Sony Taps Bungie's Head of Revenue to Lead Live-Service Games

Sony has recruited Bungie's head of revenue Jaremy Rich to head up its live-service gaming division, Rich has announced on social media.

[ChasterMies]

Please do not put Destiny’s monetization into Sony’s first party games. The monetization is what’s driving players away from Destiny.

[just_looken]

The new temp boss is the sony cfo bean counter so i can see this being a thing get every penny.

[Cacabunga]

PlayStation officially losing it.. fans will never support gaas games

[just_looken]

@car

The new boss did a interview in japan he wants to tap into the mobile market like nintendio so he give 0 fucks about gamers/fans

https://www.pushsquare.com/...

[Redemption-64]

@Cacabunga
You only speak for you and those who think like you, but most fans will support what they want. Playstation and PC fans are literally supporting Helldivers 2 and that is a gaas. Maybe you wouldn't, but many more would if they like it.

[Huey_My_D_Long]

@Redemption-64
Look, Im not making any judgement calls about this guy, but I will say that Helldivers 2 GaaS model is unique to Helldivers, and legit the only other game I can think of thats similiar was the Avengers game except HD2 pass is still better.
The fact that you can earn in game currency in a way that doesnt make you feel like you have to grind forever, as well you being able work on that pass that you bought...on your own time without a time limit...that right there is fucking huge to me, and I can't name any game other than avengers that avoided trapping players with FOMO logic...I think GaaS on HD2 shouldn't be compared to the rest of the industry...it should be copied.

[Einhander1972]

Cacabunga

Helldivers 2...

Redemption-64

In Europe it's a 60 40 split favoring PC.
In the US its a 60 40 split favoring PS5.

So PlayStation owners supported the game just fine, it's not getting carried by PC or anything like that.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

@just_looken,
I'm perfectly fine with the way Nintendo entered the mobile market, I never touched their mobile games, meanwhile, the console/handheld stayed the way it is. As for being a bean counter, he's probably going to reel in these massive budgets that Sony's studios have had lately, I haven't played Spiderman 2, but I cannot see how they almost tripled the budget for that game.

@Redemption-64,
That's an exception to the rule, I'm expecting a lot of these GAAS games from Sony to fail, to be fair, they only need a few to succeed, but I would have preferred that they put more of their resources into other types of games.

[DivineHand125]

True their monetization is driving players away and at the same time, their decision to chop out content and convoluted systems is keeping new players away from the game.

[Joe913]

I don't think that will happen based on how things worked out at Naughty Dog now that we know what we do, seems they had the option to fully commit to live service games or stay making single player experences so they gave up on their live service game. We are not sure how things came about with Bend making a live service game but I hope that was not a forced situation. Sony doesnt seem like they are forcing studios to switch up but we will see, Sony's bread and butter is single player games it is how they dominated the console market.

[Obscure_Observer]

Yeah, I though Sony learned something from all their failures in the LS segment under Bungie´s disastrous leadership and supervision which led to games been cancelled, studios closed and all the people laid off.

Looks like Bungie still plays a major role in Sony´s LS initiative and Sony is not backtracking on their GaaS plans.

[S2Killinit]

Are we forgetting that Destiny is also a highly successful franchise? I feel like that definitely deserves mention here.

Besides, there is no reason why a person cant learn from past experiences.

[Joe913]

I agree, people act as if Destiny flopped when it came out lol it took 9 to 10 years for the numbers to fall yet people are still playing it add the success of Helldivers 2 no wonder Sony is going forward down this path.

[S2Killinit]

Personally, I see no problem with Sony also having service games as long as they make good ones, and more importantly they deliver the AAA story driven games that they are known for. So yeah, I agree 100% with you.

[Christopher]

I mean, this person made some pretty bad decisions at Bungie. I hope they've learned from them because I definitely don't see those type of ideas as good for PlaySation in general.

[CrimsonWing69]

Honestly, what’s to learn from? How to make people happily continuously dump money into a single game over its life-time? Buy season passes continuously for several years with a smile on our faces?

GaaS is a design decision that is everything wrong with this industry. The fact that Helldivers 2 did so well and people defend the monetization because it was $40 and is a fun game, scares the sh*t out of me to see that the door is open and all shift will probably be to replicate that in future games. We already know the ROI for traditional game dev cost isn’t doing it for them.

I thought with Jimbo leaving we’d see a change for the better… I’m not so sure now.

[S2Killinit]

Service games are being offered by everyone. Sony cannot afford to only create single player AAA games. No one can. They already said they will be doing both.

[Abnor_Mal]

Ps5 gamers in 2023 seemed to play more live service types of games, so regardless to how people feel about them, numbers don’t lie and Sony is going where the money is. I mean look at the excitement around Helldivers2, people are showing that they want live service games.

[Christopher]

They play long-time existing live service games like CoD, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and the like. Mass majority of new live service games are considered failures and aren't moving gamers away from older games.

[just_looken]

Yep the huge issue with live service is they need paid players along with a reason to play them.

You forgot mobile market that also taps into that player base as well as the eve online style games there is only a certain amount of krakens/whales blind supporters compared to the amount of live service games we have its not sustainable math wise.

700 restaurants making food for every seat for 1000-3000 eaters just does not work out

[Einhander1972]

Christopher

I am not a big live service fan and literally own zero of the games you listed, but that is not true, unless you call games that aren't the top games to be failures.

There are tons of live service games that are profitable.

Games don't have to be the biggest game ever they just need to make more than they cost.

I challenge you to show professionally prepared data that shows that more live service games fail than make enough to keep going.

Because all the data that I have seen shows that live service is less of a gamble than making a big AAA budget game which needs to survive off retail sales.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I sometimes wonder if we're at saturation point, where it's hard for a new game to join those ranks unless it's particularly exceptional, people only have so much time and money to devote to these types of games.

[romulus23]

Correction, they have no issue playing good live service games

[shinoff2183]

Lol it's not even a quarter of the ps5s sold. Helldivers may have been a hit but let's not say most are enjoying it because truth is most(the real most ) don't care about it.

[S2Killinit]

I play what is fun. If a live service game is good I’ll play it as long as its not a money scheme which Helldivers is not.

And Im a single player gamer.

[mastershredder]

How do you kill a franchise that already been killed?
Destiny’s grind, cash-in-on-playbass-cha-Ching, and pop-culture-insertion mainstream-me-too bs totally killed any rep Bungie had. Sony/Bungie, if you are doing this to ward-off players, it’s already working.

[crazyCoconuts]

Headline truncated:
"... off a cliff"

[Kaii]

As Reggie says, What's Wrong With You?
Remember folks, the original D2 we vanilla purchasers bought IS NOT the version you get today. It's gone.

[-Foxtrot]

Are they? Are the f****** insane?

Why are they focusing still on GaaS and if so why someone from a failing let down of a company like Bungie who clearly hasn’t been a good investment for them.

I’d understand if this was hypothetical someone behind Helldivers II, someone super popular and successful for them.

Sony are making some stupid ass decisions lately, it’s annoying.

[Christopher]

It feels like the common trend to wallstreetify companies rather than have them being run by people who are actually interested in the output of the industry.

[Knightofelemia]

I just don't do live service games.

[Inverno]

Bungie has been one of if not the worst offender in this live service crud. Whatever this guy touches will most likely be absolute shite. This live service fad is on its way out anyway, publishers continue pushing out failure after failure.

[ravens52]

Wtf Hiroki. Come on now my guy. We're supposed to be moving away from live service. You have one, and a good one at that. What exactly are you hoping for? If you come out with 2 your taking people away from HD2, it's redundant. On top of that you get someone from Bungie!? That purchase was so fn stupid. Get your heads out of your asses.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Please, for the love of God, don’t model every GaaS from Sony after Destiny’s model. That model sucked.

Look to Arrowhead. I’d argue they’ve made the best GaaS game to date.

[ApocalypseShadow]

But but but Jim Ryan. You can't blame it on him anymore. Find another scapegoat.

As I said before, many online games are going to be GaaS games. Hell Divers 2 is a GaaS game. GT7 is a GaaS game. Gamers have said time and time again that they want road maps for games. Which is maps, items, weapons, skins, etc etc for online games and to continue to get more. Some of it will be free. Sure. But some of it will be paid. Get used it. You can deny it. But that's what online for Many games are becoming.

Single player games will still be offered. And that's where I'll always be. But the old style of getting a game and it having an online component for free is about over. You wanted an online game with longevity and the only way to offer that is to monetize it. Shit ain't free for developers to keep a game going for some time by producing more content for it and giving it away for free.

Some developers will do that because they want their fans to think how pro consumer they are by giving content away for online. But if the numbers don't add up, they'll either change to monetizing their game or shutting their servers down because it's not making money. And many have shown that if a game doesn't continue to get new content, you bolt and move on to the next game.

You asked for it, you got it. As others have said, you played games like cod and destiny online and didn't bat an eye to go against it. Shitting on Jim who retired won't make it go away. You want GaaS to go away, stop playing online like I do. And stop buying all the micro transaction shit. And tell a friend to do the same. And stop whining like bitches if you can't do that.

[purple101]

Have you played GT7?

Every week the races change and their free
When new cars come, there free
New tracks, always free

How is it a live service just cos’ it rotates track layouts once a week

[neomahi]

Oh, booooooooo!

[Pyrofire95]

Vomit

[Johnh5223]

They got helldivers 2 and destiny. What i dont get is why they need so many. In a crowded field maybe a Socom one would be nice they canceled the twisted metal one. Sony dropped the ball on a GTA clone like the getaway the last gta came out in 2013. Why make the sam first person gaas over and over.

[gold_drake]

i wouldnt have done that.

guy has no idea what hes doing

[CrimsonWing69]

Oh joy! Looking forward to the future of gaming.

[isarai]

I already knew this guy was probably gonna be worse than Jim given his words in interviews. He's even more of a straight business man tha Jim ever was. Good thing he's just temporary, and i hope whoever they hire to take over puts things back on track to what made people pive PlayStation to start with, cause this aint it.

Honestly i still say just put Shuhei in there, he's still in the company so it would be extremely practical.

[InUrFoxHole]

This is great news. The players asked for it and sony delivered! Awesome!!