Sony has cancelled a further two live-service games that were already in development. The unnamed games were being produced by remake and remaster studio Bluepoint and Days Gone developer Bend Studio. Though neither studio is being closed (for now), Sony – which had its fair share of layoffs in 2024 – has yet to confirm if more layoffs are coming.
Sony runs out of GaaS
Bluepoint, the developer Sony acquired in 2021, is responsible for the much-lauded remakes of Demon’s Souls and Shadow of the Colossus. The studio also contributed to God of War: Ragnarok production in 2022. Its next project was a live-service game that has now been cancelled, according to a BlueSky post from Bloomberg‘s Jason Schreier. Bend Studio has been one of Sony’s premier game developers since 2000, its most recent project being the 2019 action-adventure hit Days Gone on PS4 (and later PS5 and PC).
The cancellations look like a domino effect from the disastrous launch of Sony’s failed multimillion-dollar live-service game Concord, which was essentially dead on arrival and cost the company millions of dollars and a lot of consumer confidence. Though the company managed to string together a hit in Helldivers II, that game was mired in its own controversy.
The company has opted to exit the GaaS (games as a service) market with the cancellation of its live-service projects over the past few years, including one based on Spider-Man. The Concord flameout has shown that as much of a high-reward live-service games pose, they also pose a huge financial risk with the cost of both development and server upkeep.
Sony has not confirmed whether further layoffs are on the way for the studios working on the cancelled games, but in 2024, Sony Interactive Entertainment laid off about 1,120 people across various studios, including Bungie, Naughty Dog, and Insomniac. Considering all this, it’s probably not looking good for Bluepoint and Bend Studio.
