Sony Closes Down Bluepoint Games

More studio closures to announce in today's gaming atmosphere. In some surprising news, the PlayStation Studios-owned Bluepoint Games will be officially shut down by Sony next month. According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, the decision was made following a business review. The team of roughly 70 developers and designers had 20 years of experience, being founded by former members of Retro Studios, the crew most noted for their work on Metroid Prime. The team was working on a cancelled live service God of War title, those plans were scrapped in January of 2025.

Demon's Souls (Japan Studio, Bluepoint Games

“Bluepoint Games is an incredibly talented team and their technical expertise has delivered exceptional experiences for the PlayStation community,” a Sony spokesperson told Bloomberg. “We thank them for their passion, creativity and craftmanship."

Bluepoint Games had aided in development of many Sony exclusive remasters, dating back to the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection in 2009. They also lent their talents to the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, and Gravity Rush. Following the 2020 Demon's Souls Remake (originally developed by FromSoftware in 2009), Sony acquired Bluepoint Games in 2021, becoming an official part of PlayStation Studios.

The team also aided in development of the platform fighter PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, and the puzzle game Flower. This is another gut punch for PlayStation Studios' in-house development teams. Throughout the tenure of the PS5, there has now been four studio closures within their ecosystem (Firewalk Studios, Neon Koi, London Studio, and now Bluepoint), while development heavyweights like Naughty Dog and Insomniac have seen major layoffs. Even Bend Studio (Syphon Filter, Days Gone) slashed 30% of its workforce in June of 2025, while working on a new live service project.

It mostly appears that Sony's "restructuring" has mostly been more of the same; trimming operations and adding to the increasingly growing layoff numbers the industry is facing, while changing little about their mission statement and chasing the "games as a service" modus operandi. Operating costs remain way too high to view that as a sustainable business model, and big blockbuster titles have certainly been Sony's bread and butter, keeping them as industry leaders. Those major projects are getting far and few in between. And it appears with the number of cancelled live service games and titles in the works, Sony is not learning their lesson.

SOURCE: Bloomberg