Playstation as we knew it is over.
Beyond the general trend in the video game industry. This is already the 2nd wave of layoffs for PlayStation and the studio closures are in addition to other studios already closed by Playstation: London Studios, Pixelopus, Japan Studio, Liverpool Studio, Manchester Studio, etc.
This is a problem that goes beyond the current trend and reveals a fundamental problem. They are paying for strategic errors and a lack of market anticipation. They have simply stopped creating games. Remakes and sequels are not enough and the few temporary exclusives from third-party publishers do not compensate for the lack of first-party games. And now they are launching into service games, an area that they do not master well and they are gradually abandoning large narrative games (-60% budget for AAA games), which was their trademark .
Helldivers 2, created by a third-party studio, supports them in this new strategy.
For comparison, in 2024 alone, Xbox is releasing more exclusive games from internal studios and some third-party exclusives like: Hellblade II, Stalker 2, Diablo IV, the calls of duty which will arrive day one in the gamepass, Avowed, Flight, Simulator 2024, Indiana Jones, Flintlock, Towerborne, Ara, Ark II, age of mythology. For its part, PlayStation will not release any first party games until March 2025 according to the CEO of Sony. The difference is striking.
Xbox creates content (AAA, narrative solo, rpg, strategy, new games, new licenses, varied games for all tastes), while PlayStation sells consoles. I’m exaggerating the line a little but that’s it. It’s the opposite now, Xbox puts more budget into AAA games than PlayStation.
The change in strategy towards more service games, more PC games and fewer AAA games is not reassuring either for the market or for players.
