Bend Studio Vows to Create 'Cool Stuff' Despite Sony's Live Service Cancellation

The developer behind the popular game Days Gone, Bend Studio, has reassured fans that it remains committed to creating exciting new content despite the recent cancellation of its unannounced live-service game by parent company Sony. Last week, Sony made the decision to cancel two live-service projects, one from Bend Studio and another from Bluepoint Games, which was reportedly working on a live-service God of War game. A spokesperson from Sony confirmed these cancellations to Bloomberg, emphasizing that neither studio would be shut down and that they would collaborate on future projects.

Sony's efforts to expand into live-service gaming have faced significant challenges. While Helldivers 2 from Arrowhead Studios became a massive success, selling 12 million copies in just 12 weeks and becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game, other ventures have not fared as well. Concord, another Sony live-service title, experienced one of the most notable failures in PlayStation's history, being taken offline shortly after launch due to low player engagement. This led to its complete shutdown and the closure of its developer. The cancellation of Concord followed the earlier termination of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer project. Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida expressed that he would have resisted Sony's push into live-service games if he were still in a leadership role.

In response to these developments, Bend Studio's community manager, Kevin McAllister, took to Twitter to thank fans for their support and to assure them that the studio "still plan[s] on creating cool shit."

Bend Studio's most recent release was Days Gone in 2019 for the PlayStation 4, which later came to PC in 2021.

During a recent financial call, Sony president, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki discussed the lessons learned from the contrasting experiences of Helldivers 2 and Concord. He admitted that Sony should have implemented development checkpoints such as user testing and internal evaluations much earlier in the process for Concord. Totoki highlighted the need for earlier intervention to either improve the game before its release or to cancel it if necessary.

Totoki also criticized Sony's "siloed organization," suggesting that better cross-departmental collaboration and a more strategic release schedule could prevent issues like those seen with Concord, which launched shortly after the successful Black Myth: Wukong and may have suffered from market cannibalization.

Sony senior vice president for finance and IR, Sadahiko Hayakawa, compared the launches of Helldivers 2 and Concord during the same financial call, stating that the insights gained would be shared across Sony's studios. He emphasized the importance of strengthening development management systems and continuing to add content post-launch to maintain and grow live-service games.

Hayakawa also outlined Sony's strategy moving forward, which includes balancing their portfolio with both single-player games, leveraging their proven IPs, and live-service games that, while riskier, offer potential for significant growth.

Looking ahead, Sony has several live-service games in development, including Marathon from Bungie, Horizon Online from Guerrilla, and Fairgame$ from Haven Studio.