
Sony has revealed via a Bloomberg article that it has cancelled PS5 projects from both Bluepoint and Bend Studio. The two developers remain open and won't be shut down, and Sony is now working with both teams to determine what their next projects are. According to Jason Schreier of the outlet, the project Bluepoint had in the works all of this time was a live-service God of War game.
The game Bend Studio was creating was also a live-service title. Sony hasn't confirmed whether the two cancellations will lead to layoffs at either developer, but they will remain open. Sony is "working closely with Bend and Bluepoint to determine what are the next projects and plan to do everything we can to ensure there is minimal business impact," it told Bloomberg. Sony will continue to make single player and online games, a Sony spokesperson confirmed.
Since finishing up work on PS5 launch title Demon's Souls, Bluepoint has long claimed it was working on a new project that was described as "original content". Now, it's confirmed this was a live-service game set in the God of War universe and has been cancelled as a result of a "recent review". The same goes for Bend Studio, which the team was staffing up for last year. Schreier claims Bluepoint was helping Santa Monica Studio on the development of God of War Ragnarok between 2020 and 2022, and since then has been working on its own live-service version of the series.
"Bend and Bluepoint are highly accomplished teams who are valued members of the PlayStation Studios family, and we are working closely with each studio to determine what are the next projects," a Sony spokesperson told Bloomberg.
[source bloomberg.com]
Comments 191
Wow. I would consider those 2 studios to be big big players so a bit of a shock to just have their projects cancelled. I wonder for what reason?
So many years of such excellent developers going to waste...
Hopefully they’re…learning? Please no more live service games from Sony Studios 🤞
Wait, the Bend game was legitimately a live service game and not an open world rpg/single player game 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ the one that was a brand new IP learning and taking elements from Days Gone? The one we had been waiting to be announced?
So all that time, and all those poor devs hard work was for... f*** all and something that noone even wanted, once again 🙈🙈🙈
Honestly, good. I don't think a live service God of War game would have been received well. Shame so much work is lost but hopefully they don't get shut down due to this.
2 more studios completely wasted for 5 years
Genuinely what is in the executive brain where you have this amazingly talented studio like Bluepoint and you send them off to make the 20th live service game in development in your gaming empire. How do you look at all the critically acclaim surrounding the new God of War and think that a live service game that would inherently remove a ton of the great parts about Ragnarok and 2018 would be a success. It’s such a waste, the entire PS5 generation has been a waste. All these amazingly talented studios have spent this generation working on a live service game and then pivoting from it. With development timelines growing absurdly large, it’s just embarrassing to see projects like this be in development.
So no Bluepoint or Bend Studio until early/mid PS6. What a great administration to have some of their studios release one game or not even that for an entire generation.
Hermen Hulst makes Jim Ryan look like the messiah holy hell….
They had Bluepoint making a live service God of War game...?
Genuinely stunned. I would have never guessed that's what Bluepoint was working on.
Is this Sony maybe turning heel on their live service initiative somewhat? While I think it's worth pursuing as a business avenue, i really hope these studios can now focus on projects closer to their roots - I'd much rather live service titles be developed by studios which already specialise in them.
This generation is starting to feel like a lot of fumbled bags from Sony. It's a shame but it seems like some big gambles and poor decision making (which, without attributing too much blame, feels like it stemmed largely from the Jim Ryan era) might mean a very quiet generation for some of their most exciting developers.
Seriously wtf happened to this company?
This stings as both studios just lost around 5 years of time and money for absolutely nothing, same as Naughty Dog with TLOU factions and I bet there’s more we still don’t know about, Bend in particular were done dirty as Sony cancelled Days Gone 2 for live service BS only for that to be cancelled too, but now is there still a chance for Days Gone 2?
This f***ing obsession with live services needs to stop, it wasted this entire generation and I keep saying Hermen Hulst is a big part of the problem if not the root, he shouldn’t be CEO with so many cancellations and massive failures under HIS watch.
I hate what Sony has become. Absolutely pathetic.
@DonJorginho These projects were almost certainly started under Ryan's tenure.
God Sony is in the saddest state I've ever seen. If MS had an install base and didn't have to make back all the money they spent, they would have OWNED this generation in a landslide.
Company is f@%king pathetic. I REALLY hope this blows back in there face with the PS6 and barely anyone buys it. I know for me ill be waiting 4 to 6 years. If I've learned anything from this generation. Its that all games will be backwards compatible for the first 4 to 5 years.
Wow we went from Xbox has no games to PS has no games to Xbox is bringing all its games to PS. I mean you can’t make this stuff up. This industry changes faster than any other it seems. I know people on here defend Sony to the high heavens cause they sell a lot of hardware but this has been a mess from a game’s perspective. I mean imagine if MS wasn’t in the bed they made for themselves and weren’t bringing games to PS. It would be a little dry over there. Just wow is all i can say and this is bad for the gamers cause we are losing games and excitement for the hardware we have invested in. Sure hope they get those 2 studios straight and onto a great new project.
Clearly Sony is reassessing their plans into the live service space after Concord's failure. I'm sure all this hard work won't be for nothing. The bones of these projects may be implemented elsewhere.
they choose the dumbest games to try and make live service
@ShogunRok and here i thought it was dumb that Bethesda forced Arkane to make Redfall. This might be up there or worse. Sony is a shell of itself. Wow sure hope for a big rebound for both studios. I expect some layoff’s, they have too until a project starts.
While these games were started under Jim Ryan, Hermen Hulst has been the head of first party studios, this is all his doing. This is crazy 🤪 at this point.
It's over half of their studios they have had doing this sh**, right? I'm genuinely dumbstruck. Please send Bungie and anyone who recommended any of this sh*t in the first place out of the earth's atmosphere, cheers.
The header should simply read: For f***s sake! 🤦♂️
@AK4tywill While Jim Ryan was CEO Hulst had the role of managing PS Studios, all of this failures, cancellations and misguidance at first-party studios have been under his watch whether on one role or another. He need to go ASAP.
Wtf is going on? Damn, another 5 years before we see anything from these studios. But yeah, cancelling a God of war live service is a good call.
@PorkChopExpress 😂😂😂
@AK4tywill And then reviewed and continued under Hermen, and allowed to balloon to the point where cancellation was better than releasing what they’d spent 4 years working on most likely.
So I’d say he’s done a far worse job.
A God of War live service game? Seriously? From either Bend or Bluepoint? What are we doing? Just so much wasted time, money, and talent.
Maybe even Sony is slowly realizing that people can only dedicate so much time to live service games and even than it might not be one made by you 🤔
Better for two live service games to be cancelled than a single player game 😂
HERMEN OUT NOW, then reappoint Jim and sack him again.
How Sony have fumbled this generation so far baffles me.
@ShogunRok Yoshida saw that and literally said “Alright I’m out”
Yoshida where you at my man? I hear Sony is looking for a new CEO for Playstation.
What a load of old 💩!
Yeah they've lost the plot. They need to get Bluepoint on Bloodborne pronto and Bend can do Days Gone 2.
You wasted years of Bluepoint games, the studio that mastered the art of remaking games on a freaking live service GOW game!? The person that greenlit that needs to lose their job and be blacklisted from the industry cause I never seen such stupidity 😒
God of war live service game most likely would have looked something like godfall was..
Days gone down the drain ... 😬
According to source, nothing was disclosed about the live service projects. So what's this then ..?
That is a collective 11 years of development time.
11 years.
You bought Bluepoint on the basis of their remake skills and had them make a live service? WHAT?!
That GOW title sounds absolute pants. Bluepoint are great at remasters, just stick to your strengths!
Why are they struggling so much to choose what games to make? Sony take note: Bloodborne 2, Killzone 5, Uncharted 5. Pick any of those, its an easy win!
They cancel promising live service titles like Tlou and Spiderman, but gave the the go ahead for this?
I’m glad they cancelled it, but damn what a waste of time.
Hang on. So if Naughty Dog was working on their scifi game, plus a live service. Santa Monica is working on....something. Guerrilla is working on a live service. Bluepoint was live service. Bend was live service. Sucker Punch is Ghost of Yotei, Insomniac is Wolverine....
They've actually had more live service games in development than anything else across their whole slate this entire time. And the ones they saw fit to release were Helldivers, Concord, Marathon and Fairgames?
Jesus christ....
This is actually insane that these people's jobs are in jeopardy over greenlighting absolute stupid projects.
Clearly concord wasn't completely bungies fault because that is a lot of time wasted with proven quality developers. This has to be why so many showcases or conferences have been cancelled. The incompetence whilst being clearly ahead this generation sales wise is outstanding.
Imagine if Bluepoint had been making a Bloodborne Remake this entire time. Or even a current gen port of GOW 1/2. But alas...
Sony are really showing themselves to be a shambles this generation. They're actually starting to make Microsoft look competent and focussed.
Seven Years for Bend, four for Bluepoint. All down the drain. After Concord and cancelling TLOU multiplayer and now this- Sony has a serious problem on its hands. How much of this is Jim Ryan's fault?
How much evidence do you need that BOTH Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst are terrible leaders. They really had Bluepoint working on a live service GOW game😂. And that's two more games we are NOT getting. You can't make up for the years spent wasted on those games, it's happening too much.
It's genuinely shocking how bad these decisions were. Some of their best studios wasted on more live services, if having what is already is development enough.
Sony seriously needs to get their ***** together and focus on what works and they know how to do: single-player games.
So now we won't see Bluepoint and Bend till the PS6 😐 Jim Ryan and Hermen really did a number on us, if Xbox wasn't struggling so much all these decisions would have sunk Sony into early PS3 era of failure.
Just what I expect from 2025 Sony.
I don't have the words right now to describe my disgust at Bluepoint wasting years working on a God of War live service of all things. Not a new entry in an old franchise. Not a remaster of a classic game. No ports of stranded PS3 games. A GOD OF WAR LIVE SERVICE.
What imbecile at PlayStation thought this was a good idea?
So they've cancelled those,i presume Sony will now be looking at securing a third party exclusive or two.
This is a major bummer. It's staggering the amount of money Sony has invested in games this gen that have either flopped or been canceled.
I agree with all the comments about GoW being a pretty odd choice for live service. Like, what does that even look like? Everyone can't be Kratos! Like, at least Horizon, when you squint you can see that world populated by characters other than Aloy, but GoW?
Get that Cee You Next Tuesday Hulst OUT OF PLAYSTATION before he burns it all to the ground. Watching Playstation turn into......this is just heartbreaking and soul destroying this entire pathetic worthless console generation is now a wash just write it off it's done
Jesus christ. If anything happens to Bluepoint i will never forgive Sony.
Look, I get why Sony would keep trying to chase the live-service trend, all right? I can understand that those games usually make more money than single-player games, so I don't need some guy on here having to explain for the 10th time why live-service games are the future or whatever.
But good god, could Sony be any more dense? Do they not understand how much harder it is to manage a live-service game? You can't just order a studio that has absolutely no experience in that area to make one and then magically expect to get millions of dollars that easy. They NEED people that actually KNOW how to make those kinds of games.
Like do you expect me to believe that Bluepoint was somehow more than capable of making a live-service God of War game when all they've done before were mostly remasters and remakes? And I feel equally terrible for Bend studios since their first game in 5+ years was also going to be a live-service. I'll be SO mad if any of these studios were to shutdown cuz of Sony's incompetence.
All that lost time is bad, but I'm very happy live service games were canceled. Rather than throw a tantrum about what could have been, lets all take our meds and enjoy what there is!
@ButterySmooth30FPS Let's be thankful for what we have.
Several studio closures, layoffs, and no games from these teams that didn't get killed off for at least 10 years due to protracted development times.
@Wardenknight133 I'm starting to think Sony is so dense light bends around them.
We all riff on Xbox for failing to sell hardware and barely getting games out with seemingly endless developer times, but Sony isn't doing much better. Endless hardware releasing, some of it barely supported like VR, and mismanaging and closing studios with lengthy dev times just like Xbox is.
I understand that games are getting more expensive but if they hadn't built a brand on exclusively big expensive pretty games and kept smaller games around even if they didn't perform well, they wouldn't need to be searching for live service gold to make up the shortfall.
But now that shortfall is absolutely massive as a result.
You can't spend billions on studios and live service games in the hopes that one of your 12 games in 5 years is a hit, because you can't pull people from their current live service titles (sunk cost fallacy) and time is limited, but also because the odds of that one hit making up the opportunity cost of all your other games you didn't make, but also the money lost on 11 games you made just in case isn't going to cover it.
Damn that sounds like a lot of time and money has been wasted there.
Shame that’s two of Sonys team back at square one.
This has to be the worst Playstation console generation in terms of first-party output.
Naughty Dog: Ramake + New IP (2 games)
Media Molecule: One game if we're lucky
Bend: Nothing
Bluepoint: Demon's Souls Remake (1 game)
Firewalk: Biggest joke in gaming history
Haven Studious: Soon to join Firewalk
Yes, games have longer development cycles nowadays but this abysmal output is clearly the result of mismanagement on a scale we haven't seen from Sony in a long while.
And what makes all of this even worse is that I'm not even sure Sony will learn anything from this disaster.
For the love of God, tell Bluepoint to work on a Bloodborne Remake and allow Bend to work on a single-player IP. We're approaching Xbox-level mismanagement.
Genuine question: Did Sony's first-party cancel more games than they developed this gen? I can't keep track anymore.
Doesn't it just fill you with confidence that the future of this company is in the hands of the man who greenlit then subsequently cancelled all this live service slop, wasting years of studio development?
I don't see Bend surviving for much longer, they're coming up to 6 years without any releases.
@RBMango They skipped a Bloodborne remake from Bluepoint for this? Being a Bloodborne fan nowadays is pure agony🤦
Remember folks, keep buying those remasters so Sony can keep pissing that money away on live service write offs!
Bluepoint has literally no experience in that field and after purchasing them that's what they were tasked with man if they start layoffs at that studio I'm sure employees will have a legal case against for gross mismanagement of company resources and yes that's a thing u can sue for
Probably the worst news I've heard this gen from Sony.
Why was BluePoint working on a live service title?! That's about as far off from their previous output as it gets.
They bailed on a MGS1 remake, a Bloodborne sequel, or any other IP... for a live service game. Let's get some exec heads rolling for this. BluePoint is a legendary developer, this is straight up disgraceful.
What a wasted generation. F grade Sony, your worst gen yet by far. Hulst, just leave.
This is really sad. Honestly, it’s disappointing, not only because they were live service games that aren’t necessarily a sure fire hit, but two studios that have a relatively solid pedigree in single player games have wasted most of their time on these projects that aren’t coming to fruition, meaning the wait for something significant is not going to happen.
Good riddance to these games, they need to focus on Days Gone 2 and a Bloodborne remake.
Sony is like a drug addict trying to chase the live service high. Doesn't care how it affects the family or friends.
@Paleblood I mean i agree with your sentiment, but lets not overreact, PS1 and PS2 gen hardly had any first party titles.
And you are forgetting a few first party titles this generation: Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7, God of War Ragnarok, Returnal, Miles Morales, Spiderman 2, Ratchet and Clank, Helldivers, Astro Bot.
My guess is the God of War live service game would allow players to choose which religion to be the God of War of and that would decide on their skill tree and possible starting area and enemies. Then it would play like a looter and live service DLC would give new religions, areas, and cosmetics.
I miss the era of gaming where publishers just released games and didn't worry about making the next bajillion dollar game.
WTF. I thought they're working on a single player game?!
Seriously. Someone at Sony needs to kick Hermen out from the company. Like Jimbo, the guy has unhealthy obsession with live service that he wants to turn every Sony 1st party studios as live service devs. SMH.
@LogicStrikesAgain I never said they didn't release any first-party games this generation. Compared to the last two console generations the PS5 is an absolute disaster in terms of first-party output. Why would you go back all the way to the PS2 and PS1? Why not measure their success on the previous console generation?
And Helldivers is not a first-party title. If we include second-party output the PS5 looks even worse compared to PS4 and PS3.
I mean, a live service GOW game sounds awful but I'm curious about bend.
So that's Bluepoint and Bend that most likely won't have a game this generation again, Sony don't have that many studios as it is so it's quite concerning.
This is why they should follow Microsoft and acquire a publisher who pumps out 3-4 games per year, it's the only reason Xbox can get an exclusive every 3-4 months and Sony need to follow suit.
Either that or they double down on getting third party exclusives.
@DonJorginho these live service games were most likely Jim’s directives. One by one that man’s babies are being aborted, and I have no problem with it. Layoffs and closures would be horrific, especially given the Demons Souls remake was brilliant. Still, I’m pretty disappointed that after all this time they were working on garbage a lot of people don’t want or care for.
@Paleblood Dude, i was just reacting to what you said. You literally said it was the worst generation in terms of first party output and then listed their first party output for this generation (You just missed a couple, so i added them). And while i said i agree somewhat with the sentiment of your post, i just wanted to point out that its not that bad actually in terms of first party output.
And actually, PS4 didnt have as much, or not much more first party titles in their fourth year than PS5. Most big first party titles came in the latter half of the PS4 generation.
”This has to be the worst Playstation console generation in terms of first-party output.
Naughty Dog: Ramake + New IP (2 games)
Media Molecule: One game if we're lucky
Bend: Nothing
Bluepoint: Demon's Souls Remake (1 game)
Firewalk: Biggest joke in gaming history
Haven Studious: Soon to join Firewalk”
Say what you will, for all the laughing at Xbox during the Xbox one reveal, the ps5 generation was marred by our own version of Don Mattrick. Ryan is not missed at all, but I’m glad that that Sony is course correcting.
I'm curious why Sony felt the need to reveal this as they usually don't reveal cancellations for unannounced games.
@UltimateOtaku91 I agree! They should acquire Square Enix and CDPR. Especially since they have a big gap in their portfolio in terms of RPGs.
So no PS Showcase this year, haha xD good thing 95% of my games are from third party
@AdamNovice I know right? They reveal more cancellations than they do games 😂
Sony quickly becoming a hardware only manufacturer, putting out more hardware than games, PS5 Pro, PS VR2, PS Portal, PS Edge controller. Looking forward to GatchaStation 6 launching alongside like 6 Hoyoverse games. 😂
@Haruki_NLI If that's what you want to focus on, go ahead! There are great games on PS5 and plenty more on the way.
The only way PlayStation comes back from this disaster is a BluePoint Bloodborne remake and Days Gone 2. The mismanagement of this generation is what will be remembered most. Maddening. Heads must roll.
Sony doesn’t have to close Bend. This studio is cursed now by bad leadership. Everyone with some pride and energy left will flee, Bend will become a disfunctional hollow of a studio, and THEN Sony will close the remains.
Holy crap, what a sad example of waste.
What was Sony thinking. This is an absolutely shambolic waste of resources. A live service God of War? madness.
Bend could have been readying for release of days gone 2 or uncharted 5 (as i believe was once rumoured) at this point in the console cycle.
What an absolute let down and failure of leadership and understanding from Sony. This PS5 generation will not be remembered fondly at all.
@rjejr You can get good software for your PlayStation hardware from Microsoft, so no problem.
Can we even say anything new that hasn't been said about Hermen Hulst's tenureship?
Playstation under him is turning into Xbox: They cancel more games than they announce. Most of these don't even get a proper announcement.
I think Sony has to sack him already. Too many fumbles this generation. All the goodwill and trust gained during the PS4 generation is pretty much squandered under his terrible leadership.
Imagine owning a studio as widely revered as Bluepoint, and instead of giving them another high-profile remake or letting the do an original title...you put them on, of all GD things, a live-service God of War spinoff. Exactly what ALL God of War fans always wanted!
Jesus, what an absolute waste of a studio...Playstation has got to get their friggin' house in order.
@LogicStrikesAgain Ok, how about this then: Sony's first-party management this generation is utter trash. They wasted half of their studios, burned ungodly amounts of financial resources for limited to no returns, and consistently ignored the wishes of fans.
Maybe they released fewer exclusives during the PS1 and PS2 era, I have no idea. But compared to PS3 and PS4 this is a dumpster fire. Concord was the most embarrassing and expensive mistake PlayStation has ever made in terms of game development. They have wasted decades-worth of development time and billions of dollars.
No matter how you look at it, this is really really bad. And we're not even out of the woods yet. Haven Studios is next on the chopping block and Media Molecule would be lucky to survive this generation.
I think it's become all the more apparent that Shuhei Yoshida saw the writing on the wall of where PlayStation is heading and bailed at the perfect moment keeping his pride in check.
@arsmolinarc I don't think that's entirely fair, as these were all greenlighted under Jim Ryan and his huge, asinine push to make everything live-service. If anything, it seems like Herman is trying to course correct by cancelling stuff that never should have been in production in the first place.
@AdamNovice They know that a lot of PushSquare users are sustained by melodrama and self-loathing and haven't had much to feel bad about in a while.
@LogicStrikesAgain Yes I think either Square Enix, Capcom, CDPR, Namco or Konami would be doable. The bigger publishers they probably couldnt afford like EA, Take Two and Sega, and ubisoft are tied up with tencent.
This is a sad day. Maybe Bend should rebuild Uncharted: Golden Abyss, so they can get a game out there as soon as possible to protect them. That and lots of people haven't played Golden Abyss. It's guaranteed to sell, I reckon.
Removed - inappropriate
Given how he spurned a Days Gone sequel, largely wasted Bluepoint's talent like many other SIE studios all chasing live service Gold, cancelled or closed other studios whilst insisting on Concord's release one has to wonder how Hermen Hulst not only remained as Worldwide Studios head but effectively get promoted into co-CEO Chair!
When we've seen the likes of not only Layden, & now Shuhei Yoshida retire from Playstation but even go back to the likes of creatives like Bruce Straley,(that oversaw the original TLOU & Uncharted 4 among others),Amy Hennig & others moved along it rather boggles the mind how Hulst has maintained his role.🤔
Jesus Did they not learn with ascension that no one wants online god of war
@Paleblood Well, if you want my opinion on what you wrote, here it is: I agree with your thoughts on all around management this generation, they seem very clueless!
If you’re talking in terms of first party output. I don’t agree with saying its a ‘dumpster fire’ compared to last generation. First of all, this generation is at the midway point. And most first party titles for the last two generations came out in the latter half. To see how it compared to those generations we would have to see this generation to the end. For now, i’d say they’re pretty even with last generation in terms of first party output.
Not trying to be annoying, i’m just always try to be very nuanced. Even if i join you in being frustrated at the current management of Playstation.
@UltimateOtaku91 SE, CDPR and Capcom would be awesome and a great fit! I think Konami has lots of none gaming businesses that Sony doesnt need, but they could probably acquire their IPs like MGS, Silent Hill and Castlevania.
While i agree that Take Two would probably be too big to acquire, but they could potentially acquire a stake in the company, imagine like a 30% stake or something, if thats even possible. That way they’d benefit without having to buy the whole company.
@LogicStrikesAgain And how are they supposed to match the first-party output of the PS4 generation when two of their most important studios are already out of the race completely? We won't get anything from Bend or Bluepoint.
Naughty Dog will develop half the amount of games they released last generation, Sucker Punch releases one game instead of 2, Haven Studios is almost guaranteed to join the ranks of Firewalk, and Media Molecule will release one game before the generation ends if we're lucky.
The math just doesn't add up. The second half of the PS5 generation won't match the PS4. That doesn't mean I'm not excited for the few first-party games yet to come. For all their mismanagement, at least the exclusives they do release still maintain a high-quality bar.
As far as second-party is concerned, they've been doing a great job. That's the one department they didn't mess up. In fact, 2024 has been carried by second-party exclusives:
FF7 Rebirth
Helldivers 2
Rise of the Ronin
Stellar Blade
That’s unfortunate. Projects obviously get cancelled all the time but seems like a huge waste of resources.
people shouldn't be surprised by this news at all. when jim told us there were 20 live service games in development, he was basically telling us that he bet the farm on this endevour. learning of last of us online being cancelled should signal that everything or anything being cancelled is fair game. and so it was.
i'm glad herman is making these tough decisions because the alternative is far worse: releasing these terrible games with even more resources invested, having them flop and the community losing even more trust in playstation than they already have. might as well cut your losses here and now in knowing that all these service games were hot trash ideas to begin with.
now, get bluepoint on another remake already. i'll take legend of dragoon. as for bend, if they want to make a day's gone sequel, for the love of god, allow them to. you got any better ideas, sony?
While Sony should pursue different avenues with live service, it's like walking a tightrope over a fire, and choosing which studios to do so a huge decision. I see no reason why Bluepoint should be working on live service, and a GoW live service even more so. Bend was working on a multiplayer game, so I assume this was that project, and have nothing else to show for the past 4+ years.
Helldivers 2 is such a great story of success, but it always made sense for Arrowhead to go down that path. I don't think their primary studios should be engaged with a fully live service title
Not going to lie. If this news is accurate, I just lost a lot of faith in Sony. What an absolute disaster. Where do they think people are going to find the time to play these endless crappy live service games? To waste half your internal development on this crap is a kick in the teeth to long term fans. Need to do some major reorganization of this management team.
@DonJorginho to be fair all this was greenlit under Ryan as it's been several years for both. Herman inherited a turd. Not saying he's been great but he has been putting out one dumpster fire after another that wasn't his. Now I'm pretty sure I read he was a big proponent for Concord...lol yikes. So there is that to balance the scales a bit. Either way I miss the Shu, Shawn era. Those 2 were on the same page all the time
@Paleblood You make fair points, i can only hope they do better in the second half. Im sure they still have plenty of games to offer from their first party studios.
Also, i agree about their second party titles, so at least management didnt fumble in terms of making good deals with studios.
I wonder if this really counts as a cancelation because as far we are concerned unlike the TLOU2 multiplayer we haven't heard any news about those games.
Guess they were really early into development, like, after concept stage and before alpha.
Good. Let's get back to making actual great on-brand single player games.
Praise our lord the Astro Bot for this turn around (and Concords spectacular failure)!
Shame that it took them this long to realise. Years of wasted work.
This actually makes me legitimately angry. The shocking levels of mismanagement on display here, the years of work wasted, talented single player studios put to work on **** live services! I can’t even comprehend the depths of incompetence that have gone into these decisions. And now the developers suffer, having yet more projects pulled from under them, likely destroying morale, and the customers suffer as we face even more glaring black holes where games should have been in the years to come. I’m just so angry at Sony right now.
Jesus christ. We know they were going all in on the live service stuff but this is taking the piss. 2 big teams that should never be doing that, they've just ensured both teams give us nothing until next Gen now.
If a team as respected as bluepoint making something using the GoW IP cannot produce anything worth releasing, there's not much hope for the other live service garbage they've got on the go either.
This is potentially a complete waste of an entire generation now. Could go down as the most catastrophic decision/mismanagement in gaming history.
Just tell Bluepoint to remake Bloodborne since they did an amazing job on Demon Souls. At least that game would sell like crazy. But Sony will never allow a good game to be made again.
Bluepoint was the best at doing ports and remakes. Should have had them continue to do what they were best at.
Damn the dollars lost on this live service push must be absolutely staggering, amazing the C-suite all still have jobs, frankly.
This is why I mainly play on my Switch now. I know people give Nintendo grief about always reiterating on the same IP but it’s always reliable and high quality. Just saying.
@DadJKP I mean how can people not say stuff about Nintendo when they remaster the game for $60 and they get a free pass but God forbid if Sony or any other company does it lmao
Bluepoint was working on a live service game instead of a PS5 Bloodborne remaster? What? Why?
Sheesh, at this rate, you won’t be seeing any of Sony’s “bread and butter” single-player experiences until PS6!
How about Bloodborne with Bluepoint you absolute tools at Sony. Dark Cloud, ICO Medievil so much is there left and you all waste it on liveservice. Make one or two liveservice games people cant play them all.
I thought Bend Studio was working on a single player game along with the live service game. If all they were working on was the live service game, Sony's management needs to stop doing lines of coke before their meetings.
It's one thing to buy a studio or two to work on live service games, but to turn established studios into live service developers and then just cancel their games years later is some really asinine management. Good thing for Sony that we're all stupid enough to give Sony our money.
We need some guidance back from Japan atleast then we had original fun games. Now with the industry being this massive the suits smell money and they wont care hoe many developers they will ruin on the way.
@rick1987 I’m Catholic. Metaphors are allowed.
Very disappointing but cancellations happen on all types of games not just live services, usually it’s in the background without the public knowing. This happened to Santa Monica Stuidos Sci-Fi game (project Darkside) game before God of War (2018) when several years into development, similarly Amy Hennigs last two single player games Project Ragtag (Star Wars 1313) and Project Viking were both cancelled. But the reality is we don’t usually ever know about them.
It’s unusual for companies, especially Sony, to announce cancelled games that were never for,ally announced. I wonder why they did this this time? Most likely they were aware of a news story about to break and were invited to get ahead of it.
Now we know why Sony are one big AAA campaign game from their studios per year.
We can now see the full extent of this live service thing.
Wow they really went for it with so many developers time and efforts wasted, even at ND as well.
Now I know why my Sony of the PS4 era hasn’t been knocking them out that well.
This is mismanagement on an apocalyptic scale by Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst. I just don't know what else to say.
Wow what the hell has happened
This is insane! Imagine we could have had a remake of Bloodbourne by now and Days Gone 2 in the works instead. Well this is it for me, im switching to switch 2. Bye everyone.
And nothing of value was lost.
I just hope they’ll be allowed to make proper games as they clearly weren’t experienced in this live service rubbish.
If it wasn't for the misguided push for live service I imagine both these studios could have released AAA single player games in 2025 if not earlier in Bends case. Absolute shambles by Sony
It’s like neither Sony/xbox want to help themselves this gen.
What a fking cock up.
Removed - unconstructive
Well, that's a good news twofer !
Cancelled live-service God of War game - perfect!
And Bluepoint is free to take on a new title - even more so!
Now can we hope for a Bloodborne Remaster/Remake/Sequel? (yes I know about Yoshida's "theory", but I won't believe it until proven).
Arafat Ablaze in Kerosene Oyster Hell
Sony should listen to Kratos: "Don't be sorry, be BETTER!"
Now make Bloodborne Remaster and Bloodborne II before you ruined Playstation for good...
Good, just make single player games like ps4 era and let 3rd party make live service games 😃
Why would they waste bluepoints talent with trash like that? Sonys recent moves have been terrible. This means that well likely wont grt a game from both studios until 2028-2029? This is one joke of a gen
"God of War live service" of all the stupid ideas!
Jim Ryan did great launching the PS5 but clearly hadn't a clue what he was doing with the studios, and I'm deeply concerned about Herman's judgement too. What a waste of time from 2 great studios. We should be hearing and soon playing their latest single player games. This is so frustrating to hear, I am genuinely angry
This is so infuriating!
It was obvious that nothing good can come out of "a dozen live service projects".
I really hope that both studios can recover from this travesty.
@DonJorginho
To be fair Jim Ryan only left in March last year, and these games have been in development for years, so the blame still lies with him. If anything Herman Hulst has made the decision to step back from live service by the looks.
Anyway, completely agree with others that both these high caliber studios shouldn't have been wasted making Live Service games. I was really hoping for another excellent single player from Bluepoint in particular.
Glad it's been confirmed they are not closing but really hope they are not heavily impacted by layoffs (guessing there will have be some for recruited live service expertise).
Not great news to end the week.
What an utter waste of these studios and ip. The whole gaming world is in the absolute pits idea wise these days.
@BamBamBaklava89 stockholders and money, the first and last reason
Herman Hulst has to be changed sorry. His management and over push of certain games is literally killing the PlayStation brand and losing rapport with fans and supporters. He should go.
@UltimateOtaku91 Well if they do, do that I'd pick Koei Tecmo
They just need to cancel all their live service bs. No one wants that trash.
A live service God of War? Thank god it was cancelled. 2 excellent studios wasting their time, talent and resources on more unwanted live service slop.
If Sony are so desperate for a live service game that much, team up with Hoyoverse and plop out some gatcha girlies in questionably skimpy costumes. MONEY PRINTED
This is catastrophic levels of mismanagement. Imagine buying Bluepoint - a studio known for best-in-class remakes and remasters and ports - during an era full of great remakes and remasters that sell well, and getting them to make a live service game. It's like putting a baseball cap on a statue of Horatio Nelson. Farcical.
I am glad there are only measured and calm responses on this topic.
This is all Jim Ryan’s fault. Bluepoint who are great at remaster/remakes were made to do a live service game. We could have had Bloodborne remake by now
I doubt that Sony could go back to the great days of the ps2.
They should revive some of their old ips, like Siren, and dark cloud, or a rogue galaxy remake.
The obvious ones like bloodborne, and legend of dragoon remake, should be easy profit makers.
Playstation gone the way of xbox it seems.
Snapping up developers and then destroying them.
Blue Point was a can do no wrong developer and they was making a live service game. Bloody stupid. Just let them do what they are good at.
Live service is just not worth this
Bend well its bend. Thats what they've been doing for years, I expect them to be gone soon enough.
@PeaceSalad Exploded cardinal preaches sermon from fish tank
God of War life service? That game is only special because of all the characters and mainly the two main characters. I would not like to play for anyone else in that universe against anything else in that universe. ZERO INTEREST
And tell me that to make it more "fun" they made all characters able to fly like they did it in Suicide Squad…
GREAT
Maybe we all should be just really greatfull for all the remakes, because there usually not much to go wrong.
I'm sure they really could have done Bloodborne remake in 2 years and it would be the thing people actually want. Ufff
Are we still gonna pretend that these live service games have had no effect on their traditional single player games output, when they have to specify whether these studios will be closed or not. Come on.
@Strikke You must not run in Nintendo fan circles much lol. People are absolutely giving Nintendo grief for DKC Returns HD right now.
My previous comment was about new games in existing IPs, not remasters, etc.
@Elitepatriot indeed. No one wants "trash" like Nikki. No one wants Marvel's rivals. No one wants Fortnite. No one wants Genshin Impact. No one wants CoD. No one wants Honkai: Star Rail. Dota. League of Legends. Apex Legends. Rocket League.
No one.
Sony use to make 3 to 4 aaa single player games a year now you can only have 1 or 2 the most.its ridiculous.word up son
@naruball games I will never play. Sony needs to keep doing what they have always done by making high-quality singleplayer games. I would love to see them get back into making story-driven fps games like they did back on the ps3. Good times.
@naruball I should note the games you listed are not Sony related. Helldivers has been the exception, but when has Sony put out a good live service game?
Good thing we're getting all of Xbox's 1st party games. Cuz we're not getting PlayStation ones for a while...
@Ravix I honestly have no idea how anyone can consider themselves a Sony or Microsoft fan. I like having the consoles and enjoy my gaming but these are just big profit hungry corporations at the end of the day. They seldom make decisions for the benefit of their employees or even their target audience. Maybe their market research is just inept. Fortnite and Warzone have a lot to answer for though, their success resonates across the industry.
Herman Hulst is inept. Full stop.
@Elitepatriot you may want to read your own comment again.
@Elitepatriot you may have not noticed by they still do story-driven games. Arguably better than they did during the ps3 days.
@naruball I used the word "their" implying Sony. I would argue that Sony's recent story-driven games have worsened since the ps3.
@Gremio108 And sacked chimney-sweep pumps boss full of mayonnaise
@Ken_Kaniff PS6 sales will definitely not be anywhere near PS5 in launch period if they can’t figure out how to improve the end of the generation. And since this will be hard given how many studios were wasted I’d say they basically threw the excellent PS4 momentum in the trash.
The mismanagement at Playstation regarding their first-party development this gen has been catastrophic. That they would put Bluepoint, of all developers, on a live-service game is just beyond parody. You can't make this stuff up. People have been begging for a Bloodborne remaster since the debut of the PS5, and they take the perfect team for the job and do this to them. What a clown show. We've been wondering for years what that team has been up to, and now all those years worth of work were for nothing. We won't see a new Bluepoint game until the PS6.
Bluepoint have done some amazing remasters, now I read this crap about a live service God of war. The whole formula change in the new games is bad enough. Thank God this ***** got cancelled.
Well if Bend are no longer making crap, Days Gone 2 should get a go. Its turned into a classic with psn and pc players alike.
@RenanKJ Couldn't have said it better myself. The momentum is definitely gone. I feel zero excitement for them as a brand.
@Gr8VngnzN4esAngr It would be so simple for them to just call Bluepoint and ask them to do a multiformat Bloodborne remaster, just mind blowing how they don't see it.
Should cancel them all, they have hell divers that they need to keep nurturing, destiny and the upcoming marathon.
Make those 3 the best they can be instead of wasting resources in massively crowded space
Seems to be a lot blaming Hermen Hulst in here.
He will no doubt have had some involvement but can't help but think he's mainly clearing up Jim Ryan's mess here.
I didn't want sony to become a GaaS developer. I hope that this means that no more GaaS and more single player. it's a shame the wasted time but it's better for the mid-term future.
I'm curious as to what a live service God of War would look like.
@AK4tywill people keep wanting to blame Ryan for everything... Hulst has been the head of Playstation Studios since 2019... ffs - don't you think the guy who runs all of first party studios should have MOST of the responsibility? If not, what was he there for?
@MARl0 Holy sh*t its massively disappointing, in so many ways… Like you said, all this time wondering what Bluepoint was up to, and now… nothing. The only silver lining is that they’re not closing the studio. But wow, Sony management has become utterly clueless. Dark times for PlayStation…
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare I'll counter that. Phil Spencer is the head of Xbox but seems to be Nadella running that show.
May be head of the studios but Hulst was more or less a figurehead back then. Jim Ryan was the one pulling the strings.
@Jaxx420 based on what evidence?
Sony has stopped making games and charges PC prices for constant hardware upgrades, Nintendo announces the upgrade for Nintendo Switch One is Nintendo Series Switch, same as the old switch but faster and with some shifted curves on the chassis, and Xbox is now PlayStations first party and PC somehow ends up being the most exciting thing with different experiences happening.
We're not heading for an industry crash, we're already neck deep in it.
I wasn't a huge Days Gone fan, but I recognized it was an alright game. The tone just didn't land and I didn't like the characters. Wasting Bend for five or however many years is bad enough, but wasting the studio who made one of the only legit jaw dropping games of this gen is an absolute sin. I've actually been waiting to hear what Bluepoint has been up to. This is just saaaaad.
The Concord effect, I guess. Problem is, what if these two games were actually good but Sony just lost their nerve. Probably unlikely, live service games are harder to lead to success than solo games. Everyone trying to make clones of Fortnight or Dead By Daylight seem to forget those games already exist.
I’m guessing one or the other in between they help out other dev teams like Sony bend helps out on the rumored uncharted game and bluepoint helps out with the next god of war game , or both studios work on bringing back some of the old ps studios ips
Good that they're staying open it the fact they can't say wether will lead to lay offs down the road isn't good. 2024 was worse than 2023 which was bad n 2025 is saying here hold by 🍺 😔😭
@LogicStrikesAgain with what money ? They need to sure they are solvent before spending billions on purchasing.
God of war live service game could have been interesting.
Can only see this as a good thing.
LSG's and always-online-games need to die out, let gaming be gaming again instead of publishers milking players with endless 'DLC's' that should've been in the basegame to start with.
Hopefully this is the first crack of many to that business model!
@Jarobusa I have no idea, it’s more like wishful thinking. But i think Sony has money to spend, weren’t they in talks last year to acquire Paramount?
Sony will take the hit and likely learn some hard lessons - you shouldn't be spending $400m on one to start with. Less than a quarter of that created Helldivers 2 - a stellar game! Aim smaller and go for a unique spin, not a carbon copy.
Also, I think the radio silence on the 'real' games coming for 1st party studios has been due various beleaguering issues for whatever reason. If we had more of these alongside live service then people would likely be more positive about their inclusion.
@Max_the_German " You can get good software for your PlayStation hardware from Microsoft "
"Good" is doing a lot of heavy lifting for me there. 😂
@rjejr I am looking forward for Indiana Jones and Doom, and I think I’m not alone with this sentiment.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...