Highlights

  • Bend Studio's next project is a live service game.
  • The Sony subsidiary previously confirmed that it's working on a new IP.
  • The game itself may still be in pre-production, which would mean it won't be hitting the market anytime soon.

Bend Studio's new IP is a live-service game, according to some newly emerged evidence. The Sony subsidiary hence appears poised to join its parent's ongoing live-service foray, which is bound to put Bend Studio well outside its comfort zone.

The Oregon-based company's latest game was Days Gone, which reached the PS4 in April 2019 before making its way to PC two years later. Bend Studio subsequently confirmed it's working on a new IP, but the group has yet to share any concrete information about that project.

days-gone-horde-chases-deacon
Related
Days Gone Has One Feature Every Game Should Adopt

Though Days Gone certainly had its share of problems, one of its most easily missable features deserves to be borrowed by many other games.

Even so, the company has now offered some indirect hints about the nature of its upcoming title; according to a recently surfaced Bend Studio job ad reviewed by Game ZXC, the developer's new IP is a live-service game. The listing, which advertises an opening for a lead project manager, explicitly mentions live-service games thrice, both in the context of the eventual hire's everyday responsibilities and the ideal candidate's required and preferable experience.

Bend Studio Lead Project Manager March 2024 job listing live service game mentions

Bend Studio hence seems to be part of Sony's live-service foray that the Japanese gaming giant originally announced in early 2022. Back then, the company said that it was looking to put out a dozen such titles by March 2026, which corresponds to the end of its fiscal year 2025. But half of those PlayStation live-service games were delayed by late 2023, with Sony Group COO Hiroki Totoki citing quality concerns as the reason for the postponement. The majority of those upcoming titles have yet to be announced. The original dozen comprised the recently released Helldivers 2, the canceled The Last of Us multiplayer game, and Bungie's upcoming Marathon reboot. South Korean studio NCSoft is also rumored to be working on a Horizon MMO.

Bend Studio Pitched at Least 2 Other Games Before Its Live-Service Project

Prior to tackling its current project, Bend Studio pitched a Days Gone sequel and an open-world Resistance game to Sony, as previously revealed by one of its senior staffers. Both ideas were rejected. This was around the time when the company was working on the PC port of Days Gone, which it had decided to handle internally. From a quality perspective, that particular move paid off, with Days Gone still being widely touted as one of the best PC ports that a Sony studio has delivered to date. The upcoming live-service game was possibly already in pre-production by the time Days Gone reached PC. This newly emerged job listing suggests that it still is, which would make it unlikely to hit the market in the foreseeable future.

How Bend Studio fares in the live-service segment remains to be seen. Sony's attempts to create long-tail revenue streams by doubling down on the games as a service (GaaS) model have so far stirred some unrest across its vast family of subsidiaries. Naughty Dog has essentially gone through an entire console generation without producing an original game due to its focus on The Last of Us multiplayer game that ultimately ended up getting canceled after the developer concluded it cannot commit to long-term content support. Sony Interactive Entertainment Head of Internal Production Connie Booth is also said to have left the company in late 2023 over disagreements about the conglomerate's live-service strategy.