After ‘Days Gone’ Flop, Bend Studio Unveils Something Big, But It’s Not A Game

Sony’s landmark game shop, Bend Studio, has not been on the right side of the news in recent years. The studio has been in the press for the apparent failure of the game Days Gone, the critical reception of the game was mixed with the user reviews being even more skewed. Game director John Garvin highlighted the issue with the game being the emphasis on Metacritic scores and other publisher scores, “If you are Disney, you can’t afford to make a s—- movie even if a bunch of people go to see it,” Garvin observed.

Although the game sold relatively well, Sony denied the studio the development of a sequel. Since then it has been more of the same, with the talks of a new multiplayer game, a new Uncharted game, and other titles, all ending up in the realm of speculation. 

So with E3 just around the corner and other studios ramping up events and promotions, Bend Studio announced on Monday that it would be hosting a highly-anticipated livestream… to announce its new logo?

The event labeled “Bend_Stduio_LogoReveal” was a peculiar one, especially since Summer Game Fest is also this week, where other studios will be releasing information on their upcoming projects while Bend seemingly has none. 

There are rumors of a new project coming from the studio, however. With reports of a new open-world IP coming from the shop. It was first rumored after PlayStation Studios head Herman Hulst confirmed the studio was developing something. “And you know, Bend Studio is working on a very exciting new IP that they’re very, very passionate about,” he said. “They’re building on the deep open-world systems that they developed with Days Gone. So I’m happy for Bend Studio.” 

At the event, however, Bend Studio did unveil its new logo but the studio did something else even more peculiar. In a blog post shared shortly after the event, the studio detailed the history of the studio, highlighting the ups and down with their previous game, the creation of the studio nearly 30 years ago, and developments with projects such as Bubsy 3D and the Syphon Filter series. Then came the first hint in nearly a year about what the studio was developing for the future. 

> Get ‘Days Gone’ PS4 now!

Community manager Kevin McAllister wrote in the blog post, “We are currently working on a new IP that includes multiplayer and builds upon the open-world systems of Days Gone, but brings you a whole new world that we are extremely excited about to craft for you. We cannot wait to reveal it to you when the time is right,”

This is consistent with the information that Hulst provided before, and as we get closer to E3 all eyes are on the studio to see what exactly the new project will look like.