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We know what some of the first-party PlayStation Studios teams are up to, but others are shrouded in mystery for now. One of those is Bend Studio, who has been hard at work on…something…since finishing up Days Gone back in 2019. While we know that it’s not Days Gone 2—and most likely not a revival of Syphon Filter—Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst recently said that what Bend Studios is working on is a “great new concept.”
Hulst’s tweet came as a reply to Bend Studio advertising a number of job postings for various positions at the studio.
Great new concept @BendStudio is working on
— Hermen Hulst (@hermenhulst) September 13, 2021
While none of those job postings reveal any juicy details about the upcoming Bend Studio game, they do appear to confirm that it is a “AAA title for PS5.” The description for the Animator role describes the need for “complex, believable, human animations,” while another requests “a specialized focus on creating photo real physically-based shaders.” It seems that Bend is making a photo-realistic game featuring human characters.
Additionally, one role is the Senior Network Programmer, which “support[s]…low-level network issues (ex: TCP, UDP, etc.), multiplayer engine design/architecture, PSN platform services, digital rights management, patching, and digital commerce.” This could hint at a multiplayer element for Bend’s upcoming game, but the additional responsibilities of this position could indicate otherwise.
Bend Studio has previously confirmed that it is working on a new IP, and not Days Gone 2. In fact, it was revealed that the fate of Days Gone 2 allegedly hinged on the overall Metacritic score of the first game, which apparently wasn’t enough to convince Sony that a sequel would be viable. The developer was hiring for its next project back in mid 2019, with pre-production underway before the end of the year.
As Head of PlayStation Studios, Hulst is obviously quite aware of what the team is developing, only hinting that it’s a “great new concept.” One leak earlier this month suggested the team could be developing a Men in Black title, based on an EB Games preorder page showing Bend Studio as the developer on a cover art mockup. This page was quickly taken down. (Interestingly, Men in Black was originally a comic from Malibu Comics, now owned by Marvel, and the Men in Black film IP is owned by Sony.)
When this mysterious Bend Studio project will finally see the light of day remains to be seen.