Sony Cites Persistent Increase in Add-on Revenue as Reason for Pursuing Live Service

Ever since Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that it’s working on multiple live service games, numerous fans have expressed concerns about the company’s foray into the business model. However, Sony has evidently thought this one through, with market trends and data to justify its change in direction. After announcing that the company plans to launch ten live service games by 2026, Sony’s CFO Hiroki Totoki explained that this decision stems from studying the global games market over the last seven years.

PlayStation live service games will drive revenue

“From calendar year 2014 to calendar year 2021, the size of the global game content market doubled, driven by add-on content revenue from live game services, which grew at an average annual rate of 15 percent during this period,” Totoki explained to investors. “We expect this trend to continue going forward. We intend to accelerate the growth of our first-party game software revenue, aiming to more than double the amount by FY 2025.”

Totoki’s comments have been echoed by a number of games industry executives over the years. Despite the general resistance towards the live service model, live service games have been major revenue drivers for developers. Just yesterday, Sony announced that PlayStation Store earned its second biggest quarterly revenue ever, aided by add-on content.

Opinion: Investing in live service doesn’t mean Sony’s done with single-player

Zarmena writes… I understand where the concerns about live service come from. The games industry has seen some of the most abysmal attempts at implementing microtransactions and monetization strategies. However, the fact remains that live service is here to stay and it’s what has been driving revenue for video game companies. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, for example, is a single-player game that utilizes the live service model and has been breaking revenue records. If done right, live service isn’t a bad thing.

In other news, the games industry has spent $85 billion on acquisitions in January 2022 alone, and PS Store’s Critics’ Choice promotion is now live.

[Source: IGN]

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