PlayStation started this generation with one goal in mind: to enhance the legacy of the live service and become a multiplayer titan. Former CEO Jim Ryan unveiled plans for an intense 12-game lineup to usher in this new era, ditching the single-player experiences that earned the console giant its prestige. Still, of these games, only Helldivers 2 was able to prove its mettle, and it got the green light from its predecessor, Shawn Layden.
Concord, meanwhile, debuted to fewer than 700 concurrent players and was removed just weeks later, while everything from the Horizon MMO to the God of War live service and Factions' standalone game The Last of Us were canceled. It can be said that there is a lot of driving at the Marathon. Under the watchful eye of the team that created Halo and Destiny, it should be in safe hands, but after being shelved indefinitely and with a reputation already tarnished by allegations of stolen assets, Bungie has dug itself a hole it may not be able to climb out of.
“The live service game isn't really a game to me,” Layden said in an interview with The Ringer. “It's a repetitive action device. For me, a game—because of where I come from—means I need three things. I need a story, I need a character, and I need a world. And Horizon, God of War, and Uncharted have all three of those things.”
“If you're playing a live service game, you just need a repetitive action that most people can understand, the ability to interact in that world with other like-minded people, and [the player’s] the desire to do it again and again and again.”
In fact, it was this move to forever games that prompted Layden to leave the company in 2019.
What is PlayStation doing wrong?
The problem with Sony's strategy is that it tries to stand out in a crowd of timeless games that have held the line for years.
Competing with Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege, League of Legends, Counter-Strike and Overwatch 2 is an uphill battle, as live service titles are designed to keep players in their ecosystem, leaving them with no time for anything else and pushing them to spend so much money that they're giving up on the experience. investment is incomprehensible – a run-of-the-mill multiplayer experience a la Concord just doesn't cut it.
The freeway is full of people wanting to play Fortnite with people trying to do Overwatch with different skins – Shawn Layden.
“It's a very small list of winners and they all won five, six years ago,” said Uncharted 2: Among Thieves multiplayer designer Justin Richmond. “It's kind of a dystopian multiplayer nightmare/dream.”
Sony's move into the live service has to be more than the company's desire for its own Fortnite and the endless stream of money that kind of game brings. He needs a unique hook, something that sets his games apart from others.
“If you're trying to get into this space because you have this illusion in your mind of big bags of money coming in every day for the rest of your life, most of the time it's not going to happen,” Layden said bluntly.
This is why Helldivers 2 resonated so much; it's an incredibly enjoyable PvE experience about defending a twisted, propaganda-fueled notion of democracy with your comrades, fighting a society-wide war against a puppet gamemaster, like one big Dungeons & Dragons round table with hundreds of thousands of players. It's a new concept that hasn't been done on this scale before.
It remains to be seen if Marathon will break free from the curse of PlayStation's live service epidemic, or if we'll see another Concorde. At the very least, Sony has pledged to once again be a “creative leader in the single-player experience,” though it still has plans for the live services market.
- Released
-
September 23, 2025
- Multiplayer
-
Online multiplayer
- Franchise
-
Marathon
