Following a rocky streak of live-service game flops, PlayStation is giving it another shot—this time with a new studio led by veterans from Fortnite and Roblox.
The move comes amid speculation that Sony was backing away from its live-service ambitions, especially after the commercial and critical disaster of its high-budget hero shooter Concord.
On Wednesday, May 7, Sony unveiled Team LFG , a new development team featuring talent from Fortnite, Roblox, Rec Room, Destiny, and other studios, alongside newcomers bringing “fresh perspectives.”
The studio’s mission is to create “immersive multiplayer worlds propelled by action gameplay that players can learn, play, and master for countless hours.”
According to Team LFG, its debut project will draw inspiration from platformers, life simulation games, and what it cryptically described as “frog-type games.”
The title will reportedly be set in a “lighthearted, comedic world set in a brand-new, mythic, science-fantasy universe.”
This initiative marks Sony’s renewed attempt to capture the elusive live-service game hit that has so far escaped its grasp.
In 2024, Sony released Concord, an eight-year-in-development hero shooter. It was pulled from availability just two weeks after launch due to a lack of player interest and an oversaturated market.
Sony had initially pledged to release up to ten live-service games by 2026, but most of those projects have since been delayed, restructured, or canceled entirely.
Internally, these failures have reportedly caused strategic tensions on where best to take the company, which has traditionally focused on single-player experiences.
The creation of Team LFG reflects Sony’s ongoing commitment to establishing a franchise that can provide long-term, consistent revenue, something similar to the properties many of its new hires have worked on previously.
The influence of Fortnite is expected to weigh heavily on the new PlayStation studio’s work.
Several of its team members previously worked at Epic Games and other studios that have deep experience in large-scale, multiplayer live-service titles.
As Fortnite evolves beyond its battle royale origins into a multifaceted social platform, complete with concerts, creator tools, and cross-brand integrations, Sony appears determined to claim a similar space in its ecosystem.
This isn’t Sony’s first brush with the metaverse, either. The company invested in Epic Games in both 2021 and 2022, citing shared ambitions in digital entertainment and real-time 3D technologies.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has credited those investments with helping shape Fortnite’s evolution into a metaverse platform.
After a string of failures, Sony desperately needs a win in the live-service space. Whether Team LFG can deliver remains to be seen.