Bend Studio Dev Says 'We Still Plan on Creating Cool S**t' After Sony Live Service Cancelation

Bend Studio, the developer behind Days Gone, remains committed to creating exciting new projects despite Sony's cancellation of its unannounced live-service game. This follows Sony's recent decision to scrap two unannounced live-service titles, one from Bend Studio and another from Bluepoint Games (reportedly a God of War live-service game). While Sony confirmed the cancellations, assuring that both studios would remain open and would be assigned new projects, the move highlights the company's struggles in the live-service market.

Sony's foray into live-service gaming has been a mixed bag. The phenomenal success of Arrowhead's Helldivers 2, selling 12 million copies in just 12 weeks, stands in stark contrast to the failures of other ventures. The disastrous launch and subsequent shutdown of Concord, described as one of PlayStation's biggest gaming failures, underscores the challenges Sony faces. This follows the earlier cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer project. Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida even voiced his reservations about Sony's aggressive push into live-service games.

Bend Studio's community manager, Kevin McAllister, reassured fans via Twitter, stating their continued commitment to developing "cool stuff." Their last release was Days Gone in 2019 (with a PC port in 2021).

Sony's financial call revealed that the company is learning from both the success of Helldivers 2 and the failure of Concord. Hiroki Totoki, Sony's president, COO, and CFO, pointed to the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations in the development process, suggesting that Concord's issues should have been identified and addressed much sooner. He also cited Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's unfortunate release window (close to Black Myth: Wukong) as contributing factors. Sadahiko Hayakawa, Sony's senior vice president for finance and IR, further emphasized the lessons learned from both games' contrasting outcomes, highlighting the need for improved development management and post-launch content support. Sony plans to balance its portfolio, focusing on its strengths in single-player games while carefully managing the risks associated with live-service titles.

Despite these setbacks, several PlayStation live-service games are still under development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.