Bend Studio, the developer behind Days Gone, assures fans they're still committed to creating exciting new projects, despite Sony's cancellation of their 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 Sony confirmed the cancellations, emphasizing that neither studio would be closed and future projects are being planned, the move highlights the challenges Sony has faced in the live-service market.
Sony's foray into live-service gaming has been a mixed bag. The resounding success of Helldivers 2, a PlayStation Studios record-breaker with 12 million sales in just 12 weeks, stands in stark contrast to the failures of other ventures. The disastrous launch and subsequent shutdown of Concord, described as one of PlayStation's biggest gaming failures, underscores the risks involved. This follows the earlier cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer project. Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida even commented that he would have resisted Sony's aggressive push into live-service games.
Bend Studio's community manager, Kevin McAllister, offered reassurance to fans via Twitter, stating their continued commitment to developing "cool shit." Their last release was Days Gone in 2019 (PC release in 2021).
Sony's financial call shed light on the lessons learned from both Helldivers 2's triumph and Concord's failure. Hiroki Totoki, Sony's president, COO, and CFO, pointed to the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluation, suggesting that Concord's problems should have been identified and addressed much sooner. He also cited Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's unfortunate release window, close to Black Myth: Wukong, as contributing factors. Sadahiko Hayakawa, Sony's senior vice president for finance and IR, further emphasized the importance of sharing lessons learned from both successes and failures across their studios, focusing on improved development management and post-launch content strategies.
Despite these setbacks, Sony continues to pursue live-service games, with projects like Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$ still in development.
