Bend Studio, the developer behind Days Gone, remains committed to creating exciting new games despite Sony's cancellation of their unannounced live-service title. This follows Sony's recent decision to scrap two unannounced live-service projects, one from Bend Studio and another from Bluepoint Games (reportedly a God of War live-service game). While Sony confirmed the cancellations, assuring that neither studio would be closed and that future projects would be explored, the move highlights the challenges Sony has faced in the live-service market.
Sony's foray into live-service gaming has yielded mixed results. While Helldivers 2 achieved phenomenal success, becoming PlayStation Studios' fastest-selling game ever, other ventures like Concord proved disastrous, shutting down after a short period due to low player numbers. This followed the 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, reassured fans via Twitter, stating their continued commitment to developing "cool stuff." 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 success and Concord's failure. Hiroki Totoki, Sony's president, COO, and CFO, attributed Concord's issues to delayed user testing and internal evaluations, suggesting earlier intervention could have prevented the game's downfall. He also cited Sony's siloed organizational structure 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, emphasized the lessons learned from both games and the intention to share this knowledge across studios, focusing on improved development management and post-launch content strategies. Sony plans to balance its portfolio with both single-player titles (leveraging established IPs) and live-service games, acknowledging the inherent risks involved.
Despite the setbacks, several PlayStation live-service games are still under development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.
