Playstation Boss Says Company Now does ‘Much More Rigorous and More Frequent Testing’ after Concord’s Failure – IGN

After a high-profile failure in concord and a high-profile success in astro bot last year, playstation is looking to adjust its strategy to incorporate fewer Oversight of its Owned Studios.

In an interview with financial time, Playstation Ceo Hermen Hulst Says The Company Is Hoping to Mitigate Future Big, Expected Risks with Future Games. “I don’t want teams to always play it safe, but I would like for us, when we fail, to fail early and cheaply.”

Concord was not a cheap failure. Analysts Estimate Sony Spent Around $ 250m on the game, only for it to sell so poorly that Sony shut it down two weeks after launch, and shutterred its Developer, Firewalk Studios, Not Longong after. By contrast, astro bot also launched last year to universal acclaim, winning multiple awards and selling 2.3 million copies as of March 2025, One of the Best-Selling Games Eon PlayStation 5.

The differences between the two games are myrid, and their development stories are quite different as well. But what hullst has taken away from this is that there needs to be more supervision of Sony’s Owned Studios to Ensure That Games Verating in the Direction of Concord are spoken before they are better experts, so They can be canceled or corrected in time.

“We have since put in place much more rigorous and more frequent testing in very many many different ways,” HULST Said. “The advantage of every failure.. [oversight] is. “

Financial Times Spoke to Multiple Sony Studio Heads, Who said that this oversight means more focus on group testing, More Communication Between internal Sony Studios, and Closer Relationships BetWeen The StodiPes BetWeen The Stodi Executives. “If we’re heading towards a giant landmine, like there’s another studio making exactly the same game, that’s good information,” said Jason connell, art director at ghost of yōtei studi

That comments rings especially poignant in light of concord’s failure, which analysts say Occurred for a number of reasons, incidence an oversaturation of multiplayer, live services. HULST SUGGESTS In the Interview That PlayStation is in Intent on Churning Out Live Service Games as it used to be. That said, playstation does have bungie’s marathon coming up before March 2026, a game that has a number of bungie fans fans concerned amid delays, staff layoffs, and a general Lack of Information AS on What the Game Entails.

But there’s another strategy hulst also walls to Pursue: He Wants more, Massive Sony IP. Astro bot’s success has come about over the course of multiple games, with the little robot icon growing in popularity Each time. According to Financial Times, HULST WANTS STUDIOS to Be Thinking About How their IP Can Be Turned Into Bigger and Bigger Frenchies over time, Folling in the Footstps of the Last of Us and UNCHARATED. “We take a very intensive approach to IP creation..

Currently on the Docket, PlayStation Has Ghost of Yōtei and Lost Soul Aside Coming This Year, with Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls and HouseMarque’s Saros for 2026. Wolverine, Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The heretic prophet, Marathon, and more remain in the works.

Rebekah Valentine is a Senior Reporter for ign. You can find her posting on bluesky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a Story Tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.