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[Simply Sami]

I mean, he was essentially demoted last year when Hideaki Nishino was made sole CEO and President of SIE. All evidence suggests that Hulst is a moron, but he's not the CEO of Sony's gaming division. It's weird that people are assigning 100% of the blame to him and comparing him to Phil Spencer, when it's actually Nishino who's Phil's counterpart at Sony. Yet that name has only been mentioned in exactly three posts in this entire thread. Talk about flying under radar.

This GAAS focus started long before Nishino was made CEO though. Herman was the head then along with Jim Ryan. Jim's obviously gone and Herman should follow.

 

[MayaXG]

I guess selling the most plastic boxes isn't enough.

 

[Fabieter]

I mean, he was essentially demoted last year when Hideaki Nishino was made sole CEO and President of SIE. All evidence suggests that Hulst is a moron, but he's not the CEO of Sony's gaming division. It's weird that people are assigning 100% of the blame to him and comparing him to Phil Spencer, when it's actually Nishino who's Phil's counterpart at Sony. Yet that name has only been mentioned in exactly three posts in this entire thread. Talk about flying under radar.

I means hes responsible to look after wws. Hes a key person to greenlit those shitty gaas games.

 

[Trilobit]

I wish Nintendo was buying up people like crazy. Imagine getting amazing remakes of their classics.

 

[Dodo123]

You guys continue to criticize Sony, some of you say how you abandoned PlayStation after PS3, but look up the data. They make record breaking profits. I said months ago, they don't care about SP exclusives, because they can, they have no competition.
It is extremely sad, but at the same time, it works for them SOMEHOW. They are greedy and vain for years, yet still make a ton of money.

 

[Fabieter]

You guys continue to criticize Sony, some of you say how you abandoned PlayStation after PS3, but look up the data. They make record breaking profits. I said months ago, they don't care about SP exclusives, because they can, they have no competition.
It is extremely sad, but at the same time, it works for them SOMEHOW. They are greedy and vain for years, yet still make a ton of money.

Buying habbits dont change over night so brand loyalty cant carry them endlessly.

 

[Insanemaelstrom]

 

[Loboxxx]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money

That's exactly why they should fire him; he's surely the least profitable executive in Sony's history.

 

[Neon Xenon]

This is fucking stupid.
Hermen Hulst fucking sucks (and so does Jim Ryan, he's part of the problem).

That's it. That's the post.

 

[CJ_75]

Why don't executives like this resign after so many failures and wasted money, but have no qualms about closing entire departments for following their guidelines?

I believe Jim Ryan pushed very hard for the GAAS projects. By the time Hermen came in, those initiatives were already underway.
Now that Jim has left, Hermen seems to be trying to shift the focus back toward singleplayer, story-driven games.
Some unpopular decisions have to be made, Bluepoint is one example, Jade Raymond being let go from her studio Haven was another and I'm quite sure a few more studios, like Media Molecule and Bend Studio, might also face closure.

 

[Fabieter]

Now that Jim has left, Hermen seems to be trying to shift the focus back toward singleplayer, story-driven games.

How is je doing that by closing studios which mqde mostly sp games.

 

[Aretak]

This GAAS focus started long before Nishino was made CEO though. Herman was the head then along with Jim Ryan. Jim's obviously gone and Herman should follow.

Right, but Nishino is in charge now and has been for close to a year. This is happening on his watch and this decision was clearly greenlit by him. I'm not trying to defend Hermen Hulst, but it seems very strange that the actual boss of PlayStation is avoiding pretty much all criticism. Is somebody holding a gun to his head and forcing him to follow the path that Hulst and Jim Ryan laid down? If so, then clearly the problem is even further up the Sony chain of command.

 

[rochet]

I feel like this is the Don Mattrick era of Playstation. The Playstation upper leadership is morons.

 

[Insanemaelstrom]

After calming down, man what a stupid ass decision made by retards. Imagine forcing a dev studio as good as blueprint to make gaas, and than shutting them down when they predictably fail at it.

It's right up there in one of the most brain dead decision made by a publisher.

 

[engstra]

Damn this is really sad to hear. A studio with such a great track record that evidently was completely mismanaged by Sony. I was really excited to see what they had in the pipeline, either an ambitious remake or something completely new. To hear that had been given the task of developing a GAAS game is so dissappointing. Can't blame the studio for that not being a viable product.

Its a shame.. would love to see the studio doing a more linear project. Because they sure as hell are very competent even if I dont like the final product

From what they showed in last week's State of Play, Saros looks to have scaled down some of the roguelite elements and incorporated a lot of more permanent progression. Probably the gameplay loop will be pretty similar but I get the impression it will be a bit more linear

 

[Fabieter]

After calming down, man what a stupid ass decision made by retards. Imagine forcing a dev studio as good as blueprint to make gaas, and than shutting them down when they predictably fail at it.

It's right up there in one of the most brain dead decision made by a publisher.

Its like ea forcing maxis making a always online sim city and closing them after shit bombed hard. So yeah this move is comparable to ea incompetence.

 

[Topher]

If it isn't going to be done correctly I'd rather just play the old games as is

You can do that already. And plenty of folks think the DS remake was great so it being "correct" is a matter of opinion.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

You weren't getting it anyway, lol.

 

[NPlusEnjoyer]

It feels like Sony closed more studios this generation than published first party games.

 

[avenovah]

Head of Technology @ Bluepoint Games.

 

[Topher]

In before someone hits you with the record profits slide and celebrates said profits saying it proves how great Sony is doing

I see your "record profits slide" and raise you one GAF poll.

 

[Bojji]

love how this generation is the exact opposite of the PS3 generation.

PS3: Worst hardware management / Best software-studios management
PS5: Best hardware management / Worst software-studios management.

Yes! Sony fans in this thread don't get it:

Thread 'Has the PS5 already cemented itself as the worst Playstation generation in history?'

Jan 20, 2025

In my opinion, outside of some type of a miracle in the next few years, the answer is definitely "yes". Particularly with the news of Bend's and Bluepoint's projects being canned.

There's been some good/great games, but just no where near the level of Sony's past generations thus far.


Personally, I'd rank the generations as such:

1. Playstation 2
2. Playstation 4
3. Playstation 3
4. Playstation
5. Playstation 5

• analog_future
• Replies: 2,276
• Forum: Gaming Discussion

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Sales, sales, sales!

 

[StueyDuck]

Its a shame.. would love to see the studio doing a more linear project. Because they sure as hell are very competent even if I dont like the final product

They should make them do AAA and a separate smaller team making god of war 2d style games but with housemarque quality

 

[Kokoloko85]

Someone make Hermen sleep with the fish...

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

I see your "record profits slide" and raise you one GAF poll.

 

[Hyper_hyper]

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

Yes, true that. But, yeah, they haven't anything from scratch. Of course they will have a target in the middle of forehead

Yes, i get it. They've co-developed Ragnarok and that canceled GOW online, but a did they have something on their own in plans?

 

[Bernardougf]

I believe Jim Ryan pushed very hard for the GAAS projects. By the time Hermen came in, those initiatives were already underway.
Now that Jim has left, Hermen seems to be trying to shift the focus back toward singleplayer, story-driven games.
Some unpopular decisions have to be made, Bluepoint is one example, Jade Raymond being let go from her studio Haven was another and I'm quite sure a few more studios, like Media Molecule and Bend Studio, might also face closure.

Bro, his baby ( Guerrilla studio) just showed a dogshit woke horizon gaas game basically in the same week of closing bluepoint and 2 hrs after this news (bomb) broke out Sony blog made a post hyping up freaking Maraturd

So what in the fuck he has done to show "yeah we are pivoting back to SP games" please... help me to understand.

 

[yurinka]

Oh, you really don't know? It was their choice! (according to yurinka ) https://www.neogaf.com/threads/gaming-will-become-more-expensive-again.1690279/post-271009718

According to both Bluepoint and Sony they were a support team.

They never had anybody in roles needed to lead a AAA game like Game Director or Creative Director, or in writing/narrative roles. Their game design team were just 4 guys. They never had anybody in any of the many GaaS specific roles. So they couldn't be leading any game, and even less a GaaS title. Because as Sony said they were a support team. So obviously they had the team needed to be a support team, not to lead GaaS games.

If they didn't work in an remaster or remake was because they didn't want to. Firesprite's studio boss said multiple times they didn't want to make more remasters and remakes after Demon's Souls and work instead (as support team) in new games. And pretty likely Hermen agreed because despite having great reviews, their remakes didn't sell a shit.

As many high level people from several Sony studios publicly mentioned, in companies like Sony studios aren't forced by the HQ to make projects where they don't want to work. The studios are the ones who pitch to HQ the projects they want to make.

These are all facts, if you don't like them it's your issue. Not mine.

 

[RAIDEN1]

For those in the know, does this closure rank right up there with Psygnosis?

 

[Dibils2k]

did they suggest doing a bloodborne remaster and Sony just snapped?

 

[scydrex]

Still fucking mad about this. This and Psygnosis closure. Fuck GAAS.

 

[CJ_75]

Bro, his baby ( Guerrilla studio) just showed a dogshit woke horizon gaas game basically in the same week of closing bluepoint and 2 hrs after this news (bomb) broke out Sony blog made a post hyping up freaking Maraturd

So what in the fuck he has done to show "yeah we are pivoting back to SP games" please... help me to understand.

Hi dear bro, let me help you understand. The GaaS games that have been shown now were in development for at least 3-4 years. Some were greenlit because they could be the next Helldivers, while many that might have turned out like the next Concord have been cancelled.
Did you miss how many GaaS projects PlayStation Studios axed, even at top studios like Naughty Dog and Insomniac? There were reportedly 12 live service games in development, and at least half got canned. Switching back to singleplayer now means we probably won't see the fruits of that shift this generation,
given how long games take to develop.

 

[Chechack]

We need to boycott marathon as revenge.

How to boycott something that no one planned to buy tho

 

[Hyper_hyper]

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

Em... That was a launch title. For a launch title that number is good. And BP wasn't owned by Sony back then

 

[Diddy X]

Honestly fuck off with trying to boycott big companies, that's kinda insane, just enjoy what you get or get a PC and get the best.

 

[diffusionx]

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

becuase they were good at what they did, what they did generates a lot of money for a lot of companies (eg konami is now back in the game largely off the back of remasters and remakes of their old catalogs), and people wanted them to keep doing what they are good at

Nixxes has never made an original game either but they have a function and do that function.

 

[Topher]

Fuck you, Sony, for making me agree with Destin

 

[tTHANOSs]

This thread reveals how out of touch Gaf is with reality.
This studio hasn't shipped an original game since 2006, and last release was 6 years ago?
I mean, at least Concord made it to release.

Playstation bought them a year after they released Demon Souls Remake. They knew what they were buying. Should have kept the studio doing what they were good at. Sounds like poor management.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

becuase they were good at what they did, what they did generates a lot of money for a lot of companies (eg konami is now back in the game largely off the back of remasters and remakes of their old catalogs), and people wanted them to keep doing what they are good at

PlayStation doesn't shut down studios that generate a lot of money.

BluePoint hasn't generated anything for Sony after the purchase and PlayStation wasn't impressed with what they were working on.

This is not a charity. Bluepoint milked PlayStation for 5 years and now we're supposed to be upset because PlayStation wanted them off the utter? Nah fam...nah.

Nixxes has never made an original game either but they have a function and do that function.

BluePoint didn't want to keep making remakes.

 

[RoadHazard]

I mean, he was essentially demoted last year when Hideaki Nishino was made sole CEO and President of SIE. All evidence suggests that Hulst is a moron, but he's not the CEO of Sony's gaming division. It's weird that people are assigning 100% of the blame to him and comparing him to Phil Spencer, when it's actually Nishino who's Phil's counterpart at Sony. Yet that name has only been mentioned in exactly three posts in this entire thread. Talk about flying under radar.

Be that as it may, most if not all of these failed GAAS disasters were greenlit (or pushed onto devs that didn't want them) when he was still in that position.

 

[Generic]

Bro, his baby ( Guerrilla studio) just showed a dogshit woke horizon gaas game basically in the same week of closing bluepoint and 2 hrs after this news (bomb) broke out Sony blog made a post hyping up freaking Maraturd

So what in the fuck he has done to show "yeah we are pivoting back to SP games" please... help me to understand.

Marathon looks great and it's actually a new game, not a remake

I stand with Bungie.

 

[Topher]

BluePoint didn't want to keep making remakes.

You don't know that and I'm pretty sure that given the choice of being closed or going back to remakes, they would choose remakes.

 

[adamsapple]

Fuck you, Sony, for making me agree with Destin

Imagine all the other things you'll likely retroactively agree with him now

 

[avenovah]

Ryan's gone full corporate shill. Defending the brand like he's the majority shareholder or something.

0:52

 

[LordCBH]

I was just daydreaming yesterday about how cool it would be if Bluepoint did a 4K remake of Warhawk.

A live service I would ACTUALLY play religiously. (Cause you know PlayStation would demand it be live service.)

 

[roosnam1980]

capcom should have bought bluepoint studios

 

[saintjules]

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

The mismanagement of PS studios this gen is insane. If Bluepoint went for bloodborne remake right after demons souls it would have been out now and they would have huge mindshare.

Was it mismanagement?

Xbox supposedly mismanaged.
Ubisoft supposedly mismanaged.
EA supposedly mismanaged.
Take 2 supposedly mismanaged.

The reality is that nobody mismanaged. The market drastically changed in a 10 year period and old stalwart companies had to adjust more than most.

Even your retarded corrupted gaas brain can see what happened here, you can celebrate, but pretty soon Marathon is out, best enjoy your victory lap now while you can.

 

[Solrac]

I wonder why...

 

[Topher]

Imagine all the other things you'll likely retroactively agree with him now

Uh.....no. All my opinions on various topics are not going to flip just because I agree with the guy on this. Weird take