‘We still plan on creating cool sh*t’: Bend Studio dev thanks players after Sony cancels latest game
The Days Gone studio was working on a live service title until PlayStation pulled the plug
The community manager for Bend Studio has thanked players in the wake of news that its latest game has been cancelled.
Last week it was reported that Sony had cancelled a live service game being worked on by Bend, as well as another in development at Bluepoint Games.
Speaking on behalf of the Oregon-based developer, Bend’s community manager Kevin McAllister took to X to write a short message of appreciation to those who shared their commiserations.
“I’ll keep this short,” McAllister wrote. “Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those that have reached out.
“P.S. We still plan on creating cool shit.”
Bend’s last release was Days Gone, which 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.
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”.
Then, in March last year, the studio posted a job listing for a project management role, confirming that it was working on a AAA live service game.
I’ll keep this short.
Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those that have reached out. ❤️
P.S. We still plan on creating cool shit.
— Kevin McAllister (@vikingdad278) January 17, 2025
The ad said the candiate would 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”.
While it’s not clear if the game confirmed by Sony in 2021 and the live service game being recruited for in 2024 are the same title, what certainly is clear is that the latter is no more.
Over the weekend it was claimed that Bend employees, as well as those working at fellow studio Bluepoint (which was reportedly working on a live service God of War game), weren’t made aware of their games’ closures in advance and found out when the report was published.
