Last week it was announced Sony had cancelled two unannounced live service PlayStation games in development at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games.
Journalist Jeff Grubb in his Game Mess Mornings series revealed that the two studios found out the games were cancelled at the same time everyone else did.
“I looked into this a little bit,” said Grubb (via VideoGamesChronicle). “Yeah, all this is true. The two studios found out at the same time as everyone else, so people will be going into work today wondering ‘hey, okay, what are we doing next?’ And what they’re going to have to do next, very likely, is pitch something to Sony, and the landscape of that has changed pretty drastically.”
He added, “A couple of years ago you’d bring to PlayStation your pitch, that is: ‘It’s a live service game, we know you want to hear that. And can we use the God of War IP? We know you want to hear that.’ And then they get the green light, and they get budget, they get funding, they can grow their studio, hire more people, the people working there are safe.
“And now they have to go back to the drawing board, and come up with a pitch that PlayStation wants to hear, when no one really knows what they want to hear, and so it’s a rough situation.”
A Sony spokesperson stated the games were cancelled “following a recent review” and PlayStation will continue to develop online and single player games. Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games won’t be shut down.
Jason Schreier states Bluepoint Games was developing a live-service God of War game.
Sony has struggled getting live-service games off the ground. Sony quickly shut down Concord following its release and eventually closed down developer Firewalk. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Online was cancelled in December 2023 and a live service Twisted Metal game was reportedly cancelled.
Helldivers 2 is an exception to the live service troubles as the game was a smash hit.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
Full Article – https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463712/bend-and-bluepoint-found-out-their-games-were-cancelled-at-the-same-time-as-everyone-else/