Summary
- Devs working on Bluepoint and Bend’s scrapped live service projects didn’t know the games were being canceled.
- They reportedly found out their games were no more when the news was broken by Bloomberg’s report.
- It’s now unclear what the two PlayStation studios will be working on next.
It was revealed last week that PlayStation has canceled two of its upcoming live service projects – a God Of War title being developed by Bluepoint, and an unannounced game helmed by Bend. More details about the projects and their cancelations continue to emerge, including the reveal that those working on the projects found out their work was being scrapped at the same time as everyone else.
That’s according to Giant Bomb and Game Mess’s Jeff Grubb (thanks, VGC). Grubb revealed on Game Mess Mornings that, after doing some digging once the news about the cancelations had broken, he discovered developers at both Bluepoint and Bend were unaware the projects were being canceled by PlayStation until Jason Schrier’s Bloomberg report breaking the news went live.
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.
How exactly two decisions this monumental can be made and become public domain before most of those working on the projects even know about them is baffling. That, as Grubb notes, anyone who didn’t happen to check social media, or be clued in by a fellow employee, could arrive to work one morning to discover the game they’ve been working on, possibly for years, just isn’t happening anymore when the rest of the world found out the day before.
Devs On Canceled Live Service Projects Heard The Bad News At The Same Time As Us
The Bloomberg Report Was How Many Working On The Games Discovered They’d Been Scrapped
As for the futures of Bend and Bluepoint and what they might be working on next, a spokesperson for Sony has claimed this doesn’t mean they will be shutting down. It has been noted that the live service games getting canceled is largely the fault of Concord’s failure, however, and Firewalk Studios, the studio behind the short-lived live service title, was shut down shortly after the game was pulled from sale and its servers shuttered.
Even though Concord is almost certainly the driving force behind PlayStation rethinking its live service strategy, the key difference here is these games have been canceled long before they ever had the chance to fail. A fraction of the money lost on Concord will have been spent so far on Bend and Bluepoint’s projects, and hopefully, the teams at both studios will be able to move onto new projects, whether they be ideas from PlayStation or pitches from the studios themselves.
Next
Bend Studio Seemingly Stops Hiring After PlayStation Cancels Its Live-Service Game
In just a few days, Bend Studio’s job openings have gone from seven to zero, just as PlayStation cancels its live-service game.