We're only a couple of weeks into the new year, but some big games have already been canceled before they were even announced. That comes via a report from Bloomberg, which indicates that PlayStation has canceled two live-service games being developed by its first-party teams at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games, the latter of which was reportedly working on a live service God of War title.
The report notes that per an internal memo, PlayStation is now "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."
A company spokesperson also told Bloomberg that neither of the studios will be closed, those it's not clear if the teams will have layoffs as a result of these games being canceled.
Bend Studio is best known as the Oregon-based team behind the Syphon Filter franchise and, more recently, the open-world survival game Days Gone, which launched on PlayStation 4 in 2019 before getting ported to PC in 2021.
Bluepoint Games is a Texan studio that crafted the PlayStation 5 Demon's Souls remake in 2020 before providing support work on Sony Santa Monica's God of War Ragnarök, which launched on PlayStation consoles in 2022 before being ported to PC last year.
A live service push filled with peril and potential
Sony had grand ambitions for live service titles in recent years, with the company at one point having more than ten of these games in development, and buying a number of companies, including Destiny 2 developer Bungie for $3.6 billion. The most successful live service titles (or games-as-a-service) are sometimes referred to as "Black Hole" titles, taking up large chunks of player engagement and recurring spending.
Unlike its single-player titles, which traditionally launch on console first before later getting Windows PC ports, PlayStation has openly embraced launching its live service games on PC day one.
The publisher has seen mixed results from this initiative so far, with 2024 bringing Swedish developer Arrowhead Game Studios' Helldivers 2, which rapidly sold over 12 million copies across PlayStation 5 and PC. Later the same year, PlayStation launched player-vs-player shooter Concord before pulling the game from stores and refunding players due to extremely low sales. PlayStation then shuttered the Washington-based developers at Firewalk Studios alongside Neon Koi, a team that was working on an unannounced mobile title.
This also comes as PlayStation has canceled other live service titles in the last couple of years, including The Last of Us Online at Naughty Dog, a Twisted Metal game from Firesprite, a fantasy game from its now-closed London Studio, and more.
The company still has other live service games in its pipeline, with Dutch studio Guerrilla Games continuing work on a co-op title set in the world of Horizon Zero Dawn, while Bungie is working on the multiplatform Marathon, which is also slated to launch on Xbox consoles. Meanwhile, its recently acquired Canadian studio, Haven, is also working on a heist title called Fairgame$.
