Bend Studio Vows to Create Awesome Content Despite Sony's Live Service Cancellation

The team behind Days Gone recently reassured fans following Sony's decision to cancel two unannounced live-service games, one of which was reportedly a live-service God of War title developed by Bluepoint Games. Bend Studio's project remains undisclosed.

Despite the cancellations, Sony confirmed that neither studio will be shuttered, and efforts will focus on identifying new directions for their teams. This move follows a string of challenges in Sony's live-service ventures, with notable exceptions like Helldivers 2, which quickly became the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios title ever.

Sony’s live-service strategy has faced significant hurdles, highlighted by the premature shutdown of Concord, which lasted mere weeks before being pulled offline. The game’s failure followed the cancellation of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us multiplayer project. Former PlayStation head Shuhei Yoshida expressed regret over Sony’s aggressive live-service push.

In response to the cancellations, Bend Studio’s community manager, Kevin McAllister, shared a brief message with fans: "Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those who reached out. P.S. We still plan on creating cool stuff."

Bend Studio’s latest release was Days Gone in 2019, which later made its way to PC in 2021. During a recent financial call, Sony president Hiroki Totoki acknowledged lessons learned from both Helldivers 2’s success and Concord’s failure. Totoki emphasized the importance of earlier user testing and internal evaluations to prevent similar issues in the future.

Sony’s “siloed organization” and overlapping release schedules were also cited as contributing factors to Concord’s struggles. Totoki noted that smoother coordination between departments could have mitigated these issues.

Sony’s finance chief, Sadahiko Hayakawa, highlighted the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord, emphasizing shared learnings across the company. Looking ahead, Sony aims to balance single-player titles with live-service games, leveraging proven IPs while managing risks.

Several live-service projects remain in development, including Marathon from Bungie, Horizon Online from Guerrilla, and Fairgame$ from Haven Studio.