Days Gone developer Bend Studio is working on a ‘AAA live service game’

The studio behind Days Gone is now working on a “AAA live service game”, according to a new job listing.

As originally spotted by Game Rant, Bend Studio has posted a job listing looking for a lead project manager in game development.

“Sony Bend Studio, world-class creator of Days Gone, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and Syphon Filter, is seeking outstanding talent to join our passionate and creative family in crafting our next high-profile AAA title,” the description reads.

It then goes on to say that their role will be to “plan and track release schedules against the defined live roadmap”, and that they will have to be able to lead the team in its key phases of development, which it identifies as “pre-production, production, live services”.

It later says the candiate will require “a deep understanding of game development cycles, processes, and latest trends with an emphasis on live operations,” and “hands-on game development experience in leadership roles shipping AAA live service games”.

It also says that, ideally, the successful applicant will have “experience redefining studios from traditional ‘boxed product’ focused game development into live service development studios in a key leadership role”, making it all but certain that Bend’s next game will have live service elements as its central focus.

Back in 2021, Sony confirmed that Bend was working on a new IP, which was “building on the deep open-world systems that they developed with Days Gone”. It’s not clear if the job being advertised is for this same project.

Days Gone was met with mixed reviews when it was released on the PS4 in 2019, resulting in a Metacritic score of 71, but developed a cult following.

A few years later the game’s director John Garvin – who had by then left Bend Studio – blamed the critical reception on technical issues and “woke reviewers” who he claims “couldn’t be bothered” to play the game, claims that Bend subsequently distanced itself from.