Sony Reportedly Canceled God of War Game from Live Service
Sony has canceled two PlayStation live-service games from in-house developers Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games. The company confirmed the cancellation to Bloomberg and said both studios would not close.
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that the game, in development at Bluepoint, is a God of War spinoff.
Sony said the cancellation was made “following a recent review” and that it was “working closely with each studio to determine what the next projects will be.” A Sony spokesman would not say whether there would be job cuts at Bend and Bluepoint, but an internal email seen by Bloomberg said Sony plans to “do everything possible to ensure minimal impact on the business.”
However, it will be a destabilizing moment for studios that seem to have stepped out of their comfort zone working on live-service games. Bluepoint is known as perhaps the leading remaster and remake studio in the gaming industry thanks to its work on games such as Shadow of the Colossus And Demon Soulsand at the time of its acquisition by Sony in 2021, said it was working on an original game. Bend is best known for creating adventure games such as the spy series Siphon Filter and the 2019 open-world zombie game. Gone days.
The cancellation comes as Sony’s big push into live-service gaming continues to struggle. Sony did have one big success in the live streaming space in 2024: Helldivers 2. But there was also a shameful removal Concord and the closure of developer Firewalk Studios after the hero shooter had only been around for two weeks.
Sony’s hugely ambitious live-action project was announced with fanfare in 2022, following the acquisition of Bungie’s Destiny studio, which is considered the cornerstone of the strategy. The plan called for the launch of at least 12 new online services by the end of March 2026.
As Sony’s ambitions collide with the volatile and risky world of real-time game development, where the market is dominated by such perennial hits as Fortnite that it is extremely difficult to distract players – these plans were sharply curtailed. In November 2023, the target was halved to six games. At the time, Sony said it still had 12 games planned, but it had put some of them on hold and was currently reviewing them.