Sony is dissolving Bluepoint Games, the acclaimed developer behind the breathtaking 2018 Shadow of the Colossus remake and the PlayStation 5’s technical showcase, Demon’s Souls. This shuttering represents the latest significant blow to the PlayStation Studios family. Bluepoint marks the third first-party studio Sony has axed in just two years, following the recent closures of mobile specialist Neon Koi and Concord developer Firewalk Studios.
While the collapse of any game studio is a somber event—resulting in lost livelihoods and years of unreleased work—the demise of Bluepoint Games carries a different weight than Sony’s other recent cuts. Bluepoint boasted an impeccable track record of critical and commercial hits. As the industry’s premier experts in remakes and remasters, they were entrusted with prestigious franchises like God of War and Metal Gear Solid. For the PlayStation community, Bluepoint was the perennial favorite, often the first name mentioned when fans dreamed of a modern reimagining of a classic title.
However, those fan expectations diverged from the studio’s internal trajectory following its 2021 acquisition by Sony. Bluepoint’s leadership sought to move beyond the shadow of other developers’ work. Co-founder and president Marco Thrush explicitly stated the team’s desire to pivot toward original intellectual property.
“Our team is exceptionally seasoned,” Thrush explained to IGN shortly after the acquisition. “The average developer here has about 15 years of experience, most of which was spent on original projects. We aren’t just a group trained in the art of the remaster; original development is in our DNA. With Sony’s backing, we were finally ready to push the boundaries and show the world what Bluepoint and PlayStation are truly capable of.”
That original ambition reportedly manifested as a live-service project set within the God of War universe—a product of Sony’s previously aggressive, and now largely retreated, push into the multiplayer market. Reports indicate this project was canceled in early 2025. When Bluepoint’s subsequent pitches failed to secure a green light from Sony management, the decision was made to close the studio entirely.
The gaming community’s frustration is palpable. Bluepoint was viewed as a guardian of gaming history, a team capable of making aging masterpieces shine with modern brilliance. With a library full of candidates for restoration—most notably the frequently requested Bloodborne—the decision to dismantle this internal resource feels like a staggering waste of potential. While the failures of Firewalk and Neon Koi could be framed as necessary course corrections for speculative ventures, Bluepoint was a proven asset that was seemingly mismanaged into obsolescence.
Sony’s aggressive expansion over the last seven years saw them add 11 studios to their roster. Today, three of those are gone, and several others have entered long periods of silence. We are still awaiting the debut of Haven Studios’ Fairgames, while veteran teams like Naughty Dog, Bend Studio, and Media Molecule have yet to release a new project for the current generation.
This has been an unproductive and tumultuous era for the PlayStation brand. The loss of venerable institutions like Japan Studio and London Studio, alongside widespread layoffs at Insomniac and Guerrilla Games, paints a grim picture of the current state of SIE. Furthermore, the multi-billion-dollar acquisition of Destiny creator Bungie—intended to be the north star for Sony’s live-service ambitions—increasingly looks like a troubled investment.
While many of these struggles are the result of a volatile market, soaring development costs, and the lingering effects of the pandemic, the fall of Bluepoint Games feels uniquely avoidable. It stands as a prominent failure in Sony’s current strategy: the assimilation and eventual discarding of a fan-favorite developer in the pursuit of a live-service trend that has largely failed to materialize. In the end, a wealth of talent has been sidelined, and a studio with immense promise has been left in the dust.
Source: Polygon
