Last year, the publisher saw its first-party live-service title Concord crash and burn - with the game being pulled from shelves and cancelled entirely shortly after its release in August 2024 - and now Sony Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao has admitted development setbacks have created turbulence across its portfolio.

Speaking during a financial call, she said: “In terms of the transformation, it’s not entirely going smoothly, but from a longer-term perspective, if you look at the changes over five years, you see that there has definitely been change.

“Of course, we recognize that there are still issues – many issues – so we should learn lessons from mistakes and make sure that we introduce live service content, where there’s less waste and it’s more smooth.” 

Sony was due to to launch its next live-service game Marathon - developed by Bungie - in September, though the studio delayed it indefinitely.

Even so, Tao insisted the financial impact of pushing back Marathon would be minor, and insisted Sony still intended on releasing the game.

She said: “The sales [are] very small compared to the overall sales and the timing of launch.

“We expect the launch to happen within this fiscal year. But having said that, this is not a commitment, and no official announcement has been given yet.

“Based on the progress [made] in the Autumn timeframe, we believe we can communicate when we will be launching.

“We are now fixing the problems. So we believe this launch will happen. If this launch is cancelled, we need to do a revision of the valuation. However, as of now, this is not expected.”