The developer behind Days Gone, Bend Studio, remains committed to innovating despite Sony's recent cancellation of their unannounced live-service game. Last week, Sony pulled the plug on two live-service projects in development at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games. While Bluepoint was reportedly working on a live-service God of War game, as per Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, the specifics of Bend Studio's project remain undisclosed.
Sony confirmed these cancellations to Bloomberg, emphasizing that neither studio would close and that they would collaborate with each studio on future endeavors. This move comes amidst Sony's broader struggles with its live-service strategy. While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 became a monumental success, selling 12 million copies in just 12 weeks and setting a record for the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game, other live-service titles have not fared as well.
Sony's Concord is a notable example of these struggles, lasting only a few weeks before being taken offline due to low player engagement and eventually being canceled altogether. This followed the cancellation of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us multiplayer game. In light of these events, former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida expressed he would have opposed Sony’s live-service push if he were in the current CEO Hermen Hulst's position.
In response to the cancellations, Bend Studio's community manager Kevin McAllister took to Twitter to reassure fans, stating, "Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those that have reached out. P.S. We still plan on creating cool shit." This message underscores Bend Studio's determination to continue developing engaging content, with their last release being Days Gone in 2019 for PlayStation 4, which later launched on PC in 2021.
During a recent financial call, Sony 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 Concord's development cycle. Totoki suggested that earlier intervention could have either improved the game or led to its timely cancellation.
Totoki also highlighted Sony's "siloed organization" and Concord's unfortunate release timing, which coincided with the launch of Black Myth: Wukong, possibly contributing to its failure. He emphasized the need for better inter-departmental collaboration and strategic release scheduling to avoid cannibalization and maximize performance.
Sony senior vice president for finance and IR, Sadahiko Hayakawa, compared the launches of Helldivers 2 and Concord during the same financial call, noting that the lessons learned would be disseminated across Sony's studios. This includes enhancing development management and post-launch content strategies to bolster Sony's approach to live-service games.
Looking ahead, Sony continues to develop several live-service titles, including Bungie’s Marathon, Guerrilla’s Horizon Online, and Haven Studio’s Fairgame$. These projects represent Sony's ongoing commitment to live-service gaming, despite recent setbacks, as they aim to balance their portfolio with both single-player titles and live-service games to capitalize on proven IPs while exploring new opportunities.
