Bend Studio, the developer behind Days Gone, remains committed to creating exciting new projects despite Sony's recent cancellation of their unannounced live-service game. This follows Sony's decision to also cancel an unannounced live-service God of War title in development at Bluepoint Games. While neither studio is closing, Sony acknowledged the challenges faced in the live-service market, citing the failures of projects like Concord, a game that was shut down shortly after launch due to low player numbers. This cancellation follows the earlier termination 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 intention to continue creating "cool shit." Their last release was Days Gone in 2019, subsequently ported to PC in 2021.
Sony's financial call shed light on the lessons learned from both the successful launch of Helldivers 2 and the failure of Concord. Sony's president, COO, and CFO, Hiroki Totoki, attributed Concord's failure to several factors, including a delayed internal evaluation process and a siloed organizational structure hindering collaboration. He emphasized the need for earlier user testing and improved inter-departmental communication. The game's release window, coinciding with the launch of Black Myth: Wukong, may have also contributed to its poor performance. Sony senior vice president for finance and IR Sadahiko Hayakawa further highlighted the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord, emphasizing the importance of applying lessons learned across their studios. Sony plans to balance its portfolio with single-player titles, leveraging established IP, alongside live-service games, acknowledging the inherent risks involved. Several PlayStation live-service games remain in development, including Marathon (Bungie), Horizon Online (Guerrilla), and Fairgame$ (Haven Studios).
