Recent rumors suggest that Sony’s Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games have had their live service projects scrapped. According to industry insider Jeff Grubb, who shared insights during the Game Mess Decides podcast, the ill-fated launch of Concord is largely to blame.
Grubb revealed that the chaos surrounding Concord, which saw its servers shuttered just two weeks after hitting the market, prompted Sony to hit the brakes. This has led to a sweeping review of all ongoing projects, especially those in the live service category.
“This happened because of Concord, like this should be clear, that’s what I’ve been told,” Grubb stated.
He went on to explain further, “Sony is shell-shocked from Concord, and now they’re going around to every studio and they’re reassessing every single project, and if it’s a live-service project, it has a lot of friction going against it preventing it from getting a chance to actually come out.”
“And it is almost certain that they won’t be able to get a greenlight on a live service project, and they know that,” Grubb continued.
For PlayStation fans, this might not seem all that bad; however, for game developers, it’s a bit more complex. Under Sony’s previous live service strategy, studios found a reliable funding pathway. Now, convincing Sony to support more traditional game models might prove challenging.
Before these projects were shelved, Bluepoint Games was reportedly working on a multiplayer installment of God of War, though details on Bend Studio’s initiative remain undisclosed. Sony, however, has confirmed ongoing discussions with both teams to determine their future projects. This means that while these closures aren’t leading to studio shutdowns, we might not see new titles from them until perhaps the next console generation.
This insight comes courtesy of Jeff Grubb’s Game Mess podcast.
