Sony Cancels Bluepoint, Bend Studio PS5 Games, One Being a Live-Service God of War Title

The two developers won't be closed

Sony has revealed via a Bloomberg article that it has cancelled PS5 projects from both Bluepoint and Bend Studio. The two developers remain open and won't be shut down, and Sony is now working with both teams to determine what their next projects are. According to Jason Schreier of the outlet, the project Bluepoint had in the works all of this time was a live-service God of War game.

The game Bend Studio was creating was also a live-service title. Sony hasn't confirmed whether the two cancellations will lead to layoffs at either developer, but they will remain open. Sony is "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," it told Bloomberg. Sony will continue to make single player and online games, a Sony spokesperson confirmed.

Since finishing up work on PS5 launch title Demon's Souls, Bluepoint has long claimed it was working on a new project that was described as "original content". Now, it's confirmed this was a live-service game set in the God of War universe and has been cancelled as a result of a "recent review". The same goes for Bend Studio, which the team was staffing up for last year. Schreier claims Bluepoint was helping Santa Monica Studio on the development of God of War Ragnarok between 2020 and 2022, and since then has been working on its own live-service version of the series.

"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 projects," a Sony spokesperson told Bloomberg.

[source bloomberg.com]