List of PlayStation Acquisitions and Canceled Games Paints a Grim Picture

Following last week’s developments, fans have been compiling a list of recent PlayStation acquisitions and canceled games, which paints a pretty grim picture of Sony’s internal studios and lineup. Much has been said about Microsoft’s acquisiton of Zenimax/Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, but it’s clear that PlayStation Studios division needs to get its house in order as well… and fast.

What recent PlayStation acquisitions and canceled games tell us

Let’s talk about the canceled games first. It has been confirmed that Sony tasked several first-party teams with over a dozen live service games, out of which we’ve only seen one major hit (not counting the popular MLB: The Show games): Helldivers 2. Others have either been canceled or are in progress.

Canceled games include God of War live service title, Twisted Metal live service game, a Bend Studio multiplayer game that leaks indicated was sci-fi, The Last of Us multiplayer, Spider-Man multiplayer, a live service game from Deviation that was allegedly canned before Deviation was unceremoniously shut down, Bungie’s canceled game code named Payback, a fantasy live service game from London Studios, and last but not least, Concord.

We have yet to see project Gummy Bears (formerly a Bungie game) and Horizon multiplayer. Meanwhile, Fairgame$ and Marathon have been announced and are still in development.

Going through this list (thanks to Redditor amans9191), it feels like PlayStation’s suffering an identity crisis of some sort. It’s clear that the company is trying to leverage popular IP, but it seemingly has no clue how to go about it, or where to stop.

Of the above, the established franchises gained popularity as single-player games, and Sony seems to think that brand recognition alone will be enough to sell bits and pieces of them as games-as-a-service.

But that’s not all. Over the weekend, a ResetEra user compiled a list of recent PlayStation acquisitions, out of which only two seem to have bore fruit: Housemarque and Nixxes Software. Bluepoint Games’ future is uncertain after its God of War live service game was canceled, Firesprite has yet to make its mark, and Haven is working on Fairgame$ which, frankly, we’re all worried about at this point.

Meanwhile, Firewalk had to be shuttered after the Concord disaster, Bungie’s left a huge financial dent in PlayStation with nothing to show thus far, mobile studio Neon Koi was shut down without releasing a single game for Sony, and Valkyrie Entertainment is just another support studio like Nixxes.

Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki was right. PlayStation does have a spending problem, and its profitability remains a concern. While the PS5 generation has received blockbusters like God of War Ragnarok and Spider-Man 2, it has arguably seen Sony’s most lackluster first-party output.

Like I said, PlayStation needs to get its house in order, preferably before the PS6.

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