Sony Interactive is shutting down another studio, Austin, Texas-based Bluepoint Games.
As reported by Bloomberg, which received confirmation from a Sony spokesperson, the studio will officially be closed next month, and about 70 developers will be laid off in the process.
The studio was actually acquired only a little more than 4 years ago, in September 2021, after it released the critically acclaimed Demon’s Souls remake.
While more recently, Bluepoint Games helped with the development of God of War Ragnarök, they’re better known and beloved among fans for their remakes and remasters, including the previously mentioned Demon’s Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, Gravity Rush, and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection.
According to the spokesperson, the decision to close the studio came “following a recent business review.”
While it’s difficult to pinpoint the reasons behind the closure, considering that Sony Interactive Entertainment is fabulously profitable.
That being said, we learned during the latest quarterly financial conference call that the company is planning its strategy flexibly due to increasingly difficult market conditions and component shortages.
Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao mentioned that lower hardware sales may lead the company to shift the burden of generating revenue more to its studios and services. That being said, it’s challenging to prove that there may be a direct connection with the closure of Bluepoint.
It is possible that the shutdown of the studio leaves Sony Interactive Entertainment with a weakened capacity to create remakes and remasters of its classic games, although the extent of the effects of this is harder to gauge.
