“Studio Days Long Past Responds Creatively After Sony Halts Latest Game Development”
UPDATE: Employees informed prior to the announcement becoming public, now unfolds.
UPDATE 21/1/25: Concerning whether team members were notified of Sony’s project cancellation before the news was made public, journalist Jeff Grubb has now issued a clarification stating that they indeed were.
Last night, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier chimed in through a post on BlueSky where he mentioned: “Individuals across the organization were alerted [of the cancellations] before my article was published last week.” Sony has yet to respond to Eurogamer’s inquiry for a comment, but we will update the story if they provide clarity on the situation.
ORIGINAL STORY 20/1/25:
It is notable that Sony had canceled two additional first-party live-service games – this time in development at its Bend and Bluepoint studios – revealed by Bloomberg last week. Sony had previously announced plans to heavily invest in live-service titles back in 2022, under the leadership of then-PlayStation head Jim Ryan, yet the company has scrapped several live-service games – including a co-op Spider-Man from developer Insomniac,
Regarding the latest victims of Sony’s apparent strategic overhaul, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier alleged Bluepoint had been developing an unannounced live-service God of War title. While no substantial details of Bend’s scrapped project have surfaced, the studio previously indicated it was working on a new IP that would incorporate multiplayer and “[build] upon the open-world mechanics of Days Gone.” However, it remains uncertain if this is the same project that has now been canceled.
Regardless, Bend has now broken its silence following the announcement, expressing gratitude to fans for their support and assuring that it is not finished yet. “I’ll keep this brief,” Bend community manager Kevin McAllister stated in a message shared on social media. “Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those who have reached out. P.S. We still plan on creating amazing projects.”
As for what lies ahead for Bluepoint and Bend, that remains uncertain. According to journalist Jeff Grubb in his latest Game Mess Mornings video discussion (thanks VGC), both teams have had little time to absorb the news. “The two studios found out at the same moment as everyone else,” Grubb informed listeners, “so team members will be going into work today wondering, ‘Hey, okay, what are we doing next?’. And what they may decide on to do next, most likely, is to pitch something to Sony, and the requirements for that have changed quite significantly.”
“A couple of years back,” he continued, “you’d present your pitch to PlayStation, which was: ‘It’s a live service game, we know you want to hear that’… Now they have to return to the drawing board and devise a pitch that PlayStation is interested in, even when no one truly knows what they want to hear.”