Sony revealed in its earnings call what the company’s future plans look like. A major focus will be service games. The company intends to release a total of 10 games.
What kind of games are these? Exact titles or names were not shared with the public during the conference. However, it is certain that all 10 games will be released by March 2026 and will be service games (via Twitter).
Service games are games that are constantly evolving and receiving new content. Typically, these games also have multiplayer, as seen in GTA Online or Destiny. Even Genshin Impact, one of the most successful service games in recent years, features an optional co-op mode.
This focus on service games aligns with Sony’s new direction:
- CEO Jim Ryan stated that player behavior has changed, and games on PlayStation must now respond to that.
- The company purchased Destiny developer Bungie for 3.2 billion euros this week.
- Shortly after, it was mentioned in an interview that the purchase is primarily about new games and not about Destiny. The game will continue to be playable on multiple platforms.
We also discussed the purchase of Bungie and its significance for Sony and the MMO market in our latest podcast:
Sony could turn its big hits into MMOs
What kind of games can players hope for? Since these 10 titles are expected to be released by March 2026, it is rather unlikely that any of them will be a classic MMORPG. These usually require many years of development time.
The structure of the new games will likely lean more towards GTA Online or Red Dead Online, expanding on the world of a single-player. A possible structure could be:
- You can play the campaign solo or in co-op. This way, you get to know the world and the story of the game as in a classic single-player.
- After completing the story, you can continue to complete tasks and missions in the world.
- Regularly, new missions and possibly story content will be added to the game.
- Ideally, an endgame open world awaits you, which you can explore with friends or random players. There will not be hundreds of people on a map, but rather 8 to 50 players.
- PvP would also be an option, as in Destiny 2.
Thus, the games focus less on the “Massively” and more on the “Multiplayer Online” aspect. And this is exactly why Bungie plays an important role.
Jim Ryan also explained this in an interview:
They [Bungie] create massive, immersive games that have no end. While PlayStation’s strengths, as you know, lie in single-player games with rich stories. Our studios make those games, and they are some of the best games you can find.
The head of Sony also mentioned an “aggressive roadmap with live games.” Now we know that 10 games are planned for the next four years.
Which single-player games could become MMOs? There is no concrete statement, but there are many single-player titles on PlayStation that deserve such a transformation. Here is a selection we have compiled:
Sony is developing more MMOs with Bungie – 5 games that deserve an MMO adaptation for PS5
