Bluepoint shutdown shows how Sony and Microsoft have ruined the PS5 generation

Bluepoint Games’ closure is another disastrous repercussion from Sony’s acquisition spree, which has led to multiple studio shutdowns, layoffs, and cancelled games.

This console generation has been defined by unfulfilled expectations, both in how few games actually capitalise on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S hardware, and the output from Sony and Microsoft’s studios.

But the groundwork for this failure was laid the prior generation, when Microsoft started a wave of acquisitions in order to bolster its limited first party slate. In 2018, it bought Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory, Obsidian, InXile Entertainment, Playground Games, and several others, which was followed by Double Fine, ZeniMax Media (including Bethesda), and eventually Activision Blizzard.

This rush of acquisitions, which was also mirrored by Embracer Group, sparked a rush for ownership at Sony. Since 2018, Sony has acquired Insomniac Games, Housemarque, Bungie, Firesprite, and others, many of which were set to serve in the company’s hunt for a live service hit.

As we now know, this chase has been disastrous. The Sony-published Helldivers 2 has been a hit, but developer Arrowhead is independent. When it comes to internally developed games Concord was shut down after two weeks, Fairgame$ and Marathon have suffered heavy delays, and others – such as a Twisted Metal live service game and The Last Of Us Online – have been canned entirely.

Bluepoint Games, who were working on a God Of War live service project before that was cancelled last year, has become the latest casualty from this acquisition-to-Sony mismanagement pipeline. It’s the third recently-acquired studio to be closed by the company over the past two years, following Neon Koi and Concord’s Firewalk Studios.

However, as the list below highlights, it’s emblematic of how Sony has mishandled a lot of its recent acquisitions. There are exceptions, most notably Insomniac Games, but several studios are still yet to launch a game (Firesprite, Valkyrie Entertainment, Haven Studios), while others, like Bungie, have been transformed by widespread layoffs.

Beyond its recent acquisitions, Sony has shut down several other studios over this console generation, including London Studio, the VR-focused Manchester Studio, Japan Studio, and PixelOpus, the team behind Concrete Genie and Entwined.

Additionally, many of its other studios – like Naughty Dog, Bend Studio, and Media Molecule – haven’t released a new game (i.e. not a remake or remaster) in the past five years. Naughty Dog is working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, but that doesn’t even have a release year yet.

The impact of this devastating pursuit for studio acquistions, and a live service hit, probably won’t slow down anytime soon either. Guerrilla Games is working on a Horizon multiplayer title, while the long-delayed Fairgame$ is still in development at Haven Studios – despite widespread gamer apathy.

Microsoft has been just as brutal when it comes to shutdowns and layoffs, and it hasn’t even got the excuse of chasing live service games. Over the past few years, Xbox has closed an abundance of studios, including The Initiative, Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks (before it was reconsituted by Krafton), Alpha Dog, Roundhouse Games.

It’s also cancelled multiple major projects, including Rare’s Everwild, ZeniMax’s Blackbird, Perfect Dark, Contraband, and more.

Beyond Sony and Microsoft, we’ve seen Embracer Group swallow up and shut down studios in rapid succession. Square Enix Montréal, Volition, Pieces Interactive, and Free Radical Design are just some of the studios we’ve lost in the last few years.

All of this combined has contributed to what feels like a stunted console generation, where corporate greed and failures of leadership have done irreparable damage to the games industry as a whole.

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