Bend Studio, the developer behind Days Gone, assures fans they'll continue creating exciting new projects despite Sony's cancellation of their unannounced live-service game. This follows Sony's recent decision to scrap two unannounced live-service titles, one reportedly a God of War game from Bluepoint Games, and another from Bend Studio. While Sony confirmed the cancellations, reassuring fans that neither studio would close, the move highlights the company's struggles in the live-service market.

Sony's foray into live-service gaming has yielded mixed results. The success of Helldivers 2, a record-breaking PlayStation Studios title, stands in stark contrast to the failures of other ventures, most notably the short-lived Concord, which was shut down due to low player numbers. This follows the 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, tweeted a reassuring message to fans, stating their commitment to future development. Their last release, Days Gone, launched in 2019 for PlayStation 4 and 2021 for PC.

Sony's financial call shed light on the lessons learned from both the success of Helldivers 2 and the failure of Concord. Sony's president, Hiroki Totoki, attributed Concord's failure to several factors, including delayed user testing and internal evaluations, a siloed organizational structure, and an unfortunate release window near Black Myth: Wukong. He emphasized the need for earlier quality control checkpoints and better inter-departmental collaboration. Sadahiko Hayakawa, Sony's senior vice president for finance and IR, further highlighted the contrasting outcomes of Helldivers 2 and Concord, emphasizing the importance of applying lessons learned across all studios.

Despite these setbacks, Sony remains committed to live-service gaming, with several projects still in development, including Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$.