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, according to Jason Schreier of Bloomberg). 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 been a mixed bag. The success of Arrowhead's Helldivers 2, a record-breaking PlayStation Studios title, stands in stark contrast to the failures of other ventures. The abrupt shutdown of Concord, a significant PlayStation flop, and the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer project underscore these difficulties. 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 dedication to creating "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, attributed Concord's downfall to several factors, including delayed user testing and internal evaluations, a siloed organizational structure, and an unfortunate release window coinciding with Black Myth: Wukong. Sadahiko Hayakawa, Sony's senior vice president for finance and IR, emphasized the valuable lessons learned from both successes and failures, promising to share these insights across studios to improve future development and management.
Despite these setbacks, Sony continues to invest in live-service games, with titles like Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$ still in development. The future of PlayStation's live-service strategy remains to be seen, but the company's commitment to learning from past mistakes suggests a potential shift towards a more strategic and less aggressive approach.
