Bend Studio Dev Says 'We Still Plan on Creating Cool S**t' After Sony Live Service Cancelation

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 cancellation, along with another at Bluepoint Games (reportedly a live-service God of War title), follows a period of mixed success for Sony's foray into live-service gaming. While Helldivers 2 achieved phenomenal success, other ventures, notably Concord, faced disastrous launches and swift closures. This led to significant reflection within Sony, with executives acknowledging organizational silos and poor release window choices as contributing factors to Concord's failure. Sony's president, COO, and CFO, Hiroki Totoki, emphasized the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations to mitigate future risks. Bend Studio's community manager, Kevin McAllister, reassured fans with a simple but encouraging message: "We still plan on creating cool shit." Despite these setbacks, Sony continues to invest in live-service titles, with projects from Bungie, Guerrilla Games, and Haven Studios still under development. The experience gained from both the successes and failures of recent live-service ventures will inform future strategies, balancing riskier live-service projects with the proven success of their single-player titles.