Summary
Sony Interactive Entertainment Head of Internal Production Connie Booth was fired over the company’s growing focus on making live servicePlayStationgames, according to a newly emerged report. Thenews of Booth’s departure from PlayStationfirst surfaced online in late October and is still awaiting an official confirmation.
ThePlayStation maker started pivoting toward live service gamesin 2022, having publicly stated as much on several occasions. Its strategic shift toward this brand of interactive experiences started with the $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie, which previously pioneered the contemporary games-as-a-service (GAAS) business model with theDestinyseries.
But Sony’s transition toward live service games has so far been anything but smooth, having reportedly been responsible for Booth’s departure from the gaming giant, among other difficulties. That’s according to David Jaffe, a former SIE employee andGod of Warcreator who previously broke the news of the executive’s firing. In an October 25 video posted to his YouTube channel, Jaffe provided some clarification on his original scoop, having asserted that Booth’s removal from the company started with Sony’s pivot toward live servicePlayStationgames.
Many SIE studios were reportedly unhappy with that directive, not least because they previously spent decades working on cinematic single-player experiences, thus feeling that the company’s leadership was no longer using them to their strengths. The discontent is said to have reached unprecedented heights with therecent cancelation ofThe Last of Usmultiplayer game, which still hasn’t been officially confirmed. Nevertheless, the company-wide dissatisfaction was “somehow” blamed on Booth, Jaffe reports, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
SIE’s long-time executive, who also served as its Senior Vice President since late 2020, was consequently fired with little notice, as per the same report. It’s understood that the vast majority of her team also left the company by now, although it’s unclear whether those additional departures were a result of firings, protest resignations, or both. It’s equally fuzzy who pulled the trigger on Booth’s purported termination. Jaffe reports that PlayStation Studios Head Hermen Hulst was allegedly in favor of “cutting” the company’s Japanese studios in the past, speculatively suggesting how that might have prompted a clash with Booth.
Despite all of this alleged turmoil, SIE’s GAAS focus is only expected to grow moving forward. The strategic shift was started by Jim Ryan, the outgoingPlayStation CEO who previously claimed live service games will overtake subscription offeringslike PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass. And while Ryan is planning to step down and retire in March 2024, Sony will plausibly keep following the GAAS course he set following his departure.
MORE:Gaming’s Live-Service Focus Will Have to Face the Reaper Sooner or Later
