Sony Just Closed An Award Winning Studio
The studio behind the Demon's Souls and Shadow of the Colossus remakes is don
G’day Gamers,
I had a different intro written for this one.
Then Sony closed Bluepoint Games, and I had to start over.
Let’s get into it.
Bluepoint Games Will Close March 2026
Sony confirmed this morning that Bluepoint Games, one of the most respected studios working with PlayStation, will close in March 2026.
Around 70 people are losing their jobs. Co-CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Hermen Hulst sent an internal memo citing “rising development costs, slowed industry growth, changing player behaviour, and broader economic headwinds” as the rationale.
The studio was founded in Austin, Texas, in 2006 by Andy O’Neil and Marco Thrush, two engineers who had worked on Metroid Prime at Retro Studios. Over 20 years, they built a great collection of titles:
God of War Collection (2009)
Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection (2011)
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (2011)
Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (2015)
Gravity Rush Remastered (2016)
Shadow of the Colossus remake (2018)
Demon’s Souls (2020)
Sony acquired Bluepoint in September 2021, off the back of Demon’s Souls launching as one of the best-reviewed titles in the PS5’s first year. At the time, studio president Marco Thrush said Bluepoint was “working on original content” and described the acquisition as “the next step in the evolution for us.” Sony’s announcement said the studio’s expertise would be “a huge plus for future PlayStation Studios properties.”
Bluepoint spent its entire time as a Sony studio working on projects that were either unfinished or never released. They provided support on God of War Ragnarök in 2022, then were assigned to develop a live-service multiplayer God of War spin-off, a genre the studio had no history with. That project was cancelled in January 2025 as Sony retreated from its broader live-service ambitions following the catastrophic failure of Concord.
According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Bluepoint spent the following year pitching new project ideas. None were greenlit.
Bluepoint is the fourth PlayStation studio to close since 2024, following London Studio, Neon Koi, and Firewalk. Sony’s PS5-era acquisition spree bought ten studios. Three are now closed. Several others have yet to ship a single game under Sony’s ownership.
In 2022, then CEO Jim Ryan publicly committed Sony to releasing twelve live-service games by fiscal year 2025. One succeeded, Sony’s only live-service hit this generation was Helldivers 2, made by Arrowhead, a studio Sony does not own.
The 70 people at Bluepoint deserved better than this.
In Case You Missed It…
Bloomberg: PS6 could slip to 2029, Switch 2 price hike on the way The memory crisis is now big enough to reshape the entire console roadmap.
PS Plus February: Spider-Man 2 headlines a strong month Insomniac’s sequel finally hits the subscription tier, joined by Neva and both Monster Hunter Stories games.
Game Pass February: Avatar, Witcher 3, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II incoming A quietly stacked month, with KCD2 landing on March 3 as the cherry on top.
Marathon drops new gameplay, March 5 locked in Bungie’s extraction shooter finally has a price, a date, and footage that doesn’t look half bad.
Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse is out and it’s very good Square Enix’s weird little horror visual novel sequel is quietly one of the best things out this week.
God of War Actor Christopher Judge Says You’ll Be Hearing About What We’re Doing “Probably Late Summer” At a fan convention in Vancouver, Judge accidentally confirmed a new Santa Monica Studio project on a live stream, which is exactly the kind of thing Sony PR nightmares are made of.
Releasing This Week
Resident Evil Requiem (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, PC) - Feb 27th RE9 is here (Almost). New protagonist Grace Ashcroft investigates the ruins of Raccoon City alongside a grizzled returning Leon S. Kennedy. One of my most anticipated games of 2026.
Styx: Blades of Greed (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC) - February 19 The cult goblin stealth series is back with expanded vertical levels and tighter infiltration mechanics.
Ys X: Proud Nordics (PS5, Switch 2, PC) - February 20 The definitive edition of one of the strongest entries in Falcom’s long-running action RPG series.
Tokyo Xtreme Racer (PC, PS5) - February 25 The cult highway racing series is back after twenty years away.
Tales of Berseria Remastered (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC) - February 27 Widely considered the best Tales game in years when it launched.
That's all from me.
If you enjoyed this one, forward it to a mate who loves games but never has time to keep up.
Question for the week: What remake or remaster are you still waiting on? Hit reply.
Till Next Time,
Jayden
Devastating.
Howdy, these layoffs are becoming a massive problem, but it seems like the devs that get let go, have more luck making an indie game or a AA game, and have more success than the big publishers that keep spewing out the unfished, bug riddled stuff.
I am curious how Marathon will do as their reveal and tests did not go so well. I hate comparing games, but it has a big up hill climb against Ark Raiders with all of its success. The only thing I can think of that it has compared to Ark Raiders is first person, it may cater to those players that hate the 3rd person wall peeks, etc.
I am not looking forward to any remakes or remasters as nothing is currently tickling my fancy.
Another great read for a Friday.