Bend Studio has a long legacy both in and out of the Sony family. Before Sony ownership, the studio was best known for stewarding the infamous Bubsy 3D into our realm. As a PlayStation developer, it has expanded famous franchises to Sony’s portables, created the Syphon Filter series, and most recently introduced Days Gone to PlayStation 4 (and PC) audiences. And in a new announcement on the PlayStation Blog, the company unveiled a new look for its logo, went over its history, and then hinted at what is coming next.
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Bend’s Kevin McAllister stated that its next game would build on the open-world technology that powered Days Gone, but it wouldn’t necessarily be about undead hordes and biker gangs. The studio’s next project is a new IP that includes a multiplayer component, the latter of which had already been confirmed last year. The multiplayer component, however, is new.
The logo itself is meant to reflect the mountains in Oregon where Bend is located. And it, like many other studio logos, will bend and change to match whatever game it is attached to while still retaining its mountain-like lines.
We present to you… the new Bend Studio logo! ? pic.twitter.com/aXw3rWQjLy
— Bend Studio (@BendStudio) June 7, 2022
While that’s not a lot of news, Sony’s recent shifts in development could reveal a bit about what Bend Studio is looking for. While Microsoft has been focusing on pumping money into a variety of content for Game Pass, Sony has stated openly that it is going to start chasing service games like Fortnite. It was very transparent about that being behind the decision to purchase Bungie. PlayStation is also planning to launch 10 live-service games by March 2026 and it’s likely that the rumored Twisted Metal and The Last of Us multiplayer titles would be part of that initiative.
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With Days Gone hitting with less impact than a lot of first-party PlayStation games, it makes sense to pivot the studio into something that the publisher is seeking out. The mention of multiplayer seems deliberate, and it’s possible that the new world Bend is talking about could look familiar to players currently engrossed in any number of constantly updating worlds at the moment.
