Recently, Sony confirmed that it had canceled a live-service game that was in the works at Days Gone developer Bend Studio. A developer at the studio has now responded to the news, thanking fans for the outpouring of support and confirming that the team still wants to make “cool sh**.”
“I’ll keep this short,” community manager Kevin McAllister said. “Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those that have reached out. P.S. We still plan on creating cool sh**.”
Bend’s live-service game was never announced, nor was the supposed live-service God of War game said to be in development at Bluepoint, which was also canceled. Sony confirmed the game cancellations in a statement to Bloomberg recently, saying the projects were scuttled “following a recent review.”
Back in 2023, Sony management said it would only go ahead with six live-service games in the near future, down from a dozen. At the time, management said it was attempting to focus on quality over quantity. Plenty of games that begin development are never seen through to release; this is part of the normal creative process.
But what was not normal was Sony’s high-profile shutdown of the multiplayer live-service game Concord and the closure of its developer, Firewalk. Sony pulled the plug on the game just after launch, going on to refund all players.
Bend Studio’s latest release was 2019’s Days Gone, which is unlikely to get a sequel. In June 2024, Bend said the studio was making a new IP, which could have been the canceled live-service game. In the absence of a Days Gone game sequel, a Days Gone biker movie is now in development.
