Days Gone Studio Hit With Mass Layoff After Live Service PlayStation Game Canceled

[ad_1] Days Gone maker Bend Studio has been hit by layoffs. Roughly a 3rd of the first-party PlayStation workforce was reduce following the current cancelation of an unannounced reside service venture, however Sony confirmed the studio is engaged on a brand new venture now and it stays “assured in its future and artistic route.”

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“Earlier this 12 months, Bend Studio wrapped growth on a reside service idea. After cautious consideration, we selected to not transfer ahead with it,” a spokesperson for Sony confirmed to Kotaku in an e mail. “Because the workforce shifts focus to its subsequent venture, we’ve made strategic modifications to higher place the studio for long-term success. As a part of this transition, a workforce discount has taken place on the studio. This determination was not made frivolously, and we're extraordinarily grateful for the significant contributions of all these impacted. Bend Studio has been a valued a part of PlayStation Studios for many years, and we stay assured in its future and artistic route.”

About 40 builders on the Oregon-based studio had been laid right now, as first reported by Bloomberg . The venture they had been beforehand engaged on was canceled earlier this 12 months amid a purge of some inner reside service initiatives, together with an internet God of Struggle spin-off at Bluepoint Video games . “Bend Studio laid off a bunch of individuals right now,” senior animator Robert Morrison posted on X . “I used to be part of the layoffs. I did my finest. Hopefully I can discover a new workforce to hitch.”

Greatest recognized for the Syphon Filter espionage video games within the PS1 and PS2 eras, Bend Studio later moved on to growing handheld ports of first-party franchises like Resistance and Uncharted earlier than finally making 2019's open world zombie blockbuster Days Gone. The sport didn’t overview as extremely as some PlayStation exclusives however nonetheless offered nicely.

Whereas followers pined for a sequel, the studio hasn’t launched a sport since. Days Gone obtained a PS5 model earlier this 12 months however has in any other case laid dormant as Bend Studio reportedly labored on a brand new reside service IP. Leaked photos made it seem just like the now canceled sport was an internet multiplayer loot shooter of types, although no official particulars in regards to the venture had been ever shared publicly.

The Bend Studio cuts are the newest self-inflicted wound of a PS5 era reside service pivot that’s left Sony conspicuously brief on massive first-party blockbusters. Stay service spin-offs of Twisted Metallic and The Final of Us had been additionally canceled, whereas Harmony’s launch went so poorly the corporate refunded the sport and shutdown the studio behind it which had acquired only a couple years prior.

One other upcoming on-line shooter, Fairgame$, was lately delayed in keeping with Bloomberg after it obtained damaging suggestions from exterior testing. That studio’s head, Jade Raymond, departed across the similar time.