Sony Shuts the Door on Ambitious Live-Service God of War Project

Sony has terminated two live-service PlayStation projects from its internal creators Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games. The corporation verified the terminations to Bloomberg, and stated that the two studios were secure from closure.

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that the title under development at Bluepoint was a live-service God of War offshoot.

Sony indicated that the terminations were made “following a recent evaluation” and stated that it was “collaborating closely with each studio to ascertain what the subsequent projects will be.” The Sony representative didn’t elaborate on the potential for job cuts at Bend and Bluepoint, but an internal email reviewed by Bloomberg mentioned that Sony intended “to take every measure possible to ensure minimal business disruption.”

Nonetheless, this represents a unsettling moment for the studios, both of which seemed to be functioning outside their usual comfort zones by engaging in live-service games. Bluepoint is recognized as possibly the leading remaster and remake studio in the gaming sector for its contributions to titles like Shadow of the Colossus and Demon’s Souls, and at the time of its acquisition by Sony in 2021, it claimed to be developing an original game. Bend is most renowned for producing action-adventure titles such as the Syphon Filter spy series and the open-world zombie game Days Gone released in 2019.

The cancellations arrive as Sony’s extensive initiative into live-service gaming continues to face challenges. Sony did achieve one significant live-service success in 2024, represented by Helldivers 2. Yet, there was also the unfortunate cancellation of Concord and the shutdown of its developer Firewalk Studios after only two weeks of operation.

Sony’s grand live-service initiative was unveiled with great enthusiasm in 2022, following its acquisition of Destiny studio Bungie, deemed as a cornerstone of the strategy. The objective aimed for no fewer than 12 new live-service releases by the end of March 2026.

As Sony’s aspirations collided with the unpredictable and high-stakes arena of live-service game creation — where the market is heavily influenced by enduring successes like Fortnite, making it incredibly challenging to lure players away — those targets were significantly reduced. In November 2023, the goal was halved to merely six games. At that time, Sony maintained it still had plans for 12 games, but that it had postponed some and was undergoing a review process.