Image credit: Sony
The sudden closure of Bluepoint Games by Sony was a blow to the gaming industry in what feels like a never-ending series of blows. The talented development team was often tasked with modernizing classic Sony franchises like Demon’s Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, the Uncharted series, and many more.
To some of us, Bluepoint Games felt like a special arrow in Sony’s quiver, one that could be aimed and fired at any franchise that needed important and precise attention. So by Sony dismantling this team and closing the studio, it feels like something wonderful has been lost, and a lot of people are just sitting, asking why, and contemplating what could have been.
It’s not the purpose of this piece to lambast Sony with any entitled rants or to condemn the company for what it must have felt was a sound business decision. But be under no illusions, we’re mourning this loss, and that starts by paying tribute to the team that was Bluepoint Games.
Of course, nobody is more impacted by the closure of studios than the people who worked there, something gamers often forget when venting their anger at large organisations like Sony, when it affects a franchise they enjoyed. This is something that needs to be acknowledged first. But when it comes to players, the end of Bluepoint Games is likely to rankle Souls fans the most.
For starters, Bluepoint’s Demon’s Souls remake, which was a launch title for the PS5, was an absolute masterclass in how to modernize an older game and update it for current hardware. The game still looks better than Elden Ring ever has, and if you’re a fan of the adventure in the Lands Between and you’ve not played the Demon’s Souls remake, then seriously, go and do yourself a favor and pick it up.
The Demon’s Souls remake was a high point for Bluepoint
Souls fans coming off Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 would have found Demon’s Souls to be a real treat. The original Demon’s Souls on PS3 was starting to show its age, and the remake introduced a new generation of Soulsborne fans to the game that was the progenitor to Miyazaki’s marvelous multiverse of malevolence.
So many Souls fans discovered these games during the Dark Souls trilogy and Bloodborne’s time in the sun, and while they might have read that both franchises were spiritual successors, they may never have actually played Demon’s Souls. The PS5 remake put it right back in the conversation and gave Souls enjoyers something to get their teeth into before Elden Ring came along and changed the game. And it’s Bluepoint Games we have to thank for this.
It did such a good job that players started petitioning Sony to have Bluepoint give Bloodborne the same treatment, either as a remaster, a remake, or by letting it go to town on a sequel. Quite why Sony hasn’t capitalized on the success and fan love for Bloodborne again in over ten years is anyone’s guess, but the players were right; not having the studio work on something Bloodborne related was a massive missed opportunity, and this makes the shuttering of the studio even more frustrating.
Like Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne remains a standalone game with no sequel, and while a Demon’s Souls and Bloodborne 2 could still happen, the closure of Bluepoint Games feels like a significant nail in the coffin of both ideas. This is compounded by the fact that, rather than making Elden Ring 2, FromSoftware seems content to release a rougelike multiplayer spinoff, which, while fun, doesn’t even remotely scratch the same itch.
Of course, we could talk endlessly about the stellar studio that was Bluepoint Games, the titles it worked on, and what could have been, but all there’s left to do that matters is to tip our hat to the individuals that comprised it, and recommend that you play its games. And this includes anything else it’s soon to be former devs do next. Umbasa, Bluepoint Games.
FAQs
Bluepoint Games was an independent studio founded in 2006. It was acquired by Sony in 2021 after having collaborated with it for several years.
Bluepoint Games was most notable for its work on Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (2015), Shadow of the Colossus (2018), and Demon’s Souls (2020). It often specialized in remastering and modernizing older games for Sony.
Sony announced that Bluepoint Games will be closed in 2026. Sony has given no concrete reason for this, simply saying it reached the decision “following a recent business review.”
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