I'm still planning to get it - just more interested in getting access to the older God of War games on my PS5 (and possibly PC) instead of having to play them on my PS3 or PSNow/PSPlus streaming.

And this is exactly why for me it will always be funny when people say that PS Studios games are made to "appeal the masses" (btw there is nothing wrong with games anyone can play). I don't see 70 million people buying Returnal lol. 

Quick edit because I remembered this as I clicked submit, Sony doesn't think of Bend as a single player studio, they are in the awkward middle. 

Guerrilla is there because of their multiplayer, probably the only real "multi-genre" of the list. MM titles have always been more platforms than just games so they are as "evolving" as they can get lol. 

I think the Bend situation is complicated because they have good devs that can support other teams but Days Gone wasn't that strong of an idea to give them a signature style like Housemarque with gameplay, ND with narratives, Asobi with platformers or SP with open worlds. Even Firesprite had a style when Sony acquired them, they are the horror guys (previously the vr and horror guys).

Bend doesn't have other option than trying to make multiplayers but hey Sackboy big adventure is technically a multiplayer so I hope they find their own thing ... and that thing isn't the militar game they were making, I pray for it to not be another shooter lol.

Sony owns Fate Grand Order though. It's owned and published by Aniplex which Sony Music owns. I know that's a separate division than SIE but the revenue is still Sony's as a whole in the fiscal report nonetheless.

None of those games are from Bend though. They don't have an IP that can sell like those above. They tried with Days Gone and damn near ruined the studio. 

Hasn't Destiny 2 cleared 2B+ in revenue based on the Insomniac leaks? I can also see HD2 doing 3B - 4B+ in revenue with all the MTX taken into account.

I've 100% been on board with Sony doing it, I understand the motivation, even though I have 0 interest in those kinds of games. 

Part of it is that I don't think Sony should be dismissing their single player fanbase. They made a name for themselves last generation for single player games, and they've spent a chunk of this generation receding from it, instead of building on it.  

And I'm not really sure what Sony's Live Service push should look like, but what they've been doing this gen hasn't been it. 

Right, but FGO is a mobile game that isn't available on Playstation/PC. It's well past its prime, and pretty much dead outside Japan where it got like 87% of its revenue.

They're probably looking for a FGO level success from a modern game with a large global audience. Japan hard carried FGO which is likely approaching its final days.

Idk, but most of Destiny 2's revenue was made from before Sony acquired them. I'm pretty sure both Destiny 2 and Helldivers 2 will exceed $2 billion under Sony, but this is probably not enough to them. They need a new FGO tier game, but on consoles/PC in addition to mobile phones, and preferably with less reliance on Japan.

They should have tried harder to get a couple of semi-established Chinese developers/publishers. China has a ton of talented developers on the rise, with a lot of live service/multiplayer/mobile-phone experience, and amazing looking titles that somehow scale to mobile. They did try to get Leyou only to be outbit by Tencent. And I guess it's often beyond their control when most of them are probably private companies.

Transforming your single-player studios is a silly and desperate act imo. The one live service (and cancelled lol) game from a single-player studio that got me excited was The Last of Us Factions (because TloU1's Factions is one of my favorite MP experiences of all time), but that should have been a mode like the first game. The project got cancelled and Naughty Dog hasn't released a single new game this generation. Giant L's.

In an unexpected (and totally welcome) surprise, Pacific Drive is getting a big expansion … PD was one of the best 2024 games.

Neverness to Everness looks very impressive. Haven't played any gacha since FGO in 2019~ but I'll probably try this one. System requirements are quite high for a f2p/mobile game.