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

The developer of Days Gone, Bend Studio, has reassured fans that it remains committed to creating exciting new content despite Sony's recent cancellation of its unannounced live-service game. Last week, Sony pulled the plug on two unannounced live-service projects, one from Bend Studio and the other from Bluepoint Games, with the latter reportedly being a live-service version of God of War, as reported by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier. While the specifics of Bend Studio's canceled project remain under wraps, a Sony spokesperson confirmed the cancellations to Bloomberg, emphasizing that neither studio would be closed and that Sony would collaborate with them to determine their next steps.

Sony's push into live-service games has faced significant challenges. Despite the success of Arrowhead's Helldivers 2, which sold a record-breaking 12 million copies in just 12 weeks, other efforts have either been canceled or met with disastrous launches. A notable example is Sony's Concord, which was one of the biggest flops in PlayStation history. Launched amidst low player numbers, it was taken offline within weeks and eventually discontinued, with its developer shut down. This came after Sony had already canceled Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer project. Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida expressed that he would have resisted Sony's aggressive live-service strategy if he were still in a leadership position.

In response to the cancellations and fan support, Bend Studio's community manager Kevin McAllister tweeted, "Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those that have reached out. P.S. We still plan on creating cool shit." This message highlights Bend Studio's determination to continue innovating despite setbacks. Their most recent release was Days Gone in 2019 for PlayStation 4, which later came to PC 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 had learned valuable lessons from both, particularly emphasizing the need for earlier and more rigorous development gates, such as user testing and internal evaluations. Totoki suggested that earlier intervention could have either improved Concord before its launch or led to its cancellation. He also pointed to Sony's "siloed organization" and the timing of Concord's release, which may have been overshadowed by the success of Black Myth: Wukong on PS5 and PC.

Totoki stressed the importance of breaking down organizational silos and optimizing release windows to avoid cannibalization and maximize performance. Sony senior vice president for finance and IR Sadahiko Hayakawa echoed these sentiments, highlighting the need to share lessons learned from both successes and failures across Sony's studios. This includes improving title development management and the process of continually adding content post-launch to strengthen the development management system.

Looking ahead, Sony aims to build an optimal title portfolio that balances single-player games, which have a higher predictability of success due to established IPs, with live-service games that offer potential upside despite the inherent risks. Several PlayStation live-service games are still in development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.