The Last of Us Online, Spider-Man: The Great Web, unnamed projects from Deviation Games and London Studio, Twisted Metal, Destiny spin-off from Bungie, Concord – by now, it’s evident that Sony’s strategy to bet on live-service games has turned into a colossal failure, with studios getting shut down one after another and their projects being canceled, in most cases before they even get a chance to see the light of day. Most recently, two more studios joined the list, with their live-service titles scrapped, including one rumored to be set in the God of War universe.
Sony Santa Monica
As reported by Jason Schreier, Sony has shut down unannounced live-service games that were in development at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games, a decision confirmed by a company representative. According to the spokesman, the cancellations came “following a recent review,” and while it is currently unclear whether the teams will suffer layoffs as a result, Sony confirmed that the studios themselves will remain open, stating they are “working closely with Bend and Bluepoint to determine what are the next projects and plan to do everything we can to ensure there is minimal business impact.”
Over on his Bluesky page, Schreier also revealed that the live-service project Bluepoint was working on was, surprisingly, set in the God of War universe, a revelation that left many questioning how this particular game series could be adapted to the microtransactions-ridden, battle-pass-driven, multiplayer format, with many agreeing that its shutdown was a dodged bullet.
As it stands, Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 remains the only successful live-service title under Sony’s belt, and despite the studio’s earlier attempt to force users to have a PSN account to play the game on PC – a move that hurt the game’s reputation – the title still shows solid results in terms of player numbers. Reportedly, the studio also has a Horizon live-service game in development, but with the latest wave of cancellations, its future now seems uncertain.
It’s also interesting to point out that back in 2022, PlayStation’s then-CEO Jim Ryan referred to live-service games as “effectively subscription services in themselves,” revealing that the focus was more on generating easy revenue through in-game sales and less on delivering quality products, and predicted a continued trend toward such games – a forecast that has proven to be incorrect.
At the time, Ryan emphasized that “it’s all about choice” and that “nobody is obliged to do anything,” and as we can see today, the gaming community chose not to spend money on Sony’s assembly-line multiplayer titles, inspiring hope that the gaming giant will redirect more investments into single-player games, the very ones that put Sony on the map in the first place.
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