Sony's GAAS Game Pipeline/Potential Timeline

[Firefly]

As we all know, Sony will be heavily investing into GAAS as their main focus. However even though its their current focus, we still don't even have a clear timeline of these GAAS games. Its not like Sony just started this initiative, this started before the PS5 gen with games like the Horizon multiplayer and TLOU multiplayer being in development for 3+ years. Even with the new announcements like Fairgames, Concord, Marathon we don't even know when these will be releasing. Heck we don't even what these games will look like since we didn't get gameplay. We know Insomniac is making a multiplayer game where is that? There has been rumors of a new Twisted Metal game so where is that? Are you really telling me we are getting a show before an actual new game? What's going on with deviation did their game get canned? What's going on with the TLOU multiplayer game did they cancel it or is it being revamped? Helldivers 2 is the only game we know the most about so far but it still doesn't have a release date yet? Will it be delayed to 2024? What's going on with London studios game?


Sony has placed great emphasis on their live service game future but yet we are still left in the dark. I find it it odd since Sony is making about 10+ of these things so you would assume at least some would be given release dates and be properly shown already.


So I would like to know your thoughts on what it might be. Are the games not ready to show yet still? Are they are having more development troubles with these games? Or do you guys think its something else?

 

[Yobo]

We won't much about them until close to launching

Honestly probably the way to do it

If I'm marketing a new GAAS game I want players hands on maybe an open beta very soon after reveal, I want influencers and streamers talking about it to collect that "out of nowhere" hype factor

You see a ton of vapourware style GAAS games popping up and then losing all momentum cause they are BS and the marketing cycle reveals the flaws

 

[Perrott]

The original schedule (that didn't include Bungie) probably looked something like this:

• 2 Games in FY22 (by April 2023): Firewall Ultra, Helldivers II.
• 3 Games in FY23 (by April 2024): Concord, The Last Of Us, Twisted Metal (?).
• 4 Games in FY24 (by April 2025): Deviation's MP game (?), FAIRGAME$, Firesprite's MP game, Horizon.
• 2 Games in FY25 (by April 2026): Insomniac's MP game, London's MP game.

But with all the delays and cancellations that there's been plus the addition of Bungie, I bet it currently looks like this:

• 2 Games in FY23 (by April 2024): Firewall Ultra, Helldivers II.
• 4 Games in FY24 (by April 2025): Concord, FAIRGAME$, Marathon, The Last Of Us.
• 3 Games in FY25 (by April 2026): Horizon, London's MP game, Twisted Metal.

Firesprite's action shooter and Deviation's new IP have been cancelled, while Insomniac's multiplayer game would likely be pushed out of the "by April 2026" window due to how the majority of the studio is going to be busy getting Marvel's Wolverine out of the door in 2025.

 

[ksdixon]

They can't leave TM till 2025, isn't the show out already?

 

[Muddasar]

They can't leave TM till 2025, isn't the show out already?

Yep already out.

The game just started development last year so highly doubt it will be ready anytime soon.

Let’s hope a Season 2 for the TV series is announced then maybe it can released alongside it.

 

[ksdixon]

Is that the timeline? Are Sony just incompetent?

Did they move Destruction All-Stars development away from Lucid to someone else to complete and release, or was it after DA release they moved TM development to someone else?

My point is they should have gone with TM to begin with /a lot sooner

 

[Muddasar]

Is that the timeline? Are Sony just incompetent?

Did they move Destruction All-Stars development away from Lucid to someone else to complete and release, or was it after DA release they moved TM development to someone else?

My point is they should have gone with TM to begin with /a lot sooner

DA being piss poor made Sony move the game to Firesprite.
The director of the game at Lucid left and joined Firesprite to continue developing it.

Also directed Motorstorm at Evolution studios.

Agree that TM should have been developed in the first place. What was the point of DA.

Another reason for the switch could be that Lucid games has been acquired by Tencent.

Sony’s Firesprite takes over Twisted Metal, as Motorstorm director is hired | VGC

The first-party studio has poached Lucid’s director and its reboot project…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[Yurinka]

As we all know, Sony will be heavily investing into GAAS as their main focus.

It isn't the main focus, the majority of the games they have under development are not GaaS. They said to have "more than 25" PS Studios games under development, being 10 of them GaaS.

They said that planned to release 'over ten' GaaS of PS Studios franchises by March 2026, later when acquired Bungie mentioned 12 games under development:

1. MLB (they released 2 GaaS of this IP)
2. Gran Turismo 7 (March 2022)
3. Firewall Ultra (August 24, 2023)
4. Helldivers 2 (2023)
5. Concord (2024)
6. Firesprite multiplayer game, rumored Twisted Metal (TBA, I bet 2024/2025)
7. Fairgame$ (TBA, I bet 2024/2025)
8. Marathon (TBA, I bet late 2024 or early 2025)
9. The Last of Us Online (TBA, I bet 2025)
10. Horizon Online (TBA, I bet 2025)
11. Sony London hero shooter new IP, (TBA, I bet early 2026)
12. Other Bungie new IP (TBA, I bet late 2025 or early 2026)
13. Deviation's new IP (TBA, maybe cancelled or rebooted I'd say 2026)

We also have to consider they also have Destiny 2 under post launch support development.

May also be under development in earlier stages to be released after March 2026:

• Unannounced Insomniac MP game (I'd bet 2027, crossgen launch PS6 game)
• My speculation: Ghost of Tsushima Legends 2 (I'd bet 2027, crossgen launch PS6 game)
• My speculation: Destiny 3 (I'd bet 2027, crossgen launch PS6 game)

They can't leave TM till 2025, isn't the show out already?

We don't know if they have a TM game under development. Sounds realistic but as of now but it isn't oficially confirmed, it's only a rumor.

In case of being under development, we have no idea about its potential release date. Rumors said that in January 2022 was moved from Lucid to Firesprite. If Lucid started to work on it after the Playstation Destruction All Stars release then it would only have around 1 year of development by then, and that now would only have 2 years and a half of development (not enough to be released, would need pretty likely a year or two more).

Being moved to another studio leads to think that the game didn't look good and needed important changes, so maybe its development got rebooted and its release delayed. Or maybe they moved it to another studio because Lucid was going to be acquired by someone else.

Is that the timeline? Are Sony just incompetent?

We don't know the timeline, I made a guess above. Sony isn't incompetent, they are one of the most productive and best performer big publishers.

In addition to this big chunk of GaaS they released / will release an even way bigger chunk of non GaaS games, including many GOTY winners or candidates (GoWR, HFW, Spider-Man 2, Wolverine, Death Stranding 2, Cory's new IP...) plus VR games and PC ports.

 

[Perrott]

They said ten PS Studios franchises by March 2026, later when acquired Bungie mentioned 12 games under development.

Their initial statement was about having 11 active live-services franchises (in addition to MLB The Show, the only one of their games considered a live-service, which GT7 wasn't in their eyes) by the end of the FY ending in March 2026.

 

[Yurinka]

Their initial statement was about having 11 active live-services franchises (in addition to MLB The Show, the only one of their games considered a live-service, which GT7 wasn't in their eyes) by the end of the FY ending in March 2026.

In this slide they said 12 GaaS released by March 2012.

Gran Turismo not being listed there as GT7 doesn't mean they don't consider a GaaS. In the same way that Days Gone not being listed in the other group doesn't mean they consider Days Gone a GaaS or a MP game.

There are many IPs missing in both sides of the chart. Not only GT7, in the GaaS there are other missing like Dreams or PlayStation Destruction All Stars, while in the SP part there are a ton missing.

That single player game catalog vs live services game catalog didn't include all the games they had in each side, it was just to illustrate that their catalog focused on non GaaS SP games so they wanted to push the GaaS part.

It is super obvious that Gran Turismo 7 is a live service game, in the same way as Gran Turismo Sport already was. In fact, MLB The Show 21 already was a GaaS too: that IP made the jump to GaaS in FY20, not in FY21.

Regarding the graph of projected number of GaaS released by March 2026 should also be taken with a grain of salt: it's orientative, to show they are working in around a dozen games planned to be released around these years. In game development it's common to see some games delayed, and from time to time one of them canned. They also were acquiring Bungie so knew that this graph soon was going to change.

 

[Vertigo]

There is no third Bungie game for 2025 that isn’t a mobile game. That’s hopium from fans who continuously ignore that Marathon is 100% codename Matter. Please stop spreading that bullshit. The Microsoft document fielding for Bungie acquisition was way before Sony bought them and way before Marathon was officially announced and that’s where the false assumptions come from.

Matter is Marathon. The end.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

The original schedule (that didn't include Bungie) probably looked something like this:

• 2 Games in FY22 (by April 2023): Firewall Ultra, Helldivers II.
• 3 Games in FY23 (by April 2024): Concord, The Last Of Us, Twisted Metal (?).
• 4 Games in FY24 (by April 2025): Deviation's MP game (?), FAIRGAME$, Firesprite's MP game, Horizon.
• 2 Games in FY25 (by April 2026): Insomniac's MP game, London's MP game.

But with all the delays and cancellations that there's been plus the addition of Bungie, I bet it currently looks like this:

• 2 Games in FY23 (by April 2024): Firewall Ultra, Helldivers II.
• 4 Games in FY24 (by April 2025): Concord, FAIRGAME$, Marathon, The Last Of Us.
• 3 Games in FY25 (by April 2026): Horizon, London's MP game, Twisted Metal.

Firesprite's action shooter and Deviation's new IP have been cancelled, while Insomniac's multiplayer game would likely be pushed out of the "by April 2026" window due to how the majority of the studio is going to be busy getting Marvel's Wolverine out of the door in 2025.

It's funny that we know more about Sony's GaaS/live-service plans than traditional game plans, and yet we have seen little to nothing for most of the games listed here aside from Helldivers 2.

Just really puts things into perspective ATM.

 

[Perrott]

It's funny that we know more about Sony's GaaS/live-service plans than traditional game plans, and yet we have seen little to nothing for most of the games listed here aside from Helldivers 2.

Just really puts things into perspective ATM.

 

[Vertigo]

VR… lols.

What a bust that shit was … again.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Sony working on their GAAS pipeline:

 

[Yurinka]

It's funny that we know more about Sony's GaaS/live-service plans than traditional game plans, and yet we have seen little to nothing for most of the games listed here aside from Helldivers 2.

Just really puts things into perspective ATM.

We know that GaaS (which also include MLB or GT7, their first one isn't Helldivers 2) are a minority of the games they have under development and that they'll also increase their investment in non-GaaS games.

The big GaaS push was something that makes sense looking at how the market evolved in the last decade, is new for their strategy and will require a big investment, so they had to mention it to their investors that they are working on it and why, that's all.

There is no third Bungie game for 2025 that isn’t a mobile game.

According to Bungie in addition to more Destiny 2 they had 'at least' one new IP to be released before 2025/2026 (can't remember the exact year), meaning that they are working at least one more in addition to Marathon to be released around there and if not maybe a year or two later.

Bungie also has enough people to be working in over half a dozen AAA games. They may also be working on a mobile game, but probably will be developed mostly by an external mobile gaming team.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

We know that GaaS (which also include MLB or GT7, their first one isn't Helldivers 2) are a minority of the games they have under development and that they'll also increase their investment in non-GaaS games.

Again, it's not about the total number of games they have in development. It's about what we know and are hearing about currently. We don't know how long some of the non-GaaS titles have been in development, we could be looking at games taking until the end of the generation to come out. We don't know how many are sequels vs new IP. We don't know how many are AAA vs AA (which could influence the rate in which we see those games released).

And even beyond that, we don't know how many are actual new games, vs. say PC ports of older games that could be counted as games under development or labeled remasters (or remakes, even), among other things. And the fact is, in terms of 1P games coming within the next year or so, we have heard and seen more of the live-service/GaaS titles than traditional titles from Sony.

The big GaaS push was something that makes sense looking at how the market evolved in the last decade, is new for their strategy and will require a big investment, so they had to mention it to their investors that they are working on it and why, that's all.

I'm not saying they're wrong for communicating about the GaaS titles to investors. The current issue is that combined with having shown so little of their non-GaaS lineup beyond Spiderman 2, aside from a trailer for Wolverine from 2021.

Are enthusiast fans who purchased a PS5 for 1P non-GaaS titles, not investors themselves in a sense?

 

[Yurinka]

Again, it's not about the total number of games they have in development. It's about what we know and are hearing about currently. We don't know how long some of the non-GaaS titles have been in development, we could be looking at games taking until the end of the generation to come out. We don't know how many are sequels vs new IP. We don't know how many are AAA vs AA (which could influence the rate in which we see those games released).


And even beyond that, we don't know how many are actual new games, vs. say PC ports of older games that could be counted as games under development or labeled remasters (or remakes, even), among other things. And the fact is, in terms of 1P games coming within the next year or so, we have heard and seen more of the live-service/GaaS titles than traditional titles from Sony.

I'm not saying they're wrong for communicating about the GaaS titles to investors. The current issue is that combined with having shown so little of their non-GaaS lineup beyond Spiderman 2, aside from a trailer for Wolverine from 2021.

Are enthusiast fans who purchased a PS5 for 1P non-GaaS titles, not investors themselves in a sense?

Hermen said PS Studios had over 25 games under development. We estimated that specially including VR should be over 30 who knows if even 40. Since then they also have Bungie and signed a few 2nd party Asian ones which may or may not be already included there. Out of them, 12 games are GaaS. This is a minority of their catalog.

Since then they released multiple GaaS and non GaaS games. We don't know the exact amount of games they have in the works, but we know that a majority of them aren't GaaS.

We know that in 2025, 60% of their games budget will be for GaaS. This means money invested that year, not amount of games. What is special from GaaS is that they get supported -if successful- during years after release, so they don't stop their marketing and development budget when they release the game: they keep having a signifiant budget after launch. Meaning, that an important part of that estimated 60% will be for GaaS released that year before.

In a previous post I mentioned the announced or rumored GaaS. As I remember, the non-GaaS games that Sony has announced or officially mentioned are (I may be forgetting some) :

• Stellar Blade (2023)
• Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (2023)
• Rise of the Ronin (2024)
• Wolverine (TBA, 2024?)
• Death Stranding 2 (TBA, 2024/2025?)
• Cory's new IP (TBA, 2024/2025?)
• Team Asobi's next game (TBA,, 2024/2025?)
• Next GoW, set in a new mythology (TBA)
• At least one SP ND game (TBA)
• Horizon 3 (TBA)
• Project Boundary (China Hero Project)
• Lost Soul Aside (China Hero Project)
• Convallaria (China Hero Project)
• RAN: Lost Islands (China Hero Project)
• Exiledge (China Hero Project)
• AI-Limit (China Hero Project)
• Daba: Land of Water (China Hero Project)
• Dark Star (China Hero Project)
• The Wind Rising (China Hero Project)
• The God Slayer (China Hero Project)
• Awaken: Astral Blade (China Hero Project)
• Will-less (China Hero Project)
• Evotiction (China Hero Project)

15 Asian 2nd party games to be published by their XDEV Japanese team (now in charge of publishing all their 2nd party Asian games, not only the Japanese ones), which was part of Japan Studio before getting their own office. Not bad for a team that according to some flat earthers in this forum doesn't exist because was shutted down.

Unknown if GaaS or not, some of them not likely:

• Housemarque next game
• Ballistic Moon new IP
• Media Molecule's next game
• Bend new IP featuring MP
• Firesprite unannounced game featuring MP
• Sucker Punch unannounced game featuring MP
• Insomniac unannounced game featuring MP

 

[Vertigo]

We know that GaaS (which also include MLB or GT7, their first one isn't Helldivers 2) are a minority of the games they have under development and that they'll also increase their investment in non-GaaS games.

The big GaaS push was something that makes sense looking at how the market evolved in the last decade, is new for their strategy and will require a big investment, so they had to mention it to their investors that they are working on it and why, that's all.


According to Bungie in addition to more Destiny 2 they had 'at least' one new IP to be released before 2025/2026 (can't remember the exact year), meaning that they are working at least one more in addition to Marathon to be released around there and if not maybe a year or two later.

Bungie also has enough people to be working in over half a dozen AAA games. They may also be working on a mobile game, but probably will be developed mostly by an external mobile gaming team.

When they said debut new IP before 2025 they 100% meant what end up being called Marathon. Marathon is essentially a IP relaunch after being dead for almost 30 years now. The game started as Activision’s Destiny pvepvp overworld concept and then became its own thing.

Chris Barrett’s streamer wife, the game’s director, hinted that Marathon was Matter the day the trailer dropped in a congratulations tweet to her husband.

Anything else is fanboy hopium…

 

[Muddasar]

When they said debut new IP before 2025 they 100% meant what end up being called Marathon. Marathon is essentially a IP relaunch after being dead for almost 30 years now. The game started as Activision’s Destiny pvepvp overworld concept and then became its own thing.

Chris Barrett’s streamer wife, the game’s director, hinted that Marathon was Matter the day the trailer dropped in a congratulations tweet to her husband.

Anything else is fanboy hopium…

So Bungie currently have Destiny 2 Add-ons in development, Marathon and a Destiny mobile RPG with a South Korean developer?