Sony disastrously and disgracefully shuttered Texas-based fan favourite Bluepoint yesterday. The long-time PS Studios partner never got a chance to ship a game under its new parent company.
This news hit me particularly hard because I believe it reflects the erosion of once-great PlayStation management that I think we’ve all been feeling for quite some time.
For as upsetting as the closures to Neon Koi and Firewalk were, neither of these teams ever really had an opportunity to truly ingratiate themselves to the PlayStation faithful. The former was purportedly working on a smartphone title that never saw the light of day, while the latter launched Concord, an industry laughing stock if we’re all being honest.
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But Bluepoint was a proven part of the PlayStation family, having worked productively with the platform holder for years as an external partner. The saddest irony of all this is that it’s only when it was officially absorbed into the Sony hierarchy that it’s seemingly fallen apart. That speaks to the scale of the mismanagement alluded to above.
It’s also laughable that this news comes just a week after Santa Monica Studio announced God of War Trilogy Remake, an exciting project that seems like a perfect fit for Bluepoint’s very specific style of expertise. Let’s not forget that the studio truly introduced itself to the PlayStation faithful with its excellent God of War Collection compilation for the PS3.
I won’t pretend to know what went on behind closed doors, but I think I can speak for everyone when I say assigning this studio to some kind of God of War live service, which was cancelled last year, was an absolutely colossal misuse of resources.
I’ve seen some argue that Bluepoint may have pitched the project, which is likely true. But it’s equally probable Sony created an environment where only live service games were getting greenlit, and even then, management should have had the foresight to reject the pitch.
I’m not a qualified industry executive on a seven-figure salary, but even I can tell you the 70-ish person team at Bluepoint never would have had the resources to support a project of this scale. Moreover, is it something the PlayStation audience even wanted to begin with?
I’ve been vocal in my defence of Sony’s live service strategy, because I don’t think it’s the wrong idea at all. Data shows that more than 50% of the PS Store’s revenue is generated by around 10 games, none of which are first-party and could feasibly exist outside of the manufacturer’s ecosystem. That must be terrifying.
But I believe by incorrectly allocating resources and making bets on bad games, PlayStation – under Hermen Hulst’s leadership – has dropped a historical clanger here. There’s a very real reality where it balanced its traditional first-party output with new and interesting live service games, but it’s completely and utterly fumbled both the execution and the messaging.
I take no joy from writing this at all, but I don’t see any circumstance in which Fairgames launches at this point, which will result in the closure of another acquired studio, Haven. And while it’s merely a partnered project, it doesn’t look like there’s much hope for 4:LOOP either.
I would, at this point, like to direct you all to comments I wrote in my contribution to our 2026 predictions article a few months ago: I simply don’t believe, on the basis of the evidence above, that Hulst will remain in his position as PS Studios boss by the end of this year.
In fact, I found his email to employees a trifle insulting. He blamed the closure of Bluepoint on a “challenging industry environment” with “rising development costs [and] slowed industry growth”.
I’m sorry, but all of that rings hollow when PlayStation is simultaneously boasting about this being its most profitable generation ever. It’s not like Bluepoint is even a particularly big or expensive team to begin with; it’s not based in California like other first-party studios, and its headcount is relatively modest.
All of which brings me to my wider concerns about PS Studios.
As a fan, one of the things I always appreciated most about PlayStation – aside from its excellent games, of course – was its ability to manage and run its stable of first-party studios meticulously.
I believe we’re witnessing that erode in front of us, and if even Bluepoint is not safe in this environment, then at what point do we begin worrying about the likes of Media Molecule and Bend Studio?
It pains me to say it, but I believe PlayStation has lost its Midas touch, and management is to blame for that. Bluepoint should never have found itself in this position at all, and I’m incandescent with anger about how this has all transpired.
Heads should roll for what’s happened here.