The developer behind Days Gone, Bend Studio, remains committed to innovation despite recent setbacks. Last week, Sony canceled two unannounced live-service projects, including one from Bend Studio and another from Bluepoint Games. While Bluepoint was reportedly working on a live-service God of War game, details about Bend Studio's project remain undisclosed. Sony has confirmed these cancellations but reassured that both studios will continue operations and collaborate on future endeavors.
Sony's ambitious push into live-service gaming has encountered significant challenges. Although Helldivers 2 by Arrowhead achieved remarkable success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, other ventures have not fared as well. Notably, Concord experienced a catastrophic launch, surviving only a few weeks before being discontinued due to low player engagement. This followed the cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game. Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida expressed his reservations about Sony's live-service strategy, suggesting a more cautious approach if he were in the current leadership role.
In response to these developments, Bend Studio's community manager, Kevin McAllister, took to social media to affirm their ongoing commitment to creating exciting content, 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 made its way to PC in 2021. Amidst these challenges, Sony's leadership has acknowledged the need for better project management. In a financial call, Sony's president, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki highlighted the lessons learned from both the success of Helldivers 2 and the failure of Concord. Totoki emphasized the importance of earlier and more rigorous development gates, such as user testing and internal evaluations, to identify and address issues before launch.
Totoki also criticized Sony's "siloed organization," suggesting that better cross-departmental collaboration could have prevented issues like the unfortunate timing of Concord's release, which coincided with the popular Black Myth: Wukong. He stressed the need for optimal release windows to avoid market cannibalization and maximize performance.
Sony's senior vice president for finance and IR, Sadahiko Hayakawa, echoed these sentiments, noting that the company intends to apply the lessons learned from both Helldivers 2 and Concord across its studios. This includes enhancing development management and ensuring continuous content expansion post-launch.
Looking ahead, Sony remains committed to a balanced portfolio that includes both single-player titles, leveraging their established IPs, and live-service games that offer potential growth despite inherent risks. Upcoming PlayStation live-service titles include Marathon by Bungie, Horizon Online by Guerrilla, and Fairgame$ by Haven Studio.
