FOCUSING TOO HEAVILY ON GAMES AS A SERVICE
With the well-respected Andrew House stepping down as President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment towards the end of last year, there’s been a lot of talk by his successor, John Kodera, regarding the future of the PlayStation brand and the potential behind cloud gaming, or ‘games as a service.’ Kodera was chosen to replace House in part because of his prior experience as President of Sony’s network services division, responsible for both PlayStation Now and the PlayStation Store. With that experience behind him, there’s an expectation that both microtransactions and games as a service will grow over time on the PlayStation platform under Kodera’s leadership, and that has a few fans concerned.
A move towards games as a service means more titles that spread their content out over time, potentially focusing on online-only content like Destiny 2 or seasonal content like IO’s Hitman Season 1. While early adopters have been hit and miss with their interpretations of the concept, having more titles that fall under that same design umbrella would lead to higher costs over time for fans who want the full package, or at least the full experience.
Time will tell if Kodera can continue the wonderful work of House, but right now it’s too early to say what kind of concepts he might bring to the table. For the not too distant future things certainly look bright, with The Last of Us Part 2 and God of War leading an exciting lineup of exclusive titles, but that can all change in an instant.
