Sony cancels two unannounced games-services, including new God of War. For devs, it was huge surprise
Sony has canceled yet another unannounced game-service. Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games were behind their development, and one of them was to be a new installment in the God of War series.
Update (January 20)
Journalist Jeff Grubb stated in a new episode of the Game Mess Mornings podcast that employees of Bluepoint and Bend Studio learned about the cancellation of their games-as-a-service projects at the same time as the rest of the world, through the publication of a Bloomberg article. Right now, Sony is discussing the future of both teams - in each instance, they mention "upcoming projects," suggesting that neither studio will be closed.
Original news (January 17)
According to recent reports, Sony has cancelled two previously unannounced game-services. One of them was supposed to be a new installment of the God of War series, and they were developed by Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games, respectively. Apparently, Sony has started to learn from the failure of Concord, as already predicted by one of the company's two CEOs, Hiroki Totoki.
Two cancelled projects
The information was conveyed by Jason Schreier through Bloomberg. The spokesperson for the Japanese company confirmed the cancellation, acknowledging it occurred following a "recent assessment." So we can assume that the quality of the new projects was unsatisfactory. However, it was noted that Sony will continue to create both online games and those for single players, and none of the studios will be closed.
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 project.
Although we don't know what Bend Studio was working on, Schreier reported that Bluepoint was associated with the God of War brand. Fans have long wondered what project the studio was working on after the release of Demon’s Souls, and now we have learned that from 2020-2022, it was helping with Ragnarok. Later, however, it was associated with a game-service about the god of war, which was ultimately canceled.
Are games-as-a-service a flop?
The recent cancellations are another setback for Sony's ambitious plan to launch 12 service-based games by the end of the fiscal year 2025. Jim Ryan's big project did not stand the test of time and most of the titles failed at the development stage.
On X, we can find a list of titles canceled by Sony, which today has increased by two new items:
- Concord;
- The Last of Us: Factions;
- Spider-Man 2 multiplayer;
- Twisted Metal;
- Deviation Games studio's game;
- co-op game from London Studio;
- Payback from Bungie studio;
- God of War by Bluepoint Games;
- project from Bend Studio.
The list is quite large and in some ways sad, when you think about how much time was wasted on developing these titles. User Synth Potato ventured to prepare a few games that could be created using the resources wasted on the aforementioned entries. On the list, we will find, for instance, new Killzone, Infamous 4, Days Gone 2, Little Big Planet 4 , or Bloodborne Remake.
The well-known insider Shinobi602 also shared his thoughts, believing that Sony has seriously considered its actions for the sake of games-as-a-service. He claims that the company realized that it is a tough market, and not every game will repeat the success of Helldivers 2, so they should focus on their strengths. They will still develop games-as-a-service, but not with as much emphasis as before.
Not so long ago, in December of last year, Sony made it clear (through the words of its CEO, Herman Hulst) that it is open to the return of the iconic game series that players fell in love with many years ago. This suggests that PlayStation, PC, and single-player games will be the apple of the eye of the company in the future.
More:God of War Ragnarok without FoV on PC, There Is Hope
