Edit: Updated article to say Bluepoint’s canceled live service game was a God of War title.
Sony has reportedly canceled two unannounced live-streamed games that were being developed by Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games, respectively.
Bloomberg reports that Sony has ended production of two live-action games that were being developed at Bend Studio, best known for the zombie game Days Gone, and another separate game being developed by Bluepoint Games, best known for remasters of games such as Shadow Remake in Colossus and Demon’s Souls. According to reports, Bluepoint was a live-streamed God of War game Jason Schreier.
A Sony spokesperson confirmed the cancellation to Bloomberg. Sony also added that neither studio would be closed and that it would work with them “to determine what the next projects” for both studios will be.
This is another blow to Sony’s ambitious plans for live gaming. In 2022, Sony acquired Bungie, developer of Destiny 2, and announced plans to launch 12 games with a live service by the end of fiscal year 2025. These plans fell through after Sony whittled that number down to just six, with likely two of them these concerned the games Bend and Bluepoint.
Sony also shut down Firewalk Studio, the developer of Concord, oversaw layoffs at Bungie, and canceled numerous online projects such as Naughty Dogs’ PvP game The Last of Us, the rumored online Spider-Man game, the Twisted Metal game, and a third – a Destiny spinoff titled Payback.
That leaves only a PvP project by Bungie Marathon and Haven Studios in the works, as well as further support for the Sony-published game Helldivers 2. There are also rumors of two Horizon online games, one co-op and the other an MMO version.
It’s now clear that Sony appears to be rethinking its live services strategy, but it’s unclear whether that will mean supporting online projects it believes will be successful or abandoning the space altogether.
Matt Kim is senior features editor at IGN.
