Sony Interactive Entertainment will shut down Bluepoint Games in March, bringing an end to the Texas-based studio best known for its acclaimed remakes of Demon’s Souls and Shadow of the Colossus.

The closure was confirmed to Bloomberg and later echoed in a statement provided to multiple outlets. The decision follows an internal business review and comes less than four years after Sony acquired the studio in September 2021.

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A Difficult Decision Amid Industry Headwinds

In an email sent to employees, Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst acknowledged both the studio’s legacy and the broader challenges currently facing the industry.

Hulst pointed to rising development costs, slower overall market growth, shifting player habits, and wider economic pressures as key factors behind the move. According to the email, Sony has been reviewing its global studio structure to ensure sustainability while continuing to deliver high-profile releases.

“Following a recent business review, the decision was made to close Bluepoint Games in March,” a Sony spokesperson said in a separate statement. “Bluepoint Games is an incredibly talented team and their technical expertise has delivered exceptional experiences for the PlayStation community.”

Sony says it will attempt to place some impacted employees within its wider studio network where possible. It’s unclear how many of Bluepoint’s roughly 70 staff members will be laid off versus reassigned.

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From Remaster Specialists to First-Party Studio

Founded in 2006, Bluepoint built its reputation on high-quality remasters and technical overhauls. Early work included The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection for PlayStation 3 and a PS4 port of Gravity Rush.

The studio reached new heights with its full remake of Shadow of the Colossus in 2018, followed by the PlayStation 5 launch title Demon’s Souls in 2020. The latter was widely praised as a showcase for Sony’s new hardware.

After its acquisition in 2021, Bluepoint did not ship a standalone project of its own but served as a co-developer on God of War Ragnarök.

Behind the scenes, the studio had been working on an unannounced live-service project that was reportedly a multiplayer spin-off set in the God of War universe. That project was canceled in January 2025.

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The Live-Service Pivot – and Fallout

Bluepoint’s reported pivot to a live-service title surprised many fans who had hoped the team would instead revive another PlayStation classic, with frequent calls for a return to Bloodborne circulating online.

Instead, the studio became part of Sony’s broader push into online multiplayer experiences a strategy that has faced turbulence in recent years. Several live-service initiatives across PlayStation Studios have been delayed, restructured, or quietly shelved.

Bluepoint’s closure now marks one of the most significant casualties of that shift.

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What It Means for PlayStation Studios

In his internal memo, Hulst stressed that PlayStation Studios still has a “robust roadmap” heading into fiscal year 2026, citing recent successes such as Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and Helldivers II as examples of strong performance across both first-party and partner projects.

Even so, Bluepoint’s closure signals a recalibration within Sony’s studio ecosystem one that appears focused on trimming risk and consolidating resources amid a more cautious industry climate.

For a team that spent nearly two decades carefully restoring PlayStation’s past, the ending feels abrupt. Bluepoint carved out a rare niche in the industry: a studio trusted to handle beloved classics with reverence and technical precision.

Come March, that chapter closes.