The developer behind *Days Gone*, Bend Studio, has reassured fans that they are not slowing down despite Sony's recent cancellation of their unannounced live-service project. Last week, Sony pulled the plug on two unannounced live-service titles, one from Bend Studio and another from Bluepoint Games, the latter rumored to be a live-service version of *God of War*. A Sony spokesperson confirmed these cancellations to Bloomberg, emphasizing that neither studio would close and that they would collaborate on future projects.
Sony's venture into live-service gaming has been fraught with challenges. While *Helldivers 2* by Arrowhead became a phenomenal success, selling 12 million copies in just 12 weeks and becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game, other attempts have not fared as well. *Concord*, for instance, turned out to be one of the biggest flops in PlayStation's history, shutting down shortly after launch due to poor player engagement. Following *Concord*'s failure, Sony also canceled Naughty Dog's *The Last of Us* multiplayer project. Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida expressed that he would have resisted Sony's aggressive move into live-service gaming if he were in a leadership position.
In response to the recent cancellations, Bend Studio's community manager, Kevin McAllister, took to Twitter to thank fans for their support and promised that the studio would continue to "create cool shit." Bend Studio's most recent release, *Days Gone*, was launched on PlayStation 4 in 2019 and later 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*. Totoki acknowledged that Sony needed to implement development gates like user testing and internal evaluations much earlier in the process. He suggested that earlier intervention could have allowed Sony to either improve *Concord* before its release or cancel it altogether. Totoki also criticized Sony's "siloed organization" and the timing of *Concord*'s launch, which coincided with the release of *Black Myth: Wukong*, potentially leading to market cannibalization.
Sony senior vice president for finance and IR, Sadahiko Hayakawa, also spoke during the financial call, comparing the launches of *Helldivers 2* and *Concord*. He emphasized that the insights gained from these experiences would be disseminated across Sony's studios to enhance development management and post-launch content strategies. Hayakawa outlined Sony's strategy to balance their portfolio with both single-player titles, which have a higher predictability of success due to established IP, and live-service games that carry more risk but offer significant upside potential.
Looking ahead, Sony continues to have several live-service projects in development, including *Marathon* by Bungie, *Horizon Online* by Guerrilla, and *Fairgame$* by Haven Studio.
