Bend Studio, the developer behind Days Gone, remains committed to 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 in development at Bluepoint Games. While Sony assures that neither studio will be closed, the cancellations highlight the challenges faced in the live-service market.

Sony's foray into live-service gaming has been a mixed bag. The resounding success of Helldivers 2, a PlayStation Studios record-breaker, stands in stark contrast to the failures of other ventures, most notably Concord, which was shut down after a disastrously short lifespan due to extremely low player numbers. This follows the earlier cancellation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer project. Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida even voiced his reservations about Sony's aggressive push into the live-service sector.

Bend Studio's community manager, Kevin McAllister, reassured fans via Twitter: "Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those that have reached out. P.S. We still plan on creating cool shit.” Their last release, Days Gone, launched in 2019 on PS4 and later on PC in 2021.

Sony's financial call shed light on the lessons learned from both Helldivers 2's triumph and Concord's failure. Hiroki Totoki, Sony's president, COO, and CFO, highlighted the need for earlier user testing and internal evaluations to identify and address problems before launch. He also cited Sony's "siloed organization" and poor release windowing as contributing factors to Concord's downfall, suggesting that internal communication and market analysis could have been improved. Sadahiko Hayakawa, Sony's senior vice president for finance and IR, emphasized the importance of sharing lessons learned from both successes and failures across its studios.

Despite these setbacks, Sony continues to invest in live-service games, with titles like Bungie's Marathon, Guerrilla's Horizon Online, and Haven Studio's Fairgame$ still in development. The future of PlayStation's live-service strategy remains uncertain, but the company's commitment to the model, while tempered by recent experiences, is clear.