Needless to say, many people are understandably saddened by Sony's decision to shut down the talented developer Bluepoint Games. It was only four and a half years ago that Sony acquired the studio, which has proven to be incredibly skilled at remakes (they are responsible for the new versions of Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls, among others).
This is a tragic development meaning that around 70 people will lose their income. But... perhaps we shouldn't be all that surprised. Kotaku now reports that problems seem to be something of a pattern for Sony's PlayStation-related acquisitions since 2019. In total, there are ten studios, three of which have been shut down and half of which have not yet released a single game under the PlayStation banner (it's fair to mention some of them are working at a support capacity):
- Insomniac Games - Acquired in 2019 - Hit with layoffs in February 2024. New game shipping this year, Wolverine.
- Housemarque - Acquired in 2021 - New game, Saros, shipping this year on PS5.
- Nixxes Software - Acquired in 2021 - Has been a very active support studio for Sony, working on Horizon, Helldivers 2, and more.
- Firesprite - Acquired in 2021 - Layoffs in February 2024. Its last shipped game was Horizon Call of the Mountain for PSVR2 in 2023.
- Fabrik Games - Acquired in 2021 - Part of Firesprite. Hasn't shipped a game since 2017.
- Bluepoint Games - Acquired in 2021 - Closed in February 2026. Its last shipped game was Demon's Souls in 2020.
- Valkyrie Entertainment - Acquired in 2021- Hasn't shipped a game since 2015. Helped on Concord in 2024.
- Haven Studios - Acquired in 2022 - Hasn't shipped a game yet. Founded in 2021. Working on delayed live-service shooter Fairgames.
- Bungie - Acquired in 2022 - Faced layoffs in 2024. After delay, has a new game out this year, Marathon.
- Neon Koi - Acquired in 2022 - Founded in 2020. Never shipped a planned live-service mobile project. Closed in 2024.
- Firewalk Studios - Acquired in 2023 - Launched Concord in 2024. The game flopped after two weeks. Studio closed in 2024.
Of these studios, one can suspect that more are in danger, not least Firesprite and Haven Studios. Many have noticed that Sony is releasing significantly fewer games for PlayStation 5 compared to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, which can be explained by a sharp increase in investment in so-called live service titles, but based on Kotaku's report, there are undoubtedly other problems at PlayStation Studios as well.
How do you think the PlayStation 5 generation stacks up against previous PlayStation generations?
This was four years and five months ago...
