The developer behind the acclaimed game *Days Gone*, Bend Studio, remains optimistic about its future projects despite the recent cancellation of its unannounced live-service game by parent company Sony. Last week, Sony pulled the plug on two unannounced live-service projects, one from Bend Studio and another from Bluepoint Games, which was reportedly working on a live-service *God of War* game according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier. The specifics of Bend Studio's canceled project remain undisclosed.
A spokesperson from Sony confirmed these cancellations to Bloomberg, reassuring that neither studio will be closed. Instead, Sony plans to collaborate with both studios to define their next steps. This move comes amidst Sony's broader struggles with its live-service strategy. While Arrowhead's *Helldivers 2* achieved remarkable success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, other attempts at live-service games have either been canceled or faced severe launch issues.
Sony's *Concord* is a notable example of these struggles, marking one of the most significant flops in PlayStation's history. It lasted only a few weeks before being taken offline due to extremely low player engagement, leading Sony to ultimately terminate the game and shut down its developer. This setback followed the cancellation of Naughty Dog’s *The Last of Us* multiplayer game. Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida recently expressed that, had he been in the position of current Sony Interactive Entertainment Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst, he would have resisted Sony's push towards live-service games.
In response to the recent developments, Bend Studio's community manager Kevin McAllister took to social media to thank fans for their support and hinted at future endeavors, stating, "Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those that have reached out. P.S. We still plan on creating cool shit."
Bend Studio's most recent release was *Days Gone* in 2019 for the PlayStation 4, which later saw a PC release in 2021. In a recent financial call, Sony's president, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki reflected on the contrasting fortunes 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 suggested that earlier intervention could have either improved the game before its launch or led to its timely cancellation.
Totoki also criticized Sony's "siloed organization" and the timing of *Concord*'s release, which coincided with the launch of the successful *Black Myth: Wukong* on PS5 and PC, potentially leading to market cannibalization. He emphasized the need for better cross-organizational collaboration and more strategic release timing to avoid such issues in the future.
During the same financial call, Sony's senior vice president for finance and IR, Sadahiko Hayakawa, compared the launches of *Helldivers 2* and *Concord*, highlighting the lessons learned from both successes and failures. Hayakawa stressed the importance of sharing these insights across Sony's studios to enhance development management and post-launch content strategies. He also outlined Sony's intention to build a balanced portfolio that includes both single-player games, leveraging Sony's proven IPs, and live-service games that carry inherent risks but offer potential for significant rewards.
Looking ahead, Sony continues to develop several live-service titles, including Bungie's *Marathon*, Guerrilla's *Horizon Online*, and Haven Studio's *Fairgame$*, indicating a persistent commitment to this challenging yet potentially lucrative market segment.
