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Days Gone developer Bend Studio says it “still plans on creating cool shit”, following Sony’s decision to cancel its unannounced live-service game – amid claims Bend and the similarly affected Bluepoint only found out about the cancellations “at the same time as everyone else”.
Word that Sony had cancelled two more first-party live service games – this time in development at its Bend and Bluepoint studios – emerged via by Bloomberg last week. Sony, of course, announced plans to invest heavily in live service titles back in 2022, under the watch of then-PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, but the company has cancelled numerous live service games – including a co-op Spider-man from developer Insomniac, Naughty Dog‘s The Last of Us multiplayer game, and a Twisted Metal project at Firesprite – since Ryan’s departure last year.
As for the latest casualties of Sony’s apparent strategic rethink, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier claimed Bluepoint had been developing an unannounced live service God of War game. And while no details of Bend’s canned project were shared, the studio previously said it was working on a new IP which would include multiplayer and “[build] upon the open-world systems of Days Gone”. It’s unclear, however, if this is the same game that’s now been axed.
Regardless, Bend has now broken its silence following the news, thanking fans for their support and offering assurances it’s not done yet. “I’ll keep this short,” Bend community manager Kevin McAllister wrote in a message shared on social media. “Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those that have reached out. P.S. We still plan on creating cool shit.”
As to what’s next for Bluepoint and Bend, that remains uncertain. According to journalist Jeff Grubb in his latest Game Mess Mornings video show (thanks VGC), both teams have had little time to process the news. “The two studios found out at the same time as everyone else,” Grubb told listeners, “so people will be going into work today wondering, ‘Hey, okay, what are we doing next?’. And what they’re going to have to do next, very likely, is pitch something to Sony, and the landscape of that has changed pretty drastically.”
“A couple of years ago,” he continued, “you’d bring to PlayStation your pitch, that is: ‘It’s a live service game, we know you want to hear that’… And now they have to go back to the drawing board, and come up with a pitch that PlayStation wants to hear, when no one really knows what they want to hear, and so it’s a rough situation.”
Following last week’s cancellations, Sony told Bloomberg “neither of the two affected PlayStation studios will be shut down”, adding that the “highly accomplished teams” would be “working closely with each studio to determine what are the next projects”.
Sony’s continuing shift away from live service titles follows the high-profile failure of last year’s Concord, which was pulled from sale just two weeks after its launch amid low player numbers. Back in 2023 it was reported the company was “uncomfortable” about former PlayStation boss Jim Ryan’s decision to focus heavily on live service games.
Kurt Indovina
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