacritic, the game was shut down on September 6, 2024, just two weeks post-debut.

Sony also offered full refunds to all Concord purchases. The live-service FPS reportedly cost Sony between $100 to $200 million, while the company only managed to recoup $1 million.

Furthermore, Bungie, the developer behind Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and the Destiny franchise, has been working on its new project, Marathon, as early as 2022, but the developers have yet to reveal a potential release date, as their earlier window of September 2025 has been pushed forward. 

However, Tao stated that live service titles have been a revenue driver for the company for five years, before which, such titles were “almost non-existent for PlayStation Studios.”

Despite the success of Helldivers 2, MLB The Show, Destiny 2, and Gran Turismo 7, which account for 40% of Sony’s first-party video revenue for Q1 2025, Tao admitted that their transition into the genre is “not entirely going smoothly.” Tao further stated:

“Of course, we recognise that there are still many issues, so we should learn the lessons from the mistakes and make sure that we introduce live service content where there’s less waste and it’s more smooth.”

Sony has faced additional setbacks unrelated to its live-service ventures amid the cancellation of projects spearheaded by Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games earlier in 2025, including an unannounced God of War title. 

Rahim Amir Noorali – Tech Writer – 138 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2025

I am a UAE-based tech writer who likes to build and benchmark PCs both professionally and as a hobby. I contribute to multiple tech publications, including TechRadar and NotebookCheck, as well as Game Rant, where I focus primarily on news, commerce, and buying guides. When I’m not scouring the internet for the latest in tech stories, you will find me playing a game of Civilization or DotA with friends and frenemies alike while dropping recommendations for Apple TV+’s Foundation to everyone I come across.