PlayStation began this generation with one goal: to etch out a live-service legacy and become a multiplayer titan. Former CEO Jim Ryan laid out plans for an intense line-up of 12 games to usher in that new era, moving away from the single-player experiences that had earned the console giant its prestige. Yet, of those games, only Helldivers 2 was able to prove its mettle, and that was greenlit by his predecessor, Shawn Layden.
Concord, meanwhile, debuted to fewer than 700 concurrent players and was delisted just weeks later, while everything from a Horizon MMO to a live-service God of War and The Last of Us' standalone Factions game was cancelled. It's safe to say that a lot is riding on Marathon. Stewarded by the team that coined Halo and Destiny, it should be in safe hands, but after being indefinitely delayed, and with a reputation already marred by allegations of stolen assets, Bungie has dug a hole it may not be able to climb out of.
This is just scratching the surface of the last few years of public fallout from Ryan's pledge. Yet Sony is still enamoured with the idea of having its own...
