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 neither studio will be closed, Sony will collaborate with them to define future projects.
Sony's foray into live-service gaming has yielded mixed results. While Helldivers 2 achieved phenomenal success, selling 12 million copies in just 12 weeks, other ventures, including Concord, have faltered. Concord's swift closure due to low player numbers highlights the challenges Sony has faced in this area. This follows the earlier 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: "Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those that have reached out. P.S. We still plan on creating cool shit." Their last release was Days Gone in 2019 (PlayStation 4 and later PC).
Sony's financial reports reveal that they are analyzing both the successes of Helldivers 2 and the failures of Concord. Sony President Hiroki Totoki attributed Concord's failure to several factors, including delayed user testing and internal evaluations, a siloed organizational structure hindering collaboration, and an unfortunate release window coinciding with Black Myth: Wukong. He emphasized the need for earlier testing and better coordination across departments to optimize future releases.
Sony's senior vice president for finance and IR, Sadahiko Hayakawa, highlighted the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord, emphasizing the lessons learned that will inform future live-service strategies. The company plans to balance its portfolio, combining its strengths in single-player titles with carefully managed live-service projects.
Despite these setbacks, several PlayStation live-service games are still under development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.
