Bend Studio
The creators of Days Gone are reportedly working on a AAA live service title as their next game
A job opening in Bend Studio has given us the first possible details on the next game from the creators of Days Gone, and it seems to be another live service project.
With the Days Gone sequel now overwhelmingly discarded, Bend Studio is already immersed in their next project. For the moment, the North American studio has not provided information about this new game, so all the information that arrives in dribs and drabs comes from cases such as this one, in which a job offer seems to indicate that it will be a game as a service.
“Sony Bend Studio, world-class creator of Days Gone, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and Syphon Filter, is seeking outstanding talent to join our passionate and creative family in crafting our next high-profile AAA title,” says the description of this job posting, so at the moment it appears that it will be a game with high production values. More details are still emerging from this vacancy for Lead Project Manager.
One of the main responsibilities of the position is to “Plan and track release schedules against the defined live roadmap”, in addition to defining one of the functions as “Lead our agile strategy and processes in alignment with our studio goals, the specific needs of our teams, and key phases of development (pre-production, production, live services)”. One of the virtues that the candidate must present is leadership skills, and the fact that such a high profile is sought leads one to think that the game is still in a merely conceptual phase.
Why didn’t Bend Studio continue with Days Gone 2?
Jeff Ross, director of Days Gone, left Bend Studio shortly after the game’s release, and it doesn’t seem like his departure was very amicable. In May of last year, Ross posted a tweet after the PlayStation Showcase lamenting that the event reminded him that Days Gone 2 could have already been released if they had remained firm, as he himself claimed.
Many responses to this tweet questioned whether there would be a chance that this sequel would end up seeing the light of day, something that Ross, although he did not rule it out 100%, did make clear that it would be very complicated since over 90 people from the original team had already left the studio. Everything indicates that the reasons why Sony did not give the green light Days Gone 2 had both sales below expectations and, above all, reviews also below the expectations of what Sony considers standard for an exclusive game.