Days Gone developer Bend Studio has been hit by sweeping layoffs affecting around a third of the company's staff, parent company Sony has confirmed.
In a statement given to Kotaku, Sony says the layoffs are part of "strategic changes to better position the studio for long-term success", a pretty standard corporate line. The company goes on to say that the "workforce reduction" was a decision that was "not made lightly", and that those being laid off made "meaningful contributions" to Bend Studio.
Sony did not, however, confirm the exact scope of the layoffs. That figure comes from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who said on social media platform Bluesky that "around 40 people", i.e. 30% of Bend Studio's staff, had been laid off.
These layoffs come after Sony canceled two of its in-development live-service projects back in January, one of which was in the works at Bend Studio. In the statement given to Kotaku, Sony said it made the decision not to proceed with Bend's game following "careful consideration".
According to Schreier, Bend Studio is currently working on a new project that it started following the live-service game's cancellation, and Sony says it remains "confident in [Bend Studio's] future...
