Days Gone Dev Bend Studio Staffing Up for ‘AAA Live Service’ Game

Sony first-party developer Bend Studios is staffing up for another “AAA live service” game, and it seems that PlayStation will continue to chase the live service dragon. When we last heard from the Oregan-based developer of Days Gone, Bend said it was still “cooking” and, if nothing else, seemed confident whatever they were working on would take the studio to the next level.

This latest comes to us through the studio (thanks, Eurogamer), with a recruitment advert posted on the company’s website. Bend is seeking a Lead Project Manager capable of doing things like “manage project scope based on current team velocities and milestone schedules”, and the role has the relevant, illuminating criteria of requiring “hands-on game development experience in leadership roles shipping AAA live service games”. More specifically, that person should have a track record of “redefining studios from traditional ‘boxed product’ focussed game development into live service development studios in a key leadership role”.

Now, we aren’t suggesting a service game out of Bend couldn’t be great; instead, that extremely recent history is littered with the corpses of others who have made the attempt. In the last two weeks alone, we’ve brought you word of a cancelled service Spider-Man game, a rumoured online Twisted Metal effort, and the fantasy co-op game cancelled alongside the closure of London Studio, and that’s just Sony alone. Continuing to roll the dice with a studio presumably equipped to make single-player games seems ill-advised, at best.