Sony's Bend Studio Creative and Game Directors Leave Developer - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 07 May 2021 / 3,557 Views
Sony Interactive Entertainment Bend Studio's creative director John Garvin and game director Jeff Ross have announced their departure from the developer.
Garvin started working at Bend Studio in 1997 when it was known as Eidetic, while Ross joined Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2006 and Bend Studio in 2015.
"I haven’t spoken about this before for various reasons, but I’m no longer with Bend Studio and haven’t been for over a year," said Garvin.
"Since Days Gone shipped, I’ve been focusing on personal projects: painting, writing, publishing, and generally, enjoying a break from the game industry. For those that don’t know, I moved to Bend, Oregon in 1997, and began work as art director for Eidetic, a tiny 12 person studio headed by the legendary Marc Blank.
"Over the past two decades, I helped the studio grow into a major developer, now part of the Sony family. Along the way, I wrote and directed every game from Syphon Filter through Days Gone, including two of my favorites, Resistance: Retribution, and Uncharted Golden Abyss."
Jeff Ross via Twitter said, "This week is my last at PlayStation and BendStudio. I'm incredibly proud of all the games I got to make, but also looking forward to new challenges ahead. I'll post about my plans later, but I'll be moving to Chicago once COVID calms down."
Bend Studio is known for the Syphon Filter series, its work on Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Uncharted: Fight for Fortune on the PlayStation Vita, and most recently Days Gone.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Bring back Syphon Filter dammit! There is a major gap in the market for a AAA Stealth Action game with MGS and Splinter Cell both on hiatus.
Preach! I just don't think anyone wants to take the chance anymore with stealth games. That's what it feels like anyways.
I thank them for all their contributions and wish them the best in their journeys.
Hoping for a sequel to Days Gone.
I absolutely loved the two Uncharted. I still occasionally play Fight for Fortune but I miss a lot the multiplayer, which sadly didn't work that well.
Well that sucks, but at the same time he wants to pursue personal projects and I wouldn't deny anyone wanting to pursue passion projects.
Ouch. Maybe Days Gone 2 won't be so great.
That is very sad, hope they do great work in the future.
