Bend Studio Vows to Innovate Post-Cancellation

Bend Studio, the developer behind Days Gone, assures fans that they're still committed to creating exciting new projects, despite Sony's recent cancellation of their unannounced live-service game. This follows Sony's decision to scrap two unannounced live-service titles – one from Bend Studio and another from Bluepoint Games (reportedly a God of War live-service title). While Sony confirmed the cancellations, they also stated that neither studio would be closed and that future projects would be collaboratively determined.

Sony's foray into live-service gaming has been a mixed bag. The phenomenal success of Helldivers 2, achieving record-breaking sales, stands in stark contrast to the failures of other ventures. The swift demise of Concord, a significant PlayStation flop, highlights the challenges faced. 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 live-service push.

Bend Studio's community manager, Kevin McAllister, tweeted a reassuring message to fans, promising continued development of "cool stuff." Their last release, Days Gone, launched in 2019 for PlayStation 4 and later on PC in 2021.

Sony's financial call revealed that the company is analyzing both the successes (Helldivers 2) and failures (Concord). Sony's president, Hiroki Totoki, attributed Concord's failure to several factors: inadequate early user testing and internal evaluations, a siloed organizational structure hindering collaboration, and an unfortunate release window that may have led to market cannibalization with Black Myth: Wukong.

Sony's senior vice president, Sadahiko Hayakawa, emphasized the valuable lessons learned from both Helldivers 2 and Concord, stressing the importance of improved development management and post-launch content support. The company plans to balance its portfolio, leveraging its strong single-player franchises while strategically managing the risks associated with live-service games.

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$.