• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

John Garvin and Jeff Ross, longtime creative and game directors at Sony Bend Studio, have both departed the company

ToddBonzalez

ToddBonzalez

The Pyramids? That's nothing compared to RDR2
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
15,530
John Garvin and Jeff Ross, the directors at Bend Studio, have announced their departures. Garvin has apparently been out for over a year, while it seems Ross's departure is at the end of the week. Seems odd considering both were at the studio for many years and it is likely that Bend is in early dev on a sequel to Days Gone. Curious if there was a shakeup over there, or if both decided now was a good time to move on with their careers.



 
stryke

stryke

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,347




Reasonably high profile departures who have been with the studio from the early days.
 
Lant_War

Lant_War

Classic Anus Game
Banned
Jul 14, 2018
23,601
Woah. Sounds like something is about to go down at Bend, if not Bend itself.
 
Kyoufu

Kyoufu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,582
Sucks to see longtime Syphon Filter talent leave. Hopefully Bend does a new IP next, without zombies.
 
Plinkerton

Plinkerton

Member
Nov 4, 2017
6,084
While two managers leaving is curious, its probably worth remembering that people moving jobs does not always mean drama.

And it would be a good time for a shake-up in any case, since they're presumably just starting a new project after Days Gone.
 
Acquiescence

Acquiescence

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
10,257
Lake Titicaca
Seriously starting to believe that Sony rejected the go-ahead on Days Gone 2 despite it selling well and that Bend are working on a new IP now. We still haven't gotten any official LTD numbers, not even once.

John Garvin's been at that studio since '97 and wrote the scripts for all their games I believe. For him to leave is a big deal.
 
Vinc

Vinc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,403
It sucks that it's where my mind goes to, but I hope this isn't due to the usual churn / burn-out reason that's so common in the industry. Either way, best of luck to both of them and I hope both are getting some well deserved time off!

Days Gone was a really well-made game.
 
Aurc

Aurc

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,890
Wasn't Days Gone Garvin's baby? I'm shocked to hear he's leaving. I guess that's the last big game he wanted to make? He was super passionate about it.
 
ArmGunar

ArmGunar

PlayStatistician
Member
Oct 30, 2017
6,527
Hope the best for them !

But I think that's good news, new talent will do better with Days Gone 2 and I loved Days Gone
 
Dirtyshubb

Dirtyshubb

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,555
UK
Jesus, every time one or two people leave a development company people instantly jump to the conclusion that something is going wrong within the company.

People change jobs for s variety of reasons every day.
 
Caiusto

Caiusto

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,945
Well, thank you for your hard work through all these year. It seems John Garvin is staying out of gaming for some time, but Jake seems to be going to Iron Galaxy maybe?
 
Shortsoptional

Shortsoptional

Member
Oct 27, 2017
434
That sucks.

Wish them both the best.

Can't help but wonder what this means for a DG sequel seeing as Garvin wrote the first one pretty much by himself.
 
Kyoufu

Kyoufu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,582
Seems like Bend are making a new IP:


Screenshot_2020-12-01_at_23.52.02.png

Screenshot_2020-11-30_at_21.37.11.png
 
Vinc

Vinc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,403
Dirtyshubb said:
Jesus, every time one or two people leave a development company people instantly jump to the conclusion that something is going wrong within the company.

People change jobs for s variety of reasons every day.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Personally, my immediate reaction is "I hope they're okay", which probably says a lot about the state a lot of people are in when they leave the industry. It's a tough job!
 
Soupman Prime

Soupman Prime

The Fallen
Nov 8, 2017
8,613
Boston, MA
Acquiescence said:
Seriously starting to believe that Sony rejected the go-ahead on Days Gone 2 despite it selling well and that Bend are working on a new IP now. We still haven't gotten any official LTD numbers, not even once.

John Garvin's been at that studio since '97 and wrote the scripts for all their games I believe. For him to leave is a big deal.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Man would I be hella disappointed if that was the case. Absolutely loved the game.
 

Deleted member 887

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
16,738
Acquiescence said:
Seriously starting to believe that Sony rejected the go-ahead on Days Gone 2 despite it selling well and that Bend are working on a new IP now. We still haven't gotten any official LTD numbers, not even once.

John Garvin's been at that studio since '97 and wrote the scripts for all their games I believe. For him to leave is a big deal.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Garvin seems like he's done with the industry in general for a while. I doubt there's much to this. People leave and move on.
 
OP
OP
ToddBonzalez

ToddBonzalez

The Pyramids? That's nothing compared to RDR2
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
15,530
Boke18 said:
Garvin seems like he's done with the industry in general for a while. I doubt there's much to this. People leave and move on.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Dunno, the top 2 creatives at the studio both announcing that they're leaving/have left within literal seconds of each other on Twitter seems weird imo. Could be they just wanted to move on or retire, who knows.
 

Deleted member 54073

User requested account closure
Banned
Feb 22, 2019
3,983
People can just leave to pursue other things without there being anything 'wrong'.

Good luck to them both! Even more interested to see what Bend's next game is if it is indeed a new IP.
 
Zukkoyaki

Zukkoyaki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,440
Garvin being gone for over a year should nip the whole "Something going on at Bend?!?!" takes in the bud but it clearly won't.
 
Osu 16 Bit

Osu 16 Bit

QA Lead at NetherRealm Studios
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
2,936
Chicago, IL
chicago has netherrealm, iron galaxy, wargaming, high voltage, raw thrills, jackbox, incredible technologies, phosper, and more.
 
simmias

simmias

Member
Oct 30, 2017
712
I always loved that Bend started as a small company some Infocom guys made. Nice to see Marc Blank get a shout-out in those tweets.
 
AgentOtaku

AgentOtaku

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,456
Whoa!

Good luck for them.
Wish the writing for Days Gone had been more consistent and less melodramatic.
Boozer and Deacon's relationship ended up being the real MVP of the whole game whereas everything with Deacon's wife was mostly terrible and cliche AF.

That being said, I DO wanna go back the and wrap up the post game stuff with the 60fps patch.
 
RoboPlato

RoboPlato

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,824
Wow Garvin has been gone for a while too. Ross is a big loss though. He was a big voice for the studio.
 
arsene_P5

arsene_P5

Prophet of Regret
Member
Apr 17, 2020
15,438
Thanks guys for all the answers. So if he continues in the gaming industry a new studio or going to the likes of Iron Galaxy, Netherrelm, High Voltage is on the cards. I guess we'll find out soon enough. All the best to him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.