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Sony shuts down Bluepoint Studios

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Headquarters of that studio seems to be San Francisco, so in terms of wages the highest Sony has to pay. Gaming development in the west (especially in the US) is in crisis right now so not really surprised about the closure. And this is just the beginning. Ridiculously high wages while developing flops or mildy successful games at best. South Korea and especially China with a lot of money and low wages producing way cheaper games with a higher quality. Indie games kiling it right now with hit after hit after hit. And the omnipresent rise of AI making many devs redundant but also enabling smaller studios and solo devs to produce games. Western devs are fucked and I cannot wait to see them to go down.
 
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Hero_Select said:
Maybe don't put Bluepoint on a GoW live service game from the get go and have them work on something else?

Sony has plenty of dormant IP's they could have worked on, but the problem is "How do we turn them into live service games"
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I think what happened was they got asked to do it because Santa Monica is doing their own projects and they wanted a gow gaas game, so the IP has a gaas game like horizon.

Bluepoint has PC porting so get them to do a ps and PC multiplat game.

Gow gaas failed and they got nothing left for them to do. So just shut it down
 
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Yeah I have no respect for Sony anymore. Their chase for live service games, increased prices, and killing good studios is just fucked up. It can finally join hands with Microsoft.
 
Dampf said:
Holy christ. What terrible mismanagement.

"The studio then spent the last year pitching and trying to determine what it would do next."
Bloodborne Remake.

Is it really that hard? Everyone is asking about it ALL the time.. Incredibly stupid.
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Regarding Bloodborne, the creator holds it dear so I think it's possible they will do something with it only.
 
CowboyLou said:
Yeah I had to check too, it's funny since I'm a PC guy so to me this studio might as well not even exist in the first place. Still sucks though.
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Same for me. RIP I guess. 🤷‍♂️ But i really dont understand why they just dont let them make video games. Its not like Sony is doing bad financially. Would really like to know what the reasoning here was.
 
whyman said:
The best studio Sony had left. Management is what needs to be cleansed.
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This Up Here GIF by Chord Overstreet


Holy shit. They were one of Sony's best studios.

Sony really couldn't find something for them to do? There's an entirely library of 1st Party Sony games still trapped on PS3 (Killzone, inFamous, Resistance).....
 
playbignbox said:
There are other platforms like PC and Nintendo if someone really wants to send a message. It's fine to keep playing on PlayStation, but if you keep spending the same way, then it's more venting than actual pressure.
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Yea I'm not that committed to bluepoint to do any of this. Your asking me to spend thousands on a PC or just miss out on huge 3rd party games on Nintendo.
 
Sony:

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Sony shortly after:

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This is on Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst

"let's put a studio known for remakes on a fucking liveshit game then shut them down when they have a tough time with it"
 
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Herman Hulst is absolute fucking trash. I hope he fucks off into oblivion, fucking disgusting piece of shit. I can't believe they are wasting Bluepoint like this. Demons Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, all the excellent remasters they did, now just thrown in the bin. Greenlighting garbage like Concord, Fairgames, Hunters Gathering, instead of utilizing their real talent. Playstation and everyone involved in running it can go fuck itself, what a trash brand it has become.
 
Would have been better for all if the studio were just spun off back to being independent again. They did really good work before Sony bought them.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
I think what happened was they got asked to do it because Santa Monica is doing their own projects and they wanted a gow gaas game, so the IP has a gaas game like horizon.

Bluepoint has PC porting so get them to do a ps and PC multiplat game.

Gow gaas failed and they got nothing left for them to do. So just shut it down
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They got "nothing left for them to do" by choice. They could have easily worked on a myriad of IPs that Sony themselves refuses to bring back
 
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I guess I'm not surprised even if it is a gut punch (was hoping to see a Bloodborne remake with demon's souls graphics).

I've said it in previous threads but Sony no longer needs much of a first party at this point. It's a huge expense and capital risk they no longer need to make. It was necessary to build it up for the ps3 gen given the circumstances. But now they find themselves back in a position more akin to where they were in the ps1-2 gens. I expect further studio closures and a general winding down of expensive first party projects.
 
Hero_Select said:
Maybe don't put Bluepoint on a GoW live service game from the get go and have them work on something else?
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How many 60 person studios are making crazy bank making non Live Service games today? What odds did BluePoint have when they were pitching Sony?
Hero_Select said:
Sony has plenty of dormant IP's they could have worked on, but the problem is "How do we turn them into live service games"
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They don't have anything near the size of Star Wars, Avatar or Assassins Creed. Ubisoft didn't do great there. Why would BluePoint fair better?

It's time people start exploring the idea that traditional single player games might be riskier than previously thought.
 
playbignbox said:
There are other platforms like PC and Nintendo if someone really wants to send a message. It's fine to keep playing on PlayStation, but if you keep spending the same way, then it's more venting than actual pressure.
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Pc im with you but Nintendo lmao
Novaex said:
Headquarters of that studio seems to be San Francisco, so in terms of wages the highest Sony has to pay. Gaming development in the west (especially in the US) is in crisis right now so not really surprised about the closure. And this is just the beginning. Ridiculously high wages while developing flops or mildy successful games at best. South Korea and especially China with a lot of money and low wages producing way cheaper games with a higher quality. Indie games kiling it right now with hit after hit after hit. And the omnipresent rise of AI making many devs redundant but also enabling smaller studios and solo devs to produce games. Western devs are fucked and I cannot wait to see them to go down.
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I expect video game sales to crash in 2026 after those weak holiday numbers
 
Men_in_Boxes said:
They released remakes of Shadow of the Colosus and Demons Souls. I don't believe either did all that well.
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According to you those games didn't do too well. Sony somehow decides to acquire Bluepoint anyway but makes them work on something completely different and when it doesn't work they shut down the studio. How does any of this make any fucking sense?
 
Also watch the retards clap like seals in the next financial return thread for $ony when they brag about record revenues and making a sizeable profit.
 
WTF?!?!.

Guess they couldn't provide Totoki and Hulst with a pink purple live service game so they got sent to the chopping block
 
I get that this sucks on an emotional level and I feel genuinely bad for those affected at Bluepoint.

The reality is simply that if your studio doesn't produce something that seems valuable to management, you're on borrowed time.

For all the people saying "this is retarded", why exactly did they deserve to stay open more than any other studio in the group ? Because ultimately that's what it boils down to.
 
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Men_in_Boxes said:
The industry is rapidly transforming right now. Every AAA publisher is weathering the storm. Giving BluePoint 5 more years to make...what? What was their 10 million seller game they were inevitably going to make?


They released remakes of Shadow of the Colosus and Demons Souls. I don't believe either did all that well.
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Yet Bluepoint was the casualty of more failed GaaS.

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You are, like me, gamers. Some of you, like me, have dreamed about the next BluePoint remake. Thinking that studio is the best remake producers in the world after playing Demon's Souls, an outstanding immersive experience, from audio to graphics.

So, I can feel your pain like you can feel mine. Because I waited a half of a decade for more information about what these people will bring us. Maybe Bloodborne, maybe Legend of Dragoon, a God of War spinoff or even a Demon's Souls continuation in colaboration with Miyazaki...

And this motherfucker, who thrown away thousands of millions in garbage, who still in the company because no reason, decided that my game wishes are worthless.
This piece of shit with legs, thought that the new Concords like Hunters Gathering, deserved the investment more.

This happening means that the Sony directive is completely disconnected from the gamer reality. They just see green numbers and lets the division leaders do. I wonder what will happen when they run out of studios and a new competitor enters the market.
 
SlimySnake said:
if you buy a 5080 today, there is a good chance it will be more powerful than the next ps5. some games might end up being vram bound on your 5080 but that probably wont happen till 2032 when next gen only games come out, and it likely wont ever happen since ram is more expensive than ever and sony might end up going with 16gb vram again.
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Pondering Anthony Anderson GIF by BET
 
Emmy Ator Best said:
According to you those games didn't do too well. Sony somehow decides to acquire Bluepoint anyway but makes them work on something completely different and when it doesn't work they shut down the studio. How does any of this make any fucking sense?
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It's not supposed to make sense to you and me because we're operating with almost no information.

I'm sure it made sense the BluePoint and Sony at the time...because they have all the information.
 
Clear said:
I get that this sucks on an emotional level and I feel genuinely bad for those affected at Bluepoint.

The reality is simply that if your studio doesn't produce something that seems valuable to management, you're on borrowed time.
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Particularly difficult to do when your management team is a bunch of spackers.
 
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