Amidst the failure of Firewalk Studios’ Concord, Sony President Hiroki Totoki finds the company lacking in original IP.
During an interview with Financial Times, Sony President Hiroki Totoki spoke critically of the company’s lack of original IP amidst the swift shut down of its most recent new multiplayer IP, Concord. According to him, whether it’s for games, films or anime, the entertainment giant doesn’t have much IP that it fostered from the beginning. He finds that Sony is lacking the “early phase” of IP, which has been an issue for the company.
Totoki’s statement may seem odd at first, given PlayStation’s long list of IPs, he is referring to the company as a whole, which is involved in other mediums of entertainment, such as film and anime. However, he did single out games along with the other two mediums, likely due to the recent Concord debacle.
In the same Financial Times article, Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal stressed upon the importance of IP. According to him, one thing that a company needs is IP, and that it is step one in the entertainment industry. He added that if the company doesn’t start creating or buying in those that create IP, then the risk is that someone else will do it. Therefore, as per him, the risk is not doing anything about it.
For those unaware, on September 6, 2024, Sony Interactive Entertainment will shut down Concord servers, and the company will be offering a refund to anyone who bought the game. The game will cease to sell immediately. The decision to shut down Concord servers and offer a refund within two weeks of the game’s launch is unprecedented. That said, it does seem to be the right call, given the extremely low Active Player Count on Steam (and likely also on PlayStation Network).
