Sony have confirmed the cancellation of a live service project amid mass layoffs at Sony Bend, the team behind open world zombie biker Days Gone.
Earlier in the week, Bloomberg reported that Sony Bend were doing away with about 40 people, following the nuking of an unannounced live service game earlier in the year. Amongst the people affected is former senior animator Robert Morrison, who announced his departure on Xitter.
The studio’s social media account acknowledged the layoffs, without sharing exact numbers, adding that Sony Bend “remain committed to building the future of Bend Studio with creativity, passion, and innovation in the titles we craft.”
Now, Sony have confirmed the departures in an email to Eurogamer. “Earlier this year, Bend Studio wrapped development on a live service concept,” it reads. “After careful consideration, we chose not to move forward with it. As the team shifts focus to its next project, we’ve made strategic changes to better position the studio for long-term success.”
“As part of this transition, a workforce reduction has taken place at the studio,” the statement goes on. Again, no hard numbers. According to Bloomberg, Sony Bend now have a new game in the works.
All this continues Sony’s on-going partial retreat from blockbuster live service productions, which has seen them cancel The Last Of Us Online, a co-op Spider-Man and a new God Of War game despite 2022-era plans to launch more than 10 of the things by March 2026. As Brendy wrote in January, when news of the Bend project’s abandonment first surfaced, Sony appear terrified by the failure of last year’s Concord, which they shut down mere weeks into its shelf life after it failed to accrue figures of sufficient bigness at launch.
To quote Arrowhead Games Studio CEO Shams Jorjani from an interview in April: “Who among these executives is stepping down? Or slashing their salaries?” Best of luck to all affected.
