It appears that the folks leading the way at Sony are not afraid to keep trying. In this case, it concerns the live-service genre and the company’s insistence on making it work. After the cancellation of several unannounced live service titles, the company has announced a new first-party studio to continue that line of work. TeamLFG is made up of industry veterans, and is hard at work developing its new game.
“TeamLFG originated at Bungie, but has also rallied developers from across the industry to bring to life an ambitious incubation project that I’m very excited about,” Sony’s Hermen Hulst said in the annoucement. “The studio is now fully formed and ready to be introduced to the world.”
The team counts the likes of Halo, Destiny, League of Legends, Fortnite, Roblox, and Rec Room as some of the titles the developers have worked on. Together with more newcomers to the industry with fresh perspectives and skills, the hope is that they can create live service magic.
“We want our players to feel excited when they log on to discover their teammates already hanging out online. We want our players to recognize familiar names and to make myths and memes out of each other. We want our players to love remembering that one time where they pulled off That Play that changed the whole story of the match,” the studio explained.
“We will make immersive multiplayer worlds propelled by action games that players can learn, play, and master for countless hours. We want to build our games with our communities, inviting players to be a part of our development process through early access playtests. It’s critical that we stay nimble enough to react to player feedback, not just in our lead-up to launch, but throughout live service as we continue to grow the game and community for years to come.”
The game is positioned as a “team-based action game that draws inspiration from fighting games, platformers, MOBAs, life sims, and frog-type games,” and it will all unfold “in a lighthearted, comedic world set in brand-new, mythic, science-fantasy universe.” If that sounds like the secret project known as Gummy Bears, the similarities are quite clear.
While no one wants anything to fail, the disaster that was Concord and the subsequent cancellation of similar projects don’t bode well for TeamLFG. Even Marathon, led by Bungie, is likely to face difficulties in succeeding.
