Bend Studio Lays Off Staff During Project Shift

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

In a short statement shared on social media, the company stated that layoffs were necessary as it “transitions to its next project,” acknowledging it’s “a challenging time for our team.”

“Today, we said farewell to several highly skilled colleagues during our transition to a new project," the statement continued. "We are incredibly grateful for their contributions—they helped define who we are, and their legacy will always remain part of our journey.

"This is a tough period for our team, but we deeply respect everyone who helped bring us this far. Moving ahead, we stay focused on shaping the future of Bend Studio through creativity, passion, and innovation in every game we develop."

Bend Studio did not provide details regarding its next project or how many employees were impacted. However, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that around 30% of the team—believed to be roughly 40 people—lost their jobs. When asked whether this might hint at the entire studio closing soon, Schreier indicated it’s “unlikely” management would have laid off 40 employees if they weren’t striving to keep the studio operational.

The layoffs follow 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 installment. Bend’s live-service game was not revealed, though the studio's community manager maintained the team was still focused on "making awesome content.” Bend’s most recent launch was 2019’s Days Gone for PlayStation 4, which was later released on PC in 2021.

This is, of course, the latest in a string of job losses and industry-wide cutbacks. Only days ago, Outriders developer People Can Fly issued a similar announcement, attributing layoffs to the cancellation of two of its own projects.