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 reportedly a God of War game from Bluepoint Games, and another from Bend Studio. While neither studio will be closed, Sony will collaborate with them on future endeavors.

Sony's foray into live-service gaming has faced significant challenges. While Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, other ventures, including the ill-fated Concord, have faltered. Concord's swift demise, marked by extremely low player counts, prompted Sony to shut down its developer. This follows the earlier cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer project. Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida even suggested he would have resisted Sony's aggressive push into live-service games.

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

Sony's financial call revealed insights into the lessons learned from both Helldivers 2's triumph and Concord's failure. Hiroki Totoki, Sony's president, COO, and CFO, highlighted the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations to identify and address problems before launch or even cancel projects earlier. He also pointed to Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's unfortunate release window, potentially leading to market cannibalization, as contributing factors.

Sadahiko Hayakawa, Sony's senior vice president for finance and IR, emphasized the valuable lessons gleaned from both successes and failures, intending to share this knowledge across studios to improve development management and post-launch support. Sony plans a balanced portfolio, combining its established strengths in single-player games with calculated risks in the live-service arena.

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