Herman Hulst Says PlayStation Is Trying to Learn from Live Service Failures Like Concord
Herman Hulst, once the head of Guerrilla Games, later president of PlayStation Studios, and now chief executive officer of Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Group, has spoken candidly about PlayStation’s ongoing live service struggles. In an interview with the Financial Times, Hulst admitted that Sony is learning hard lessons from its live service push, citing failures like Concord as examples of what the company hopes to avoid repeating.
"I don't want teams to always play it safe, but I would like for us, when we fail, to fail early and cheaply," Hulst said. "We have since put in place much more rigorous and more frequent testing in many different ways. The advantage of every failure [...] is that people now understand how necessary that [oversight] is."
When Sony first began its live service push under Hulst and then–Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan, the company boldly aimed to have 10 live service titles released by March 2026. That milestone is now impossible. Many projects have been outright cancelled, and Hulst insists the number of releases is not what matters most. Instead, he says the real goal is "having a diverse set of player experiences and a set of communities," with an emphasis on creating original IPs that can grow into iconic PlayStation franchises.
"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," Hulst explained.
Still, the failure of Concord looms large. The live service shooter, developed by Firewalk Studios, was hyped as a flagship new IP for Sony. Instead, it launched, survived for only two weeks, and was abruptly shut down. Firewalk was shuttered soon after, and the game remains a cautionary tale for PlayStation fans wary of the company’s live service ambitions.
Those ambitions continue, though not without turbulence. Earlier this year, rumors suggested Haven Studios’ upcoming heist-themed live service game Fairgames had been cancelled, though Sony quickly refuted the claims. Still, Haven’s founder Jade Raymond departing the studio earlier this year casts doubt on its trajectory.
Meanwhile, Bungie has been grappling with its own struggles. Marathon, its live service revival of the classic franchise, was delayed this past June without a new release window, as the studio faced allegations of plagiarism and ongoing development woes.
To put it bluntly, Sony’s live service push has been anything but smooth. Hulst maintains that the company is learning from its mistakes, and emphasizes that more oversight and testing will prevent future disasters. But as of now, players have seen little evidence that those lessons have taken hold. Until a PlayStation live service game proves itself as both sustainable and beloved, skepticism is likely to remain.
Do you think Sony can redeem its live service strategy after Concord’s failure, or should PlayStation scale back and focus on single-player hits?
