Sony Bend, best known for Days Gone, is the latest company to be affected by layoffs.
Last night, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported the studio was laying off 30 percent of its staff, equating to around 40 people. In the time since, developers from Bend and the studio itself have confirmed the layoffs.
“Today, we said goodbye to some incredibly talented teammates as we transition to our next project,” reads a post on the Bend social media account. “We’re deeply thankful for their contributions as they’ve shaped who we are, and their impact will always be part of our story. This is a difficult moment for our team, but we hold immense respect for everyone who got us here.”
The developer stated it will “remain committed to building the future of Bend Studio with creativity, passion, and innovation in the titles we craft”. It did not clarify how many people have been laid off.
Senior animator Robert Morrison, who has previously worked on The Last of Us and 2018’s God of War, announced he was part of the layoffs at Bend last night, adding he was one of “a bunch” impacted. “I did my best. Hopefully I can find a new team to join,” Morrison wrote on social media platform X.
Days Gone Remastered’s creative and product lead Kevin McAllister called the layoffs a “sad day” for the Bend team, adding he still has his position at the company. “I love this studio, it means so much to me. Hard to put into words when something like this hits your team,” McAllister said.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Sony had cancelled two more live-service games, following an initial big push for the genre. One of those cancelled games was coming from the team at Bend.
Bend had initially revealed it was working on a new IP which would include multiplayer and “[build] upon the open-world systems of Days Gone” back in 2022. In March of last year, a recruitment advert was posted to the studio’s website, which revealed the team was looking to secure a lead project manager with “hands-on game development experience in leadership roles shipping AAA live-service games”.
In the time since, Bend has released a remastered version of Days Gone for PC and PS5, which boasted improved visuals and bigger hordes, as well as fresh Permadeath and Speedrun modes.
On its release, Digital Foundry called Days Gone Remastered a “solid upgrade” across PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro consoles.