When Sony acquired Bluepoint Games back in 2021, I assumed it would be the precursor to a more ambitious future for the studio, like everyone else. Whether this came in the form of more remakes and remasters or something completely original, the acquisition of a team that had already become synonymous with PlayStation seemed like a no-brainer. Except now, five years later and without releasing a single thing in that time, it has been announced that Bluepoint Games will be closing up shop. What happened?
The news broke earlier this week in Bloomberg, confirming that the studio shutdown will affect roughly 70 employees, as all ongoing projects are canceled. Bluepoint was apparently working on a live-service God of War title, which was canceled along with similar productions at the time. With nothing to show for itself other than the scant beginnings of original ideas in the works before the acquisition, chances are Sony sees Bluepoint as sunk costs it could do without.
But why on earth was Bluepoint awarded such a project in the first place when the studio was ostensibly acquired for its expertise in reviving existing IP in revamped form? Its last game before shutting down was the critically acclaimed Demon's Souls remake. Yes, it may have taken liberties with the original aesthetic that some fans weren't thrilled about, but there's no denying that it was a visually stunning revival of a PS3 cult classic.
Bluepoint games should have been an easy win for PlayStation
Unfortunately, we live in a world where Sony shareholders are likely to demand that the console giant continue to take chances on live service trends with the small chance that it will suddenly create the next Fortnite or Roblox. The endless stream of profits this can offer will always be more important than creative freedom or common sense in a world driven by capitalism.
So instead of acquiring Bluepoint and putting it to work on something that makes sense — like an original IP or a remake of Bloodborne — it was asked to start working on a live-service God of War experience. A multiplayer take on a single-player franchise made to steal away every penny and spare time we have. In an already saturated landscape, this pitch makes very little sense, and like so many other live service attempts, it's sadly no surprise to see it fail.
But nothing in the triple-A landscape makes sense, and big companies will continue to take unreasonable risks, even if the end result is studio closings and cancellations. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I have the magic answer to all these problems as teams big and small stare down the barrel of a shortage crisis that will affect things for years to come, but Bluepoint's fate is cruel and unfair even in the worst of industry conditions. Here's a list of titles it worked on before being bought by Sony:
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God of War collection
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ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection
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Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
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Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection
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Gravity Rush Remastered
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Shadow of the Colossus Remake
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Demon's Souls Remake
It also served as a support studio for PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale, and did the same post-acquisition for God of War Ragnarok, but mostly the post-acquisition time was spent on a game that will never see the light of day. Five years of work that amount to nothing, and it's unclear if we'll ever be able to see even scant remnants of it for ourselves.
This is a heartbreaking way to end things, especially after the success of the Shadow and Demon's Souls remakes. It felt like Sony had a specialist developer on their hands who was willing to not only keep their old library relevant, but also remaster/remake masterpieces for the modern era.
In a landscape where live service games and big installments in select series are the only things younger audiences engage with, owning a studio with this kind of nuanced attachment to the past is more important than ever. Bluepoint didn't just tap into the nostalgia we have for existing properties, but redefine and expand upon them.
But now all this expertise is being torn apart by avoidable mistakes. This hasn't been a good console generation for PlayStation, thanks to rising console prices and PSVR 2 being dead on arrival, but its biggest sin is failing to deliver the compelling exclusives that have come to define its platform over the past decade.
These games now cost too much and take too long to make, while many of the resources that probably would have been used to bring them to life have been diverted to multiple triple-A live service projects that have either been canceled or crashed and burned. Gamers like you and me, along with hundreds of employees now out of work, are paying the price due to a broken development ecosystem over which they have no control.
I harbored a naïve hope over the past few years that Bluepoint might be working on a long-rumored Bloodborne remake or perhaps putting its own spin on the original Metal Gear Solid, but it turns out it was grinding to nothing, working away on an aborted live service project that no one would have bothered to play whether it was good or not. Heck, I would have loved to see some of its original IP ideas see the light of day, but Sony's leadership had other ideas.
Herman Hulst has offered some easy platitudes regarding Bluepoint's demise, but the sad reality is that Sony acquired one of the most critically beloved remake/remaster developers in the world, set it up with a live service game for half a decade, and then shut it down. Nothing if it's okay.
