Days Gone developer Bend Studio has reportedly laid off 30% of its workforce five months after its live service project was canceled by parent company Sony.
According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who first shared the news on Bluesky, that equates to around 40 employees of Bend Studio being made redundant. The studio has reportedly been working on a new, yet-to-be revealed game after Sony shut down its untitled live service offering.
That canceled game was one of two projects shuttered by Sony in January, the other being a live service God of War game that had been in development at the Demon's Souls remake studio, Bluepoint, which was acquired by PlayStation in 2021.
Schreier reported in a follow-up Bluesky post that it was "just Bend" that was impacted by these layoffs at Sony.
It's unclear what Bend Studio is working on behind the scenes. Many fans have been hoping for a sequel to Days Gone now that the studio's live service project seemingly isn't standing in the way.
Likewise, Bluepoint has been quiet since revealing in 2021 that it's working on an original game rather than another remake. In June 2024, Bluepoint's head of technology, Peter Dalton, confirmed that "nothing has changed since our statement that we are working on an original title," adding at the time, "everything takes time" and "we are committed to sharpening our skills!"
