Summary

• Bungie's mysterious game, code-named Gummy Bears, has reportedly shifted developers and is now being developed at a new PlayStation studio.
• While primarily a MOBA, Gummy Bears is rumored to draw inspiration from Super Smash Bros., featuring a percentage-based damage system instead of traditional health bars.
• Gummy Bears has been in development for at least three years but may still be years from release. It aims to target a younger demographic than any previous Bungie title.

A first-party PlayStation game code-named Gummy Bears is said to take notable inspiration from the Super Smash Bros. series, according to a newly emerged report that also reveals other details about the mysterious PlayStation project.

The first hints of Gummy Bears' existence surfaced online in August 2023, when The Game Post reported that a MOBA titled with this codename was in development at Bungie. A year later, Bungie announced it was laying off 220 employees—a 17% reduction in its workforce. On that occasion, the Destiny developer revealed that an additional 155 of its staffers would be integrated into Sony Interactive Entertainment in the near future.

These previously confirmed integration efforts have now led to Sony establishing a new PlayStation studio, according to The Game Post, which cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The new subsidiary, reportedly comprising around 40 employees, has taken over the development of Gummy Bears. Although the upcoming first-party PlayStation game is likely years away from release, its current stage of development remains unclear. Details on Gummy Bears remain scarce, but The Game Post reports that the MOBA will take a page from the Super Smash Bros. book.

Gummy Bears Reportedly Won't Have Health Bars, Similar to Smash Bros.

Specifically, Gummy Bears is said to have been designed without health bars, with its health system equivalent merely functioning as a modifier determining how far a given character is knocked back when hit. When the percentage-based damage gets high enough, Gummy Bears characters can even be knocked off the map. All of this sounds remarkably similar to the so-called damage percent system utilized by the Super Smash Bros. games.

Gummy Bears will reportedly feature a trio of character classes typical for a MOBA game: Attack, Defense, and Support. Multiple game modes are also said to be part of the package, together with an aesthetic that's described as cozy, vibrant, and "lo-fi." These descriptors are unlike anything else Bungie has done to date, which The Game Post's sources claim is a deliberate design choice to differentiate Gummy Bears from the rest of the studio's offerings and potentially appeal to a new, younger demographic.

Counting its time in incubation at Bungie, Gummy Bears has reportedly been in development since at least 2022. This newly emerged claim of the project's developer switch aligns with the recent revelation that PlayStation has established a new studio in Los Angeles, at least assuming that this California-based division is the same one that's working on Gummy Bears.