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Sony shuts down Bluepoint Studios

It is odd that BluePoint, who never actually made a game from scratch, is being given the 21 gun salute.

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I don't really know about this. Andrew House, Shawn Layden and Jack Tretton don't exactly sound Japanese yet managed the launch of the PS4 just fine.
Andrew House and Jack Tretton were good. Andrew House even spoke fluent Japanese. But when the PS4 launched, PlayStation's HQ was still in Japan. This new generation of westerners running PlayStation are a fucking joke.
 
It is odd that BluePoint, who never actually made a game from scratch, is being given the 21 gun salute.

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A brand like this is made up of more than just raw spreadsheets, there's a lot of intangibles that sometimes surpasses traditional perceived value, you come off as tone deaf and cruel if you publicly delete those intangibles in front of established audiences.

It's moves made by someone who champions quietly mediocre run of the mill video game properties like Horizon beyond its welcome, so there's a tiny slant of highbrow disdain towards the guy and his circle, you question his taste, and shutting down Bluepoint while chasing greasy GaaS games only reaffirms suspicions.

I'll sum it up like this, it's why some guys won't be caught dead wearing a gold or silver chain in public, you either get it, or you don't. Intangibles.

It's the opinion of this consumer that Sony has shifted from the "get it" camp to the "oh, they don't get it" camp pretty rapidly, pretty dangerous for their brand.

Why did $400m Concord die out of the gate, well, sir, you either get it, or you don't. The "you don't" camp appears to still be firmly in charge of PlayStation. You can't put this on a spreadsheet, but it just is.

Look this is the kind of shit you're born with, and it's mean of me to criticise people for lacking certain intangibles outside of their control. But if you consider what they're all in charge of, it's somewhat alarming.
 
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Sony first party sucks ass this gen. All of the sequel games: horizon, Ragnarok, spiderman, yotei, it's all the same slop.

This is but another example of why the Japanese need to take back control of their own company. Absolute ridiculous state of affairs at PlayStation.
 
Nah, my point is that if Microsoft had been semi-competent, they'd be relevant these days and Sony couldn't have afforded the fuck-ups they've had over the past 5 years. It would have given Microsoft some market share, but they're so far behind that Sony is effectively running solo.

Oh okay. Yeah we agree there.
 
Who here complaining about that decision did actually buy a game from them? I certainly didn't, I played Demons Souls remake as well as the SotC remake for free through PS plus. So if y'all didn't buy their games either in retail or digitally at launch I guess you're part of the issue why the studio was closed.

Stop whining about it, the talented guys from the studio will eventually find another job, the untalented will be replaced by more competent AI.

And maybe, just maybe, we'll see something as great as COE33 in a few years due to some developers now being completely independent.
 
Should it be to the point sony should buy Konami and help netflix buy WB? For anime games and buy gaming studios off netflix if they did purchase WB? Netflix would use sony pictures for theatre releases and netflix for its streaming platform? Thou netflix would own DC characters but sony would have the exclusive games for its console for dc games? Sounds like a fair trade off after getting rid of bluepoint games
 
And that decision have a long lasting effect. And Mikami didn't "retire". He left, citing personal reasons. Who knows what those reasons are. It could be related to mismanagement of launching games that weren't commercial success, that eventually carried on up until their closure.
Mikami left to start another studio, and bunch of top devs loyal to him left with him.
Imagine they would've made an extraction type TLoU Factions. It probably would've sold twice as much copies as ARC Raiders.

Seriously incompetent decision making.
Would've been so good. I like Arc but I want a version with organic threats, not just powerful robots. Something you can fight off with various tactics including melee and katanas. TLOU Factions extraction game could've found its own niche even if not as successful as the main shooters, it was worth pursuing.
 
Who here complaining about that decision did actually buy a game from them?

The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection (Physical)
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (PS3/X360 Collectors Editions and again digitally for both platforms)
Flower
Gravity Rush Remastered (Physical and Digital)
Shadow of the Colossus (Physical and Digital)
Demon's Souls (Digital)
 
People can cry and complain all they want, but the reality is that Sony can do whatever the fuck they want without any consequences since there's no competition.
 
Who here complaining about that decision did actually buy a game from them? I certainly didn't, I played Demons Souls remake as well as the SotC remake for free through PS plus. So if y'all didn't buy their games either in retail or digitally at launch I guess you're part of the issue why the studio was closed.

Stop whining about it, the talented guys from the studio will eventually find another job, the untalented will be replaced by more competent AI.

And maybe, just maybe, we'll see something as great as COE33 in a few years due to some developers now being completely independent.
I bought the steel book for SotC remake, so is it ok for me to cry in my Cheerios for a bit?
 
Who here complaining about that decision did actually buy a game from them?
God Of War HD Remasters (physical)
Ico & Shadow Of The Colossus HD Collection (Physical)
MGS HD Collection (Physical)
Demon's Souls Remake (physical)
Shadow Of The Colossus Remake (Physical)
Gravity Rush Remastered (Physical)
 
What a shitty move.

You can say what you want about Nintendo's game output but their business sounds more sustainable to me than MS and Sony who always do these short term moves to please shareholders like Black Rock and Moxley. Nintendo on the other hand often shows them politely the middle finger in shareholder calls when they ask stupid questions.

As soon as the share price drops Sony flips out and does shit like this.
 
Maybe, maybe...the gamers shouldn't trash every game that doesn't have TLOU production value and animations.
Suits have their fault, but the gamers should take their part of blame as well for the situation the industry

Cloverpit was the best game I played last year.
I just saw that the Demon's Souls remake only sold 2 millions. This explains everything.
It's a remake of an existing game, how much did it need to sell
 
Who here complaining about that decision did actually buy a game from them? I certainly didn't, I played Demons Souls remake as well as the SotC remake for free through PS plus. So if y'all didn't buy their games either in retail or digitally at launch I guess you're part of the issue why the studio was closed.

Stop whining about it, the talented guys from the studio will eventually find another job, the untalented will be replaced by more competent AI.

And maybe, just maybe, we'll see something as great as COE33 in a few years due to some developers now being completely independent.

I bought all their games
 
I just saw that the Demon's Souls remake only sold 2 millions. This explains everything.

- small studio, so lower costs
- game got excellent reviews
- no pc release, so no additional sales/revenues
 
If lack of output an innovation is the reason how about they shut ND too? They actually deliverd the same amount of new games as Bluepoint Games.
 
All of my colleagues who bought a PS5 after 2022-2023 have played it from PS+.
I think that was the time when Sony got nervous and were like "hmmm, damn, maybe they are right about Gamepass" for a split second, just because the other side was bullshitting so well. Then Microsoft Xbox division imploded.
 
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Anything stopping the team from just changing their name to Redpoint and going back to doing what they did before on their own?

Well they'd have to find the money to pay their staff which isn't exactly trivial. But in theory, no, nothing stopping them.

Which is what often happens in these situations anyway.
 
I am so fucking confused at this. What were they even doing for the last 6 years?
After the Demon's Souls remake they helped Santa Monica with Ragnarok. Unfortunately after that the retards at Sony decided that God of War GAAS was a good idea. Obviously it didn't work and was cancelled one year ago and now they killed the studio before they could even come up with what to do next.
 
???? WTF
THEY WERE MEANT TO MAKE MY BLOODBORNE REMASTER FOR PS6??


FUUUUUUUCK
Sony, what you doing?!?!?!

Screw this.
"They are useful to us sir Hulst, could make the long awaited by fans Bloodborne remake or remaster for starters!"

"Really? Do you think they could do it and do it well?"

"Yes!"

"F-ing close them, they went too close to the sun, they know too much!"
 
Maybe, maybe...the gamers shouldn't trash every game that doesn't have TLOU production value and animations.
Suits have their fault, but the gamers should take their part of blame as well for the situation the industry is in.
It's literally their fault. They stopped making anything but cinematic tripe that these people lap up. They've abandoned most of their IPs, they've abandoned anything that isn't a developer bloated AAA huge financial undertaking, we see very little smaller team, lower budget "fun" games like we used to. Sony literally created this kind of gaming fan.

The customers are not the problem here, the industry is it's own problem and is 100% responsible for the current (western) gaming industry situation.
 
I'm starting to think Bluepoint and Bend are in similar situations.

Situations where Sony should have come in and put their foot down, and told them what to do.

Gavin Moore stops working with Bluepoint/JS after Demons Souls remake, they then decide to chase and pitch a Live Service instead of another remake.

John Garvin leaves Bend after Days Gone, they then decide to chase and pitch a Live Service instead of Days Gone 2.

These two would have definitely shipped another game in this timespan.
 
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Doesn't explain anything. That game released a year before Sony acquired Bluepoint.

They knew the studio they were buying.
So they released nothing since being acquired?

No idea why Sony would buy a studio, stick them on something they have zero experience with then act all surprised and shut them down when it went tits up.

Obviously the fault lies with Sony but this should have been seen coming from a mile away.
 
It's literally their fault. They stopped making anything but cinematic tripe that these people lap up. They've abandoned most of their IPs, they've abandoned anything that isn't a developer bloated AAA huge financial undertaking, we see very little smaller team, lower budget "fun" games like we used to. Sony literally created this kind of gaming fan.

The customers are not the problem here, the industry is it's own problem and is 100% responsible for the current (western) gaming industry situation.
Customers and media are also part of the problem… the "I want this game to be made, I like that this has / genre exists, but I will not buy it" bit is not sustainable. People are voting with their wallet when they flock to shiny slop like the Oblivion remake which manages not to fix decades old bugs and add new ones and when not standing still has graphical issues out of the wazoo (they dared to launch with a useless quality mode on consoles and screen space reflections with hilarious bugs such as your sword appearing massive in a far away lake… and tons of motion artefacts and stutters… did they even fix the giant memory leak on consoles?)… a bit less so to more polished remakes like Demon's Souls or SotC while the Studio is more expensive.

They were the kings of remasters and remakes and Sony did buy them for a reason… still it is f-ing bad news and Sony is at greater fault for not directing their talents better.
 
After they butchered Demon's Souls I am happy they won't get to touch Bloodborne.

I mean all we need for that one is just a straight up remaster anyway without any modern redesigns or whatever.
 
Very Huge Loss :/, hopefully those who're affected will find new footing soon.
I guess it will take longer for the Jim Ryan Live Service curse to perish....
Btw how in the actual fuck does Hermen Hulst still has his Job/hold his Leading Position at the Company 🤔
 
Very Huge Loss :/, hopefully those who're affected will find new footing soon.
I guess it will take longer for the Jim Ryan Live Service curse to perish....
Btw how in the actual fuck does Hermen Hulst still has his Job/hold his Leading Position at the Company 🤔
Man make line go up, man good, money me.
 
Hulst is worse than Spencer.
Seriously I believe this too cause as Bad as Phil Spencer is, there actually was a Time when he was a legit good Leader at Xbox.
Hulst on the other has been consistently bad throughout from the beginning he took over. All those other Acclaimed PS5 Games came from a time or were in development prior to his Promotion to Leading Position at SIE. Once he and Ryan took over, the Company has been going downhill since 🫩. Ryan was a already a bad Leader at SCEE, him leading the whole Company was one of the most baffling decisions I ever witnessed as someone who already knew how bad he treated Users of the European PlayStation Brand.
 
I don't think many are considering this but how possible is it that Nixxes has ate BluePoint's lunch and took their spot?

Is it possible BP wanted to make their own stuff and Sony didn't want that?
This is what I have been thinking. Even for their GoW GAAS projet, maybe their vision wasn't the fornite/marathon/concord colorful clone targeting new audiences Herman had in mind. And BP are not cross-gen specialists, they are the best when they focus on one platform which isn't interesting Sony right now. They want big companies doing PC games ported to Playstation.

And then maybe they wanted to do an ambitious Demon's Souls 2. Sadly they'll probably have strong NDAs preventing them to speak their minds.

Anyways fuck both Jim Ryan and Herman Hulst. They killed the Playstation brand. It's over.
 
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