Fans react to Sony's closure of Bluepoint Games

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Is the studio paying the price for PlayStation's mismanagement?

Demon Souls
(Image credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Gamers have been left mourning the demise of yet another studio this week after Sony Interactive Entertainment confirmed the closure of Bluepoint Games. Four-and-a-half years after buying the indie developer in 2021, it's shutting it down without it having made a single title under Sony's watch.

The Austin-based indie made its name with high-quality Playstation remakes like Shadow of the Colossus in 2018 and Demon’s Souls in 2020. And yet for Sony it was put to work on a live-service God of War game that got cancelled early last year after the failure of Concord. The decision to now axe the studio has left gamers divided. Was this a case of a wasted opportunity and mismanagement on Sony's part, or did the studio fail to deliver?

In an email leaked on the gaming forum ResetEra, , Sony Interactive's Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst called Bluepoint a "talented team" that "delivered exceptional experiences". He blamed changing player behaviours, economic headwinds and increasing development costs for the decision to close the studio in a move affecting around 70 staff.

At first glance, Bluepoint can be seen as the latest casualty within a battery of closures and layoffs in the gaming industry, but some think this case is more a sign of Sony's poor management of its franchises and the mistake it made in committing to so many live-service games. Helldivers 2 aside, that strategy appears to have been severely misguided. Several planned games have been shelved, and it remains to be seen whether Marathon or Fairgame$ can save things.

Many fans of Bluepoint's remakes can't fathom why the studio was put to work on a live-service God of War game when a more obvious use of its skills would be to maintain older franchises. Why did Sony buy a studio with strong skills in a particular area only to put it at work on something totally different?

In an interview with IGN at the time of the acquisition, Bluepoint president Marco Thrush did express interest in making an original game rather than a remake. It may be the case that the cancelled God of War game was the title the studio wanted to make, but many fans assume it was foisted upon the studio.

“Bluepoint could've transitioned into remakes that feel like original art of their own, like Final Fantasy VII Remake,” one person has suggested on X. Others suggest they could have remade Uncharted, InFamous, Sly Cooper, Ratchat and Clank, Bloodborne, Heavy Rain, Dark Souls, Ico, and many more. Instead, they invested years in a project that would never see the light of day.

“Sony bought them, gave them nothing original to make, then shut them down. the gaming industry's version of a corporate acquisition playbook: acquire talent, waste it, close it, write it off,” one person writes on X.

“Sony just axed the best remaster studio in the industry the team that gave us flawless Demon's Souls and Shadow of the Colossus revivals because they forced them into a live service God of War nobody asked for, then pulled the plug,” another person comments. “Meanwhile Marathon gets to live. This isn't mismanagement. This is actively hating money and single player excellence.”

Some have compared Sony's decision to Microsoft's closure of Tango Gameworks. And many blame Hermen personally.

“Dude shut down Japan Studios because he wanted to focus on Western developers, then he handpicked Concord to be a big project, tries to push out multiple Horizon spinoffs instead of just sticking to mainline games, and now this,” one person wrote on Reddit. “Hermen Hulst might have more studios closed than games released at this point” someone else remarked.

What do you think? Is Bluepoint's team paying the price for PlayStation's mistakes?

Joe Foley
Joe Foley
Freelance journalist and editor

Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.

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