Bluepoint’s Last Game Is A Tragedy For PlayStation

It's not hyperbolic to claim that developer Bluepoint Games is directly responsible for a lot of PlayStation’s success in the last 17 years. Nevertheless, despite the studio’s limitless potential and recent acquisition by PlayStation in 2021, PlayStation is shutting Bluepoint down in its prime. To PCGamer, Sony stated, “Following a recent business review, the decision was made to close Bluepoint Games in March.”

This is upsetting news for myriad reasons, but it is punctuated by the fact that Bluepoint’s last game was its remake of Demon’s Souls, which was a launch title for PS5 and considered one of the first truly next-gen games when it was released in 2020. It is a travesty that the Demon’s Souls remake will be the last game Bluepoint ever got to make, and it’s indicative of overarching problems at PlayStation, as well as in the video game industry overall.

Demon’s Souls Was Proof Of Bluepoint’s Talent

Bluepoint more or less made its name via remasters. These included:

• God of War Collection (remasters of God of War and God of War 2 for PS3)
• The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection (remasters of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus for PS3)
• Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (remastered ports of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, though Bluepoint only worked on the games’ home console ports of Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater for PS3 and Xbox 360)
• Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (remasters of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception for PS4)
• Gravity Rush Remastered (remaster of Gravity Rush for PS4)

However, Bluepoint may be far more well-known nowadays for its gorgeous remakes of Sony’s Shadow of the Colossus (PS4) and FromSoftware’s Demon’s Souls (PS5). Unless they had indulged in Shadow of the Colossus’ remake or any of the remasters that the studio had worked on prior, Demon’s Souls was likely a lot of players’ first Bluepoint game, and it would’ve been many players’ first PS5 game, too.

In an idyllic scenario, Bluepoint should have gone on to develop countless remasters and remakes, which had proven to be an effective niche for the studio. Instead, Bluepoint was reportedly working on a live-service God of War game that was canceled, according to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier early last year.

PlayStation Owes Everything To Bluepoint

Not only is Demon’s Souls’ remake a huge visual improvement over the original game, but it was also one of the most visually impressive games ever on PS5 at the time, bolstered by the graphical capabilities of brand-new console hardware. Sadly, Bluepoint has not had a game released since, and that is a testament to how poorly utilized the studio was after being acquired.

PlayStation has spent quite a while investing in live-service endeavors, and its failure to fulfill that goal has been evident in a handful of cancellation announcements, rumors, and leaks. For example, The Last of Us’ online multiplayer game was canned, as well as the leaked Marvel’s Spider-Man multiplayer game, with this God of War live-service game added to the pile.

Naughty Dog and Insomniac are apparently diverting all of their resources toward single-player games, as they should. Single-player, AAA action-adventure games are their bread and butter, after all. For Bluepoint to be steered away from its bread and butter, then, is odd.

Concord’s horror story and a series of cancellations have not deterred Sony from its fanciful live-service daydream, and it is seemingly a spurt of enormously good fortune that Horizon Hunters Gathering has hung on and actually looks like a fun adaptation of Horizon’s single-player gameplay into multiplayer. But to task Bluepoint of all studios with making a live-service game is preposterous, even if it allowed Santa Monica to focus wholly on the newly announced God of War Trilogy Remake and anything else currently in development.

Future PlayStation Remakes Lost A Valuable Ally

No matter what had been in play, securing Bluepoint as a studio that could concentrate on remasters and remakes seems like it should have been a no-brainer. Remasters and remakes were its tried-and-true wheelhouse, and PlayStation would have had an infinite money glitch on its hands if it had been able to get Bluepoint to remake Bloodborne, especially as a PS6 launch title.

Bluepoint’s talents were not restricted to Soulslikes, though, as its remake of Shadow of the Colossus and multiple remasters exemplify. Bluepoint could have realistically remastered and remade a dozen classic PlayStation IPs for the modern era, becoming the PlayStation studio to tackle such efforts.

In an alternate reality, perhaps Bluepoint, not Santa Monica, would have been developing the God of War Trilogy Remake. Meanwhile, studios like Santa Monica and Naughty Dog could continue to develop original AAA IPs and sequels to their incredibly well-loved franchises.

Bluepoint’s Demon’s Souls remake was fairly drastic, whereas a remake like Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part 1 updated the original game to achieve the same graphical fidelity and comparable gameplay mechanics as The Last of Us Part 2, besides any of the new gameplay additions apparent in the sequel, such as dedicated controls for dodging or going prone.

Still, we will never get to see what a new Bluepoint remake could have looked like, and it is unknown if PlayStation ever intended to have Bluepoint work on another remaster or remake after acquiring it. Interestingly, Housemarque was granted the ability to adhere to its own niche with a new bullet hell roguelike IP, Saros, while Bluepoint could have hypothetically been handed a laundry list of franchises it could revive in fascinating ways.

It is doubly unfortunate that Bluepoint is being cut down now, during an era where remasters and remakes are tremendously popular and ubiquitous, and after hitting what was arguably its best stride with the Demon’s Souls remake.

Even when remasters and remakes became grossly oversaturated and seemed like cash grabs, Bluepoint became a studio whose name was praised when it came to remasters and remakes. For it to be shut down is a loss that will be felt in the industry for at least the next decade, and future remasters and remakes from PlayStation will have massive shoes to fill.

Released November 12, 2020

ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence

Developer(s) Bluepoint Games

Publisher(s) Sony

Engine Proprietary Engine

Multiplayer Online Multiplayer

Number of Players 1-6