Days Gone’s two most senior leads announce they’ve left PlayStation’s Bend Studio

The two most senior creatives behind 2019 PlayStation exclusive Days Gone have announced their departure from Sony’s Bend Studio.

Writer / director John Garvin and game director Jeff Ross announced their departure from the Oregon, US-based developer within minutes of each other on Monday.

Both men had been with Bend Studio (previously known as Eidetic) from its origin days in the mid-90s, having written and designed PSOne action game Syphon Filter and its sequels.

Garvin, who was creative director for the Syphon Filter games, announced on Twitter that he would be leaving Bend this week and moving to Chicago.

Ten minutes earlier Ross, who directed 2011’s Uncharted: Golden Abyss and 2009’s Resistance: Retribution, revealed he’d been away from the studio for more than a year, since Days Gone had shipped.

“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,” he wrote.

“Since Days Gone shipped, I’ve been focusing on personal projects: painting, writing, publishing and generally, enjoying a break from the game industry.”

He added: “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.

“The past 20 years were an amazing journey. I want to thank [Shuhei Yoshida], [Scott Rohde], [Connie Booth] for the opportunities they gave me; studio director [Chris Reese] who was at Eidetic from the start!; the entire Sony family that provided so much support throughout the world; Game Director Jeff Ross, who I’ve worked with off and on for all that time, and who is one of the most game savvy designers I know; and the entire Days Gone team.

“The studio was like a family to me and I wish them all the very best.”

Sony Interactive Entertainment purchased Bend Studio in 2000. Days Gone, released in 2019, was the developer’s first original IP in two decades.

In VGC’s Days Gone review, our critic called the PS4 exclusive “far from the worst specimen of its genre but in a year already packed with 50 hour+ endeavours, it rarely makes the case for its own existence.”

further reading

Review: Days Gone rarely makes the case for its own existence

Sony Bend's spry but soporific open world game reflects a genre gone to seed