Sony is reportedly scaling back its GAAS plans, and turning to third party publishers like Sega and Bandai Namco.
A Reset Era user, Head on the Block, has claimed that Sony is scaling back it’s GAAS (games as a service) plans, and changing course back to what it does best: high quality, lengthy single player releases.
And, to help it get back on track, Sony is apparently bringing in support from the likes of Sega and Bandai Namco to “catch up on some IPs”. The reason being that many of its studios have been working on GAAS titles that are now, possibly, cancelled.
This certainly lines up with with a report I ran at the beginning of the month claiming that The Last of Us Factions is no longer in active development over at Naughty Dog. For those unaware, that was a multiplayer-only title, and one of Sony’s rumoured GAAS titles.
According to Head on the Block, it’s going to be “at least four years” until these changes come to fruition. Does that mean Sony won’t get back to its frequent release schedule for four years? Or that the games in development now will take four years to arrive? I guess time will tell.
Rounding up Head on the Block’s report, Sega is apparently reviving an old IP that will “wipe the floor”. Ridge Racer? Ape Escape? Jak and Daxter? It could be anything, really. Meanwhile, it’s not clear at all which Sony IP that Bandai Namco is working on.
So yes, this is very much a pinch of salt rumour, but I’m reporting on it due to the fact it lines up with two separate announcements: The Last of Us Factions is cancelled, and the fact that Jim Ryan is stepping down.
Ryan announced his departure back in September, and will officially depart next year. Given that Ryan was the guy behind the GAAS push in the first place, it does make sense that Sony would drop it the moment he leaves.
Lastly, there were reports that many internal Sony team members were “uncomfortable” with the big GAAS push. That makes sense, given that Sony has made its name on huge single player first party IP.
Let’s see what happens.
