The developer behind Days Gone, Bend Studio, remains optimistic about future projects despite Sony's recent cancellation of their unannounced live-service game. Last week, Sony pulled the plug on two live-service titles in development at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games. While Bluepoint was reportedly working on a live-service God of War game, as revealed by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, the specifics of Bend Studio’s project remain undisclosed. A Sony spokesperson confirmed these cancellations to Bloomberg, emphasizing that neither studio would be shut down and that Sony would collaborate with them to define their next endeavors.
Sony's venture into live-service gaming has faced significant challenges. While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 soared to become the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever, selling 12 million copies in just 12 weeks, other attempts like Sony’s Concord have met with failure. Concord, hailed as one of PlayStation's biggest flops, was taken offline after just a few weeks due to dismal player engagement and was ultimately canceled, leading to the closure of its developer. This setback followed the cancellation of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us multiplayer game. Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida expressed that he would have resisted Sony’s live-service push if he were in the position of current Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst.
In response to the cancellations, Bend Studio community manager Kevin McAllister reassured fans via a tweet, stating, “Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those that have reached out. P.S. We still plan on creating cool shit.” Bend Studio’s most recent release was Days Gone in 2019 for PlayStation 4, which later saw a PC release in 2021.
During a recent financial call, Sony president, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki reflected on the contrasting fortunes of Helldivers 2 and Concord. He admitted that Sony should have implemented development gates like user testing and internal evaluations much earlier in Concord’s development cycle. Totoki suggested that earlier intervention could have allowed Sony to either improve the game or cancel it before its troubled launch. He also criticized Sony’s “siloed organization” and the timing of Concord’s release, which coincided with the successful launch of Black Myth: Wukong, potentially leading to market cannibalization.
Totoki emphasized the need for better coordination across Sony’s organizational boundaries and more strategic release timing to avoid cannibalization and maximize title performance. Sony senior vice president for finance and IR Sadahiko Hayakawa echoed these sentiments, highlighting the lessons learned from the successes and failures of Helldivers 2 and Concord. He stated that these insights would be shared across Sony’s studios to enhance development management and post-launch content strategies.
Hayakawa also outlined Sony’s plan to build an optimal portfolio that balances single-player games, which have proven successful due to established IPs, with live-service games that offer growth potential despite their inherent risks. Looking ahead, Sony continues to develop several live-service titles, including Bungie’s Marathon, Guerrilla’s Horizon Online, and Haven Studio’s Fairgame$.
