Where the PS4 era was a golden age for PlayStation on par with the PS2 days – and in some was, even exceeding those great heights – the PS5 years have been way more stop-start. PlayStation continues to be successful, that much is indisputable given the impressive sales that the platform and its games continue to enjoy, and the money that Sony rakes in (even if it would like to be raking in more, as is ever the way of profit-driven businesses). But though sheer momentum, undeniably good hardware, and solid software support from the industry at large have ensured that the PS5 doesn’t stumble in any significant way, Sony itself can’t help but keep tripping over itself.

Most recent in its long and ever-growing list of debacles is another pair of project cancellations. First reported by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Sony has cancelled SIE Bend Studio’s live service open world title, as well as the mystery project that Bluepoint Games had been working on in the years since the launch of the Demon’s Souls remake. Worse still, that project was, of all things, a live service God of War spinoff.

There’s obviously a lot to unpack here, so let’s take it studio by studio, starting with Bend. The developer of Days Gone has endured a torrent of bad luck in the wake of Days Gone’s 2019 release. After the game failed to spark the sort of widespread critical acclaim that Sony clearly cherishes, a Days Gone sequel pitch was turned down (despite the first game’s solid sales), with reports suggesting that the studio would be put to work on an unannounced Uncharted project. That project, too, was eventually scrapped, and in 2021, it was finally revealed that Bend had started working on a new open world IP that would be utilizing a lot of the tech that the studio had built up with Days Gone. Now, that project has also been cancelled in what seems like the cruelest possible twist of fate for Bend.

Bluepoint’s situation, however, seems even more egregious somehow, and perfectly indicative of how disastrous Sony’s decision-making has been. Let’s break this down: after working with the studio on two acclaimed single-player remakes in the form of Shadow of the Colossus, Sony decided to acquire Bluepoint, following which it decided that 1) the best path forward for Bluepoint, a single-player studio, was to work on a live service game, 2) that live service game should be a God of War spinoff, which sounds like an awful idea no matter how you look at it, and 3) that they should wait until 2025 to finally cancel the project.

Sony has assured that Bluepoint and Bend aren’t going to be shut down as a result of these project closures, which is the silver lining here surely, but that doesn’t mean there is going to be no collateral damage whatsoever. The company hasn’t been able to assure that there won’t be any layoffs, for starters. Meanwhile, both studios have wasted years of work, and are now going to have to start entirely new projects from scratch- which, given the timing of everything going down, means that there’s a good chance we see nothing at all from either studio on the PS5. We’re more than halfway through this generation, and all signs point to the PS6 hitting shelves sometime in 2028, and it’s highly unlikely that either studio will be able to launch anything before then (unless they end up reusing a lot of the work they have done on their freshly-cancelled projects).

And of course, all of this comes down to Sony’s misguided (which is the most charitable description possible for it) push for live service games. Seriously, that whole initiative could not have gone any worse. Back in 2023, Sony proudly claimed that it intended to release 12 live service games in the next three years, and though Helldivers 2 certainly took the world by storm last year, it’s the lone spark in an otherwise dire pool of failures and premature deaths. The Last of Us Online? Cancelled. Bungie’s Project Payback? Cancelled. Firesprite’s alleged Twisted Metal reboot? Cancelled. Insomniac’s Spider-Man: The Great Web? Cancelled. London Studio’s live service game? Cancelled, and the studio itself shuttered. That mystery Deviation Games project? Cancelled, and the second-party partner studio shut down. Bluepoint’s God of War spinoff? Cancelled. Bend’s open world game? Cancelled.

And then there’s Concord, of course, which is the biggest first-party software failure in the history of the medium, perhaps- certainly on the PlayStation side of things, with the game having had just two meagre weeks on the market (which saw little to no foot traffic), before Sony decided to pull the plug and shut down the studio altogether. According to journalist Jeff Grubb, Concord’s embarrassing failure was exactly what drove Sony to rethink yet more of its live service portfolio, which in turn led to the cancellation of Bluepoint and Bend’s projects. On one hand, it’s good that the company is responding to failures in the manner that you would want, because clearly live service projects are a huge risk, are being handed to studios whose talents lie elsewhere, and tend to find it much more difficult to win over audiences.

Then again, you have to wonder what the point of this live service push was to begin with. Sure, Sony claims it’s not pulling out of this space just yet, in spite of all the hits and bruises it has taken. Still in the pipeline, for instance, are Horizon Online, Marathon, the unannounced Project Gummy Bears, and Fairgame$- but how successful are those games going to be? Public opinion around Fairgame$ has been rough ever since its reveal, with suggestions that it could be headed down the same path as Concord. Meanwhile, reports have claimed that Marathon’s development is a mess, and that the game itself is in rough shape behind the scenes. Clearly, things are far from peachy even for the in-development live service projects at PlayStation that have survived the axe.

An overwhelmingly large amount of people will be lining up with their “told you so” placards outside of PlayStation HQ, and you can’t help but agree. After all, there’s been no shortage of examples of companies faceplanting in their efforts to grab a slice of the live service pie, and many an acclaimed single-player studio has met with a disastrous fate due to a foolish switch to live service- and yet Sony, in all of its infinite wisdom, took a look at all of that and told itself, “but we can do it better.”

For a while, many of us were willing to give the company the benefit of the doubt, because after the immense success it had seen with its big budget single-player offerings, maybe there was a chance that the company could indeed make huge strides in the live service space as well. Reality has reared its ugly head once again, however, and here we are one more- yet another major company has realized all too late that it has made a huge mistake. Sony’s gradual but inevitable u-turn from its live service ambitions means that the company is likely going to go back to the thing that made it the juggernaut that it is – that being its beloved blockbuster single-player games – but it’s an absolute shame that we effectively had to waste an entire console generation so Sony could try and fail to follow trends that were already starting to feel outdated when the company hopped on board.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Reported by Bloomberg, a Sony spokesperson has stated that closures aren’t on the docket for Bend and Bluepoint, and that PlayStation is currently working with both studios to figure out what’s next with them.

“Bend and Bluepoint are highly accomplished teams who are valued members of the PlayStation Studios family, and we are working closely with each studio to determine what are the next projects,” Sony said.

That said, whether or not the project cancellations will bring layoffs remains to be seen. Generally, that does tend to be the case, but all Sony has said in an internal memo is that it is “working closely with Bend and Bluepoint to determine what are the next projects and plan to do everything we can to ensure there is minimal business impact.”

Of course, there’s no guarantees that Sony sticks to its current plans (companies don’t always do that after major failures), but one would hope that it does, at least. Of course, with both studios now gearing up to start entirely new projects from scratch, it doesn’t look like we’re going to see anything from either of them for several years at least.

Sony Bend has been at work on a new open world live service IP for several years at this point, though the project has now been shelved. As per a report published by Bloomberg, Sony Bend’s title and Bluepoint Games’ unannounced title are the latest in a long line of live service cancellations by Sony.

Back in May 2023, Sony stated it intended to release 12 live service games within the next three years as part of a big live service push. Since then, however, though Helldivers 2 has seen widespread success, Sony’s live service efforts have also endured many failures and cancellations, including Concord, The Last of Us Online, a multiplayer Spider-Man title, London Studio’s title, an alleged Twisted Metal reboot, and others.

Sony says these latest cancellations won’t lead to studio closures. Read more on that through here.

This is the reality Days Gone and its legion of fans are facing. Except, unlike the examples just given Days Gone sold well, brought fresh ideas to the open world genre, and – in developer Bend Studio – has a solid team behind it; a collective demonstrably capable of producing top-tier games, a team that made the game they wanted to make.

Now passed is Sony’s September State of Play, gone without a whiff of Deek’s motorbike exhaust fumes despite heavy rumours a Days Gone PS5 remaster is right around the corner. These rumours began innocuously, as they always do. Commenting on X, VGC host Jordan Middler responded to Jeff Grubb of the Game Mess Mornings podcast who was touting a game less exciting than Horizon Zero Dawn is slated for remaster, with an announcement coming during September’s State of Play. Middler’s response to Grubb suggested former Bend Studio creative director John Garvin would be irked by this summation, given how unimpressed he was that Deacon St. John’s image was used to sell copies of Astro Bot.

As it happens, Grubb may have been referring to other remasters – harsh, if so. Or he was fed dud information. Whatever the game behind his claim, it wasn’t related to Days Gone. We heard nothing: not a remaster, remake, enhanced edition, or – as has grown increasingly unlikely – a sequel.

Although, regarding sequels it’s well established by now that Days Gone 2 isn’t happening. Cast your mind back to before these State of Play rumours emerged back in June 2024. Bend Studio community manager Kevin McAllister publicly apologised to Days Gone’s fans as, according to him, they’d been “getting fed false hope and poor information by people looking for likes”, although he stopped short of mentioning any of the individuals by name. The upshot: nothing new is in the works for the series. A sequel isn’t forthcoming and for anyone to suggest otherwise is plainly being unfair on the fanbase who are anxious for a return joyride through verdant, zombie ravaged Oregon.

The question really is why have Sony distanced themselves so much from the game? Over 7 million sales and a legion of fans anticipating a follow-up – not to mention the game ending on a cliff-hanger – it seems non-sensical for Days Gone 2 not to become a reality. Yes, the game was dealt a poor critical reception upon release owing to a sleugh of bugs and glitches, but these have largely been resolved. Maybe, in this current climate, one in which Sony are still pursuing live-service opportunities, Days Gone 2 is merely shelved for now. Remember though, nothing official is being worked on. Bend Studio themselves are currently developing a AAA live-service open world game, but like Remedy and Alan Wake II, history tells us that sequels can come years after their predecessors. So, if a Days Gone sequel does ever emerge would an enhanced version of the original help or hinder?

Before we get into that it’s worth pointing out that a PS5 version of Days Gone already exists. One that targets up to 60 fps with dynamic 4K resolution. A PS5 Pro version, as is more likely than a remake or remaster at this stage, isn’t outside the realms of possibility. And it’d be more worthwhile than a simple remaster given the PS5 version already out there. However, an enhanced version that sits somewhere between a remaster and a remake could prove quite successful, even if it is a little fanciful at this point in time.

Horizon Zero Dawn’s upcoming remaster – lambasted at first but showing signs of acceptance – is doing more than bringing the seven-year-old game up to the same graphical fidelity as its sequel. Over ten hours of conversation has been re-recorded, motion capture has been improved, and character models and animations have been upgraded. Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster harbours numerous quality of life improvements, updated controls, and refined, more intelligent NPC AI alongside the usual licks of graphical paint. The Last of Us Part II Remastered adds a plethora of bonus content – some cut from the original game, others entirely new modes to try out.

This approach could be taken with Days Gone should this hypothetical enhanced edition ever come to fruition. There are numerous elements which, when improved, would move the game beyond a basic remaster to something more akin to the examples just given. Character interactions, for example, could be greatly expanded, and not just with tertiary characters like Boozer or Copeland but dialogue options for random camp-dwelling NPCs will boost immersion. The game’s weapon progression system leaves a lot to be desired, with build variety too narrow to promote a variety of playstyles. Heck, each camp could become more faction-like, with interactivity amongst themselves instead of just existing as standalone settlements.

Bend Studio game director Jeff Ross, speaking in 2021, mentioned co-operative play as an idea they had for Days Gone which was parked until presumably a sequel. More specifically, Ross states that they’d take the world’s “assets and systems and repurpose them for some sort of similarly themed multiplayer version of this universe.” He continues saying it “would be with guys like Deacon trying to survive, building up a clubhouse or a crew.” This would fit nicely into an enhanced-slash-remastered version. If there’s one way the game’s standout horde battles could be improved, it’d be via working together with others.

These a just a handful of ideas, but they speak to the scope of a game which – now all its technical kinks have been ironed out – has a proper foundation laid to build on worthy improvement. Should a suitably enhanced version of Days Gone appear then it’d be surprising if this didn’t sell well, especially if Sony opt to implement an upgrade path like we’ve seen with other remasters.

Critical reception played a big part in Days Gone’s downfall. Sony’s speculative issues with Bend Studio’s former creative director are meaningless now, if they even had any influence on Sony pulling the plug on further Day Gone content. Also, there is the much less publicised revelation that the decision to veer away from Days Gone 2 was made internally by the remaining devs at Bend Studio anyway. There’s evidently internal strife between Bend and Sony we’ll never be fully appraised of, but maybe failure was too strong a declaration at this feature’s outset. Days Gone has attained cult status. It hasn’t failed. And… bottom line: money talks, and Days Gone has made some.

Should by some miracle an enhanced remaster of Days Gone see the light of day then it’d no doubt sell like hot cakes. This, and perhaps only this, will pave the way for a Days Gone sequel, and maybe even a trilogy (or is that just wishful thinking?).

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

That’s as per VGC journalist Jordan Middler, who has claimed on Twitter that Sony Bend’s post-apocalyptic open world action-adventure title has a remastered version in development. Discussing Grub’s aforementioned claims, Middler recently tweeted, “If he was angry that his character is in Astro Bot, he’s going to lose his mind at this,” referring to Days Gone creative director John Garvin recently expressing outrage at protagonist Deacon St. John being included in the recently released Astro Bot as a cameo appearance. 

Days Gone launched in 2019 for the PS4, before coming to PC a couple of years later. The game went on to sell over 7.3 million units, as per leaked internal Sony documents that emerged last year. A pitch for a Days Gone 2 was rejected by Sony, following which developer SIE Bend Studio started working on a new IP, which will be a live service game. A movie based on Days Gone is also currently in development.

Days Gone protagonist Deacon St. John appears (in robot form, like all other characters) in Astro Bot, a fact that Garvin isn’t too thrilled about. Taking to Twitter, Garvin expressed the same, while also taking a swing at his former employer, Days Gone developer SIE Bend Studio, “Kinda sad that Deek has been reduced to promoting other games. Well done, Bend Studio! Way to protect your legacy!”

Responding to a user calling his comments harsh, Garvin wrote, “I see my character reduced to a cartoon shill promoting some small game and I’m being harsh?”

Garvin’s comments on Astro Bot are the latest in a string of instances that have seen the Days Gone creative director sparking controversy with his comments. 

In addition to becoming the best-reviewed game of 2024, Astro Bot also seems to have got off to an impressive start where sales are concerned, having sold out on Amazon Japan. 

In our review of the game, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “Astro Bot is a wonderful love letter to all things PlayStation, and an exceptional platformer in its own right. If you own a PS5, you need to play this game.” Read the full review through here.

Astro Bot is available on PS5. Team Asobi is currently at work on free DLC, which could include cameos from Assassin’s Creed, Rayman, Stellar Blade, and more, as suggested by the game’s end credits. 

While multiplayer is already confirmed, it may also be a live service title. A new job listing for Lead Project Manager at the studio includes responsibilities like “Lead our agile strategy and processes in alignment with our studio goals, the specific needs of our teams, and key phases of development (pre-production, production, live services)” under Agile Coaching.

Requirements like a “deep understanding” of the latest trends with an “emphasis on live operations” and “Hands-on game development experience in leadership roles shipping triple-A live service games” are also listed. Finally, “Experience redefining studios from traditional ‘boxed product’ focused game development into live service development studios in a key leadership role” is noted as a “plus” to have.

Sony has spoken about plans to release ten live-service titles by March 2026. However, it’s since seen several cancellations like The Last of Us Online, a fantasy title from the now-shuttered SIE London, and a rumored Twisted Metal game.

Bend Studio hasn’t revealed too many details about the project, though it tweeted earlier this year that it’s “cooking.” As always, stay tuned for further updates.

While an announcement or reveal hasn’t been planned, the developer did respond to a tweet asking about its new IP with, “We cooking.” It’s not much, but a positive sign that development is going well (or ongoing, if nothing else).

Not much is known about the new IP aside from it building on the open-world systems from Days Gone. It will take place in a new world, which the team was “extremely excited to craft,” and includes multiplayer. Bend Studio will reveal it when “the time is right”, and maybe 2024 is the year. Time will tell, so stay tuned.

Days Gone is available for PS4 and PC. Check out our reviews of the former and the latter.

We cooking

— Bend Studio (@BendStudio) January 2, 2024

Notably enough, Days Gone is included amongst them. Remarkably, Sony has never released official figures for the open world action-adventure title to date, but as per a leaked internal document, the game had sold over 7.3 million units as of the end of FY 2020 (i.e. March 31, 2021), less than two years from its release in April 2019. For a game that was deemed enough of a disappointment by Sony for a sequel to not get greenlit, that’s certainly an impressive amount.

It’s worth noting that the game was still a couple of months away from its May 2021 PC release at this point. It has also emerged from the Insomniac data breach that Days Gone had sold over 1.7 million units on Steam as of February 2023, which would mean that its current combined sales should be at least 9 million units.

Interestingly, Days Gone’s game director Jeff Ross – who left SIE Bend Studio shortly after the game’s release – claimed in January 2022 that the title had sold roughly 8 million units within 19 months of launch. Shortly afterward, however, it was reported that those numbers were inaccurate, being based on estimates from a Trophy-tracking site.

Insomniac’s data breach has also revealed that Bloodborne had sold nearly 7.5 million units as of March 2020, and that as of earlier this year, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart had shipped 2.7 million units. Updated shipment numbers have also emerged for Demon’s Souls, Returnal, and more.

Reports indicate that Bend Studio was unsuccessful in pitching a sequel for Days Gone and briefly worked on a multiplayer project for Naughty Dog (which could be The Last of Us standalone multiplayer title) and a new Uncharted title. After expressing their unhappiness at becoming a support studio, they would go on to work on a new project.

Last year, it revealed a new logo for the studio and confirmed it’s working on a new project which is a new IP. It builds on the open-world systems seen in Days Gone while including multiplayer. However, it confirmed that it’s “a whole new world,” which it was “extremely excited to craft” for players. Even at the time, it looked forward to revealing the project when “the time is right.”

Perhaps next week is that time. Stay tuned for more updates when the PlayStation Showcase rolls around.

https://twitter.com/BendStudio/status/1658916197977530400