Bend Studio Cuts Jobs Before Its Next Project

Sony-owned Days Gone developer Bend Studio has laid off an unspecified number of employees.

In a brief social media statement, the studio explained that the layoffs were necessary as it "transition[ed] to its next project," describing it as "a difficult moment for our team."

"Today, we said goodbye to some incredibly talented teammates as we transition to our next project," the statement read. "We are deeply thankful for their contributions in shaping who we are, and their legacy will remain part of our story.

"This is a challenging time for our team, but we hold immense respect for everyone who helped us reach this point. Moving forward, we remain dedicated to building the future of Bend Studio with creativity, passion, and innovation in every game we create."

Bend Studio did not specify its next project or the number of staff affected. However, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports that roughly 30% of its team—estimated at about 40 employees—were let go. When asked if this signaled a potential studio closure, Schreier noted it is "unlikely" management would have laid off 40 people if they weren’t actively working to keep the studio operational.

The layoffs come just months after Sony canceled two unannounced live-service games in development at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games. The Bluepoint title was reportedly a live-service God of War project. The nature of Bend’s live-service game remains unknown, though at the time, its community manager assured fans the team still planned "on creating cool sh*t." Bend’s most recent release was 2019’s Days Gone for PlayStation 4, which launched on PC in 2021.

This is the latest in a series of industry-wide cuts and job losses. Just days ago, Outriders developer People Can Fly shared a similar update, citing project cancellations as the reason for its layoffs.