Devs Learned About PS5 Live Service Game Cancellations From News Report

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Summary

  • Sony canceled projects at Bend and Bluepoint Games without informing the developers, causing uncertainty among staff.
  • Shuhei Yoshida would have resisted Hermen Hult’s live service push if still in charge.
  • Studios now face difficulty pitching new games to Sony due to project cancellations and unclear priorities.

Recently, it came to light that Sony has scrapped two ongoing live service initiatives from its internal game developers, Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games.

It appears that when we learned about the project cancellations, it was likely the same moment the developers directly involved in those projects were informed as well.

Bend Studio, Bluepoint Game Devs Apparently Didn’t Know Their Projects Were Canceled

As per a report by Jeff Grub, shared during his recent Game Mess Mornings video broadcast (throughout which the information was sourced from Video Games Chronicle), it was revealed that the team members involved in these projects became aware of their cancellations only after the news broke out publicly.

As per Grubb’s statement, it appears that two studios, just like everyone else, have discovered the same information. This could leave employees questioning “What comes next?” Today, as they head to work, they might need to adapt to a new situation, possibly by presenting ideas to Sony. The context for this has significantly shifted.

Additionally, Grubb pointed out that due to the collapse of Concord and the shutdown of multiple live service game projects, it might be challenging for both studios to convince Sony about their proposed new games, as it’s uncertain at this point what kind of games Sony is keen on greenlighting.

A few years ago, you’d present an idea for a game on PlayStation, emphasizing two key points: ‘It’s a live service game, which is what you’re looking for. Plus, can we utilize the God of War IP? That’s what you want too.’ Then, approval, funding, and expansion of the studio followed, ensuring job security for employees. Now, they find themselves needing to re-pitch a concept that PlayStation will find appealing, but since no one truly knows what they prefer, it’s a challenging predicament, as Grubb points out.

As a passionate fan, if it turns out that my project is getting delayed or halted, it feels like one of the toughest pieces of news I could possibly receive. It seems almost unnecessary, doesn’t it? Couldn’t someone at Sony have simply dropped an email to the studio’s head honcho about this matter?

At present, Sony’s first-party studios are working on several live service games in development, including Guerrilla Games’ multiplayer title set within the Horizon universe, and Bungie’s Marathon project. Although Helldivers 2 has been a successful live service game for Sony, the disappointing performance of Concord may have made Sony realize that pursuing live service games solely for revenue isn’t as beneficial as it might seem.

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2025-01-20 19:38