Yes they are. The producer told Jason Schreier that they were staying away from the Ghost time line though, because evidently that's still in lore to Blizzard.
I don't want to kill the messenger, but this sounds terrible. Yuck.
Like I said in a follow-up post, this is their first game since 2012. The last console game they made was in 2004 (Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain).
These are the games Sony Bend (previously Eidetic) have made:
1996: Bubsy 3D (PS1) (GameRankings: 51: Metacritic: N/A)
1999: Syphon Filter (PS1) (GameRankings: 87/Metacritic: 90
2000: Syphon Filter 2 (PS1) (GameRankings: 81/Metacritic: N/A)
2001: Syphon Filter 3 (PS1) (GameRankings: 75/Metacritic: 73)
2004: Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain (PS2) (Gamerankings: 65/Metacritic: 65)
2006: Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror (PSP) (Was ported to PS2) (GameRankings PSP: 87/Metacritic PSP: 87/GameRankings PS2: 71/Metacritic PS2: 70)
2007: Syhpon Filter: Logan's Shadow (PSP) (Was ported to PS2) (GameRankings PSP: 84/Metacritic PSP: 85/GameRankings PS2: 71/Metacritic PS2: 85)
2007: Syphon Filter: Combat Ops (PSP) (Multiplayer only) (GameRankings: N/A/Metacritic: N/A)
2009: Resistance: Retribution (PSP) (GameRankings: 82.89/Metacritic: 81)
2011: Uncharted: Golden Abyss (PSVita) (GameRankings: 81/Metacritic: 80)
2012: Uncharted: Fight for Fortune (PSVita) (Trading card battle game co-developed with One Loop Games) (GameRankings: 65.87/Metacritic: 67)
As you can see (apart from Fight for Fortune, which is a card battle game and was co-developed with another company), Bend has only ever made linear, third-person games. This would be their first open-world game. It would also be their first game since 2012, their first "real" game since 2011, and their first console-focused game since 2004. I really want them to succeed, because they are a very talented group. They absolutely mastered third-person controls for portables (and on a handheld with only one nub, to boot!). I absolutely loved their PSP games (as well as Golden Abyss on Vita). Though, if I had my way, this would be an open-world Syphon Filter game, though that might've drawn too many comparisons to MGSV. Also, since this is yet to be announced (surely, E3 2016), I have to wonder if it's still a year or two away. If so, that is a long time between releasing games.