Is Sony Getting Their Confidence Back? – GameRant

PlayStation is going through a rough patch. After years of miscalculated financial decisions, corporate rearrangements, and cancelations, Sony is struggling to gain traction again after the announcement that more live-service games will be getting the ax. In the face of poor performances in the movie and gaming sphere, is Sony now overreliant on the success of its video game adaptations?

Confidence in PlayStation‘s vision for this generation’s live-service library counted on the success of Concord, developed by Firewalk Studios. Unfortunately, the game was a disaster. Only a couple of weeks after its release, all physical and digital versions of the game were pulled, refunds were issued to players, and Concord was removed from its own servers. This blemish on PlayStation’s reputation received more than just a course correction; it was a scorched-earth strategy designed to erase the memory of Concord’s existence. In the wake of this depressing episode in the company’s history, more failures have continued to stack up. Twisted Metal, a Spider-Man title, and several other live-service games have been canceled, along with the closure of Sony’s famous London Studio. More recently, PlayStation also had to announce the cancelation of a live-service God of War title from Bluepoint Games.

One of PlayStation’s Live-Service Shut Downs Can’t Be The End All Be All

Sony has been canceling most of its planned live-service projects, and one axed franchise spin-off can’t be the end of its series.

Sony’s general prospects in the movie industry are not looking optimistic either. Jared Russo of Sherwood explains in great detail how the company suffered a series of tumultuous events in 2024. The departure of Phil Lord and Chris Miller as the writer-directors of the Into the Spider-Verse films indefinitely delayed the release of the final chapter in the trilogy: Beyond the Spider-Verse. There were reportedly several rifts in the production team long before the co-leads left. Over 100 people had left the film before its completion, citing long hours and overworked conditions as the primary cause.

​​​​​​​Sony’s live-action superhero brand is sinking rapidly in popularity as well, suffering repeated flop after flop with the release of Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter. Given that Sony’s animation, live-action, and gaming studios are all in hot water, the company seems to be fighting a war on multiple fronts. This raises an obvious question: where should the embattled media company look next for its salvation? With a massive number of IPs that have a potential crossover between console and screen, Sony is going all-in on the ballooning market of video game adaptations.

Until Dawn is the most recent IP to have a trailer released by PlayStation Studios, but it’s not the only upcoming project in the works. In a recent press conference at CES, it was revealed that Horizon-Zero Dawn and Helldivers would be receiving a film adaptation. Ghost of Tsushima was also announced to be in development as an anime series. A number of other titles are also getting the Hollywood treatment, including: Days Gone, Helldivers, Gravity Rush, and God of War.

The critical and commercial success of HBO’s The Last Of Us has most likely spurred on Sony’s desire to get these projects off the ground as soon as possible. While Uncharted failed to be a critical darling on release, it went on to earn $401 million worldwide, signaling to executives that gaming adaptations can still make a nice return in spite of a negative response. However, banking a couple of successful film and TV projects does not immediately mean that every kind or type of video game can or should be made for screen. For instance, Naughty Dog games have been easy to develop so far because their stories follow a simple, linear structure, which is already intercut with a plethora of cinematic elements.

Until Dawn seems appropriate considering that horror films are more popular than ever, and despite an over-saturated market, they still earn a fair amount. But adapting a property like Horizon-Zero Dawn is not going to be easy. If the movie remains faithful to its source material and unabashedly shows robot dinosaurs roaming a post-apocalyptic landscape, the film’s budget for its CGI department is going to be eye-watering. This is probably why the original adaptation, developed as a television with Netflix, was killed off after years of development. The God of War series also lost its showrunner/executive producer, Rafe Judkins, after the completion of multiple scripts for the first season. These early warning signs could suggest that Sony is heading toward a further downward spiral, extremely similar to that of its live-service games.

Imagine, for a second, a scenario where just one of these projects performs just as badly as Concord. Would Sony pull the plug on multiple upcoming screen adaptations? If one terrible release of a live-service game was enough to shake their total confidence in the company’s direction, what would one box office blunder or poor financial return do to their upcoming roster of TV and films? It’s clear that after the many mistakes of 2024, PlayStation is eager to get back on track and generate excitement among the fans once again. But to go into development with this many projects, this soon, after having recently made a similar mistake? It could just as easily be another house of cards, as it could be a thumping victory.

There is no guarantee that audiences will show up for a property they aren’t invested in, even if it is a major gaming IP. Borderlands critically flopped last year and barely made back a third of its budget. Fans have signaled disappointment with the lack of games in the PS5 library, and with the cancelation of these live-service games, we may not see many more major releases for this console generation. PlayStation is really testing the patience of its gamers, and it desperately needs these TV/Film adaptations to succeed in order to demonstrate that it is still a brand to be trusted.