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Days Gone developer Bend Studio hit with layoffs after live-service game cancelled

Many of Sony's internal studios have been mismanaged in recent years, with many single-player focused studios being pushed into live-service projects. One such studio was Days Gone creator, Bend Studio, which has just had its next game cancelled. 

According to sources speaking with Jason Schreier, Bend Studio had been working on a live-service game in recent years. Like many other live-service projects at PlayStation Studios, Bend's game was cancelled and now, roughly 30% of the studio's workforce is being let go.

We do not know the finer details of the cancelled game, outside of the fact that it was going to be live-service. Bend Studio has been working on something else since the cancellation, but there are no details on that either. Presumably, Bend Studio will be free to make a game it can feel confident in, rather than attempting to compete with the likes of Fortnite.

Sony has since confirmed that the lay-offs are indeed taking place at Bend Studio, but did not comment on the game cancellation.

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KitGuru Says: The last two years have been quite dry for Sony's first-party game output and many fans are pointing to the massive internal push towards live-service games as the main cause. 

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