Looks like Jimbo was fired/forced to resign after multiple failed GaaS games. Factions wasnt the only one. he invested in that ex-treyarch studio that ended up laying off 50% of its studio without ever showing the game sony paid for 3 years ago. That game is likely just as dead as Factions.
Then you have GG doing horizon online which we havent seen despite them hiring mp directors from Rainbow six some 4 years ago. Insomniac was doing some marvel trash online gaas game that was probably canned after the poor reception of suicide squad at a Playstaiton State of Play that all but killed the game even if it gets released some day. My guess is that the tide started turning then. The vitroil for the gaas elements of that game were so intense that everyone probably looked at that and said we are next if we show our gaas game.
Given Sony's track record with big budget SP games and the fact they make $2 billion profit per year from their gaming division ($3 billion per year during covid), they got shit loads of money to make more high quality SP games. Even the ones that dont sell great (according to their standards like DG and Ghosts still sell like 8-10M copies).
If a AAA SP game takes 5 years to make and $200M costs, that's only $40M per year. They make $2B profit per year from gaming alone.
Then when the game launches, rake in the sales. The industry is skewing a bit more and more to digital too every year so that means they rake it all in. SP games are front loaded too, so a lot of sales will be full price. Unless Sony makes a real clunker, it'll for sure be profitable.
Problem with many big corporations is they often gun for big sales. They dont want to dick around with smaller sales because they think it's a waste of time or looks bad image wise. Who cares. As long youve got some people to make it and its a good product that makes some profit, do it.
Every major car ompany makes their share of bottom, mid, top tier cars. And likely also make SUVs or pick ups too. Its a wide net. But out of all those vehicles only some models will be the big sales. Many will sell meh, but as long as you make some profit, it's worth it.
I dont know how many product my company sells, but add it up globally there's got to be 1,000s. it's not like we say hey lets all funnel R&D to certain brands. Weve got so many brands and products to cater to everyone, including the hassle of shipping, manufacturing, refunds, broken pallets etc.... if our kinds of companies can figure it out tech companies should too. Not every product line has to be a billion dollar brand.