“Sony has been stepping back from live-service games, a sector it has heavily invested in recent years: The live-service game projects, which the company increased to as many as 12 in 2023, are being canceled one by one, including the God of War project, following a series of failures. One of the most notable developments in this process is the cancellation of the God of War live-service game being developed by Bluepoint Games.
Sony Cancels Two Major Live-Service Game Projects
According to a report by Jason Schreier from Bloomberg, Sony had already shelved a live-service game that was being developed by Bend Games, the studio behind Syphon Filter and Days Gone, in recent years. Now, the God of War live-service game that Bluepoint Games had been working on for a long time has also been canceled.
Bluepoint Games is known as a studio recognized for successful remake and remaster projects such as Demon’s Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, and Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection. However, Sony had tasked this team with developing a live-service God of War game. Now, that project has been completely terminated.
Smart Pikachu, known for its leaks in the industry, revealed the first developments about the upcoming Huawei Pocket 3.
Studios Won’t Be Shut Down, but Uncertainty Remains
It remains unclear whether these cancellations will lead to layoffs, but it has been confirmed that the studios themselves will not be closed. In a statement to Bloomberg, the PlayStation team confirmed that new projects are being worked on with Bluepoint and Bend Studios.
Sony, inspired by the success of Fortnite, had invested in numerous live-service games in recent years. However, despite the successful launch of Helldivers II, the failure of games like Concord has caused Sony to reconsider this strategy.
Projects such as Bungie’s Marathon and Haven Studios’ Fairgames are still in development, but it seems that PlayStation’s plans regarding live-service games have undergone significant changes.
Do you think Sony’s decision to move away from live-service games is the right move? Would you have liked to see a new God of War game? Share your thoughts in the comments!”
