Bend Studio may be the big casualty of Sony's short-lived live service era

PlayStation is traditionally known for its high-quality AAA single-player games, but in recent years the company has made a concerted effort to expand into live services. In 2022, Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki told investors that PlayStation planned to release more than 10 live service games by March 2026. This was undoubtedly an incredibly difficult goal to achieve, especially if keep in mind that there weren't really any studios in the program. The PlayStation umbrella that had experience with live service titles at the time. The decision to release so many GAAS games in such a short period of time also caused some controversy, as many were concerned that it would lead to oversaturation of the gaming market. However, Sony continued its efforts.

So far, the results of PlayStation's live services initiative haven't been great, to say the least. Although Sony launched the multiplayer shooter with immense success Helldivers 2 at the beginning of last year, almost every other attempt in this area ended badly. A few months ago, PlayStation released Guardians of the Galaxy-Hero shooter style Concordiawhich sold so terribly that it was shut down just weeks after its debut. Several other GAAS titles, meanwhile, have been canceled entirely. Sony has removed a handful of live service games from Naughty Dog, Firesprite and Insomniac, then most recently shuttered projects from Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games as well.

Related

Concord would be possible for a new God of War game to be canceled

Concord's failure reportedly led to the cancellation of a new God of War game that was in development.

Bend Studio may have suffered the most from Sony's Live-Service Pivot

Sony has canceled two live service projects from Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Sony canceled two unannounced live games that were in development at its primary studios. One of them was a military marksman from Days Gone creator Bend Studio and the other was a GAAS God of War game from Demon souls (2020) developer Bluepoint Games. Sony told Bloomberg, according to the report, that these two games were dropped “following a recent review.” The company said it is working with Bend and Bluepoint to determine what the next projects will be, and noted that despite these cancellations, the studios will not be closed.

While it's great that Bend Studio and Bluepoint will remain open, the damage done to them will not be easily repaired, especially in Bend's case. Back in the day, Bend Studio released games at a fairly consistent rate, from us Soda filter games at Uncharted spin-offs. Lately, however, the company has released virtually nothing. Bend Studio's latest game to hit the market was the action-adventure zombie title Days Gonewhich came out on PS4 in 2019. Yes, 2019 may not sound that far away at first, but it was almost six years ago.

Many of Bend Studio's projects have been shelved over the past few years

It's no secret that game development takes much longer than it does these days, but Bend Studio's case is exceptionally unusual. Most game developers can normally release a big budget AAA game in 4 to 5 years, but Bend Studio has not only released 0 games in 6 years, they haven't even announced anything. Certainly, some might think, if Bend Studio had been developing a live service game for half a decade, they would have shown something by now. Well, according to previous reports, Bend Studio actually had other projects in the works, but they were shelved as well.

In 2021, some insiders claimed that Sony canceled an unannounced message Uncharted game and a Days Gone sequel, both in development at Bend Studio. These titles were said to have been dropped in favor of creating a new IP. However, as is now known, this new IP has also been cancelled. If all of this is true, then Bend Studio has really been going through a rough patch lately. It must be heartbreaking for the company's employees that none of the projects they've been working on for over 5 years will see the light of day. At the rate things are going, Bend Studio might not release a single game on the entire PlayStation 5 generation.

Band Studio

Band Studio

Date of establishment

1993-00-00

OFFICE

Bend, OR 97702, United States of America

The parent company

Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Studios

Known for

Bubsy 3D

Leave a Comment