Five conferences deep (if you count Devolver) before Sony stepped up to the mound. Their competitor Microsoft did great, so did Sony meet, exceed, or fall below the bar set by the Xbox One X? Let's take a look at what Sony did that was unique, and where they fumbled.
Sammy: "Sony disastrously and disgracefully shuttered Texas-based fan favourite Bluepoint yesterday. The long-time PS Studios partner never got a chance to ship a game under its new parent company.
This news hit me particularly hard because I believe it reflects the erosion of once-great PlayStation management that I think we’ve all been feeling for quite some time."
How was this allowed to happen? A studio know for excellent remakes and remasters were put on a GOW live service game? Something nobody wanted? There are so many other, more interesting projects, for me they were the prime studio who should have remastered or remade Bloodborne, what an absolute waste, I'm really annoyed about this.
Hulst should have followed Jim Ryan out the door, especially after his failed concord brainchild, execs really do only fail upwards.
You say "no body wanted" but we don't actually know if the Devs were the ones to pitch it. For all we know
If that was the case you would have thought Sony would have told Bluepoint no & had them make the God Of War trilogy remake instead while having Santa Monica Studios concentrate on the next God Of War & what ever else they're working on. A Bloodborne remake/remaster would have definitely printed Sony millions. It seems the upper management doesn't care what the fans think including them making awful business decisions. To take Bluepoint under their wing for 5 years & dismantle them is crazy work, Sony should have auctioned Bluepoint off to to a company that could really use them.
If the really did pitch it then they would have wanted their own IP for being a brand new game, not using someone else’s IP when it’s not a remake this time.
I mean I guess, but doubt that a small team of 70 wanted to do a live service game, I don't buy it personally, but we'll never 100% know.
i think you are half right. sony became hyper-focused on live service games and given that, studios would then pitch live service games because those projects were the most likely to be greenlit by the higher ups. now, as for what the hell bluepoint was working on since their god of war game was cancelled is beyond me. it's just increasingly frustrating when sony just announced a god of remake which is still in its infancy when bluepoint could have been working on it for years and likely would have shipped it by now.
We had a god of war mp in the past and it didn’t do well back then with less competition so doubtful people wanted a live service game especially from devs that made some top tier remakes
Copium like this is the reason they're in this position. Sony could do no wrong and when something did go wrong, it's never the corporate suits at sony who are to blame.....its either: devs bad or ms/phil spencer bad while their own backyard is on fire. This is the result of not caring what your fav company does just because another company does (way) worse and automatically condoning everything. I hope they can turn it around without having to fuck over their customers more because especially some of the games on ps1 through ps3 were absolutely amazing.
Can't really say im surprised it's gotten to this point although I didn't expect them to close Bluepoint who has always delivered stellar work.
The devs didn’t pitch it. It’s already been discussed publicly. They had literally just started on a new undisclosed project they were still in the initial ideas phase when they were asked to stop and do GoW instead.
Love the downvotes considering it's since become public knowledge that yes bluepoint DID infact pitch the god of war game. They also eventually pitched a Bloodborne remake but from software torpedoed the project, sadly.
Everyone keeps asking for a Bloodborne remaster or remake — a game that genuinely deserves preservation and modernization. Instead, we got a remake of The Last of Us and then a remaster of The Last of Us Part II, both of which were already recent and widely available. That decision feels tone-deaf. It’s hard not to question priorities when so many legacy titles are untouched.
Bluepoint built its reputation on honoring PlayStation’s history. They were masters at remakes and remasters. There is an entire catalog — from PS1, PS2, and PS3 eras — that fans would celebrate. Yet instead of leveraging that strength, they were redirected toward live service ambitions. Six years later, there’s nothing to show, and now the studio is gone. That’s not just disappointing — it feels like wasted potential.
Sony Bend is another example. Days Gone 2 wasn’t greenlit, and the studio was reportedly shifted toward live service. Years later, that project was canceled, and they’re back at square one. That’s years of development time lost in a generation that already feels light on first-party output.
What’s even more concerning is the broader shift. PlayStation used to thrive on bold, risk-taking single-player projects and strong Japanese creative influence. Now the strategy appears more Western-focused and heavily driven by the live service model — where multiple failures are acceptable as long as one becomes a breakout success.
Competition used to push Sony to take creative risks. The PS3 vs. Xbox 360 era forced innovation. Today, Xbox has shifted direction, Nintendo operates independently in its own lane, and Sony doesn’t feel the same competitive pressure. Without that tension, the urgency to push boundaries seems diminished.
The frustration many fans feel isn’t just about one remake or one canceled project — it’s about a sense that PlayStation’s identity is drifting. And while loyalty is natural, defending every decision without criticism doesn’t help the platform grow.
It’s not anger because we hate PlayStation. It’s frustration because we care about what it used to represent
Jack tretton
Shawn laden
Andrew house
Kaz
Shu Yoshida
These people aren't walking through the doors anymore
It does concern me that they think closing amazing studios like Bluepoint and Japan Studios is smart.
I'm honestly surprised Media Molecule is still around. They put out what 1 game in the past 10+ years? I personally wasn't interested in Dreams, so they have been a wash for me since the PS3 era. Are they working on a new game? What are they doing?
I immediately recalled when they shut down Japan Studio. I don’t understand why any studio would agree to be acquired by Sony, EA, or Microsoft with their history of studio closures.
Because of money. Most game studios need financial backing in order to develop games.
Frustrating news, for sure. Hulst is on a major losing streak. Baffling decisions....
They could of let them do a Remakes of Sly, Jak and Daxter maybe the old Killzone games. Ported Demon Souls to other platforms. Steady revenue for growth becoming a 70 team to 100+ eventually.
Precisely! PlayStation have a rich back catalogue that is screaming out for a talented team like those at Bluepoint to work their magic upon.
Such wasted potential. And a terrible thing to happen to those talented workers at Bluepoint.
Demon's Souls remake was the gateway to FromSoft games for me. I'd fully beaten Bloodborne, but had struggled to get into Dark Souls. Demon's Souls - as a launch title - showed me how these games are meant to be played.
As a PS Fan and someone that looks to new exsperiences not rehashing old ones I can feel for the devs but it does not move the needle as far as getting new video games.
Sony has started removing YouTube videos showing Concord running on fan-made custom servers, raising new questions about how far the company will go to shut down the community revival.
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BAD MODERATION FROM N4G - fair but humorous and critical comments were hidden with the Spam label being incorrectly used for the cover up.
It feels more like them being bitter that no one supported it, but maybe it's me.
I'd appreciate them bringing back Warhawk—sadly I don't see that happening.
hell yeah bring back warhawk. i thought helldivers 2 would fill that itch but not quite. that to me was the funnest online experience i ever had on playstation. last of us online was also a fun time but warhawk was quite cool made so many friends on that.
You and me both, mate. I'm totally a single player gamer through and through, but there was something about Warhawk that was absolutely captivating. Could play for hours.
Did people really think they would let people potentially profit off of what THEY said was trash? It’s actually funny people even tried this
You gotta admit it’s weird that anyone out there wants to play it considering we were told it was shit.
Profit? Hosting community servers would cost the mod team money, not make it :/
The people who liked it like it
The people who didn't like it, didn't
They made up their minds, its just different people with different views, I can't believe i have to explain this
The overwhelming majority of people think its a dumpster 🔥. Even sony can make trash my man. I personally liked it but I also liked the last 2 medal of honors and people didn't like those either
How the PlayStation maker lost—but still survived—gaming’s live-service struggle. The story about Sony's evolving strategy. Playing their strengths.
Also the market is super oversaturated these days. They’d have no chance unless it’s something that’s grown and nurtured over many years gaining a following, even then it wouldn’t be as big as COD, Fortnite and the like.
I still think if they refined the old school multiplayer “less is more” feeling that Uncharted 2s multiplayer had they could have done something with it these days but they made it too over the top and arcade like in U3 and U4 sadly.
No they weren't. CoD was steam rolling them back then and no one was competing with Halo. People just enjoyed the MP for a little while and moved on pretty quickly. None of them lasted like the competition. None of them.
Halo 2 - 8m+ sold
Halo 3 - 14m+ sold
Halo 4 - 10m sold
Killzone 2 - 2.6m sold
Resistance 2 - 3m sold
You can keep your bullets.
so now you are comparing lmao, and not to mention Halo is coming to PS5! lmao!!!!!!!
Sale figures = great multiplayer experience
Got it..
Heard it first from here..
That’s the weakest argument. I played Halo and it was great obviously.
But so many different titles had really good online multiplayer.
Resistance Fall of Man. Was a solid title with fun multiplayer.
Killzone 2 was fun. Movement was slower but solid multiplayer.
Warhawk, probably my favorite. It was something different and had a very active community.
List goes on. But since sales = great multiplayer experiences than I don’t know what else to show you besides Call of Duty. 🤷🏼♂️
@Christopher nonsense. Just because they weren't selling the most and/or had the most popular live service games doesn't mean they weren't making good games in the genre. Sony doesn't need to stick to any one type of genre, they have successful live service games in their portfolio. They need to get back to what worked during the ps3 gen so they stand out and stop chasing trends.
I'm happy we got Helldivers 2. But I believe Sonys biggest mistake was trying to force big single player studios to make multiplayer games based on big single player IPs. It just sounds like a bad idea from the get-go. Why did they need to force great studios like Insomniac, Guerilla, Bluepoint and Naughty Dog to make big live service multiplayer games?
I think some people don't know what a multiplayer hit is. All of a sudden, number of people playing a game doesn't determine a hit? People need to be honest with reality here. If your competition is selling over 4x as many copies, you're not the hit game. And I didn't even include CoD in this.
all great games. I feel the reason they keep failing is because they have abandoned pretty much most the franchises that made them who they are.
If they had made a new SOCOM, Killzone or MAG years ago they could have had a a strong set of multiplayer games but instead focused and making games like Concord that no one asked for a crowd that was never really there.
Yeah they were. Killzone, Starhawk, Uncharted 2, 3 LBP2 resistance 3. Plus more.
They can.
But don't combine it with their strengths.
HD2 has identity. I don't think Concord had. And Marathon seemed lacking it, too.
Dear god back when sony made highly underrated ones though. Socom, MAG, factions, uncharted 2 MP, resistance, warhawk, twisted metal, killzone 2+3....
I really wonder where they went wrong? The ps3 generation was amazing. It's just too bad cod and halo overtook the mp scene and these were all people played.
Idk why MAG wasn’t bigger. And LoU mp was too good to not be expanded upon successfully. People STILL play it.
Too early for its time. 256 players is cool and fun and has a lot of potential but it was hindered by the PS3 at the time, like many games were. Not saying it was bad, I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I just don't think the market was there for it. Bugs and stability were also a huge problem for it too, it felt like it lacked polish.
Sadly, it didn't do much to help Zipper Interactive. Instead of MAG, they should have put more resources and better ideas into making SOCOM 4 a proper SOCOM game instead of what we ended up getting. Sony has always had issues delivering on long form multiplayer series. Killzone was good, Resistance was good, SOCOM was great imo, but none of those titles lasted past their respective generations, especially when you have things like COD taking the reigns on the console shooter market.
I would have personally loved to have another SOCOM (and still do) but in my heart, I know Sony will never do it. COD has such a hold on what people "expect" out of a shooter on consoles that when something comes out, it will be compared to COD. Hell, even Battlefield 6 is the best BF game we have had in a long while (opinion, I know many will disagree) but it is still compared to COD in many many aspects.
Wish Sony would do more with many many series out there, but instead we get reboots, "remakes", and stuff like Concord which was just a tone deaf game to begin with, nobody wanted it.
My favorite console gen , people tend to forget the SOE existed and had DCUO ,Everquest, SWG and Planetside . They were doing live service before live service was a thing . I played and was subbed to DCUO for like 5 years before SOE was sold off and the game kinda fell off for me , it was and is one of the funnest games I've ever played and experienced though , still always in the top downloads list on PSN . To say they're only good at single player games is silly as games like KZ , Warhawk and LittleBigPlanet had an active playerbase until they just killed the servers
I loved Everquest. Sony bought Verant after EQ launched and was already successful then resold it later but Somy did a good job while they owned it
Sony could have struck gold if they never canceled the last of us 2 multiplayer, instead they wasted Billions of dollars on Concord.
I'm surprised with the downvotes. MP TLOU2 would have been amazing. The best part from TLOU2 was the combat and animation. An expanded version of the first MP would have been great. Unfortunately they got in the Destiny guys to look over it and then it got cancelled. Then put a lot of money into Concord...
Their conference was underwhelming I expected more but it was safe.
they give some games before the conference.like Knack? Yakuza 6 or Yakuza 0 and some other games.of course,i waited Bloodborne 2,but what can you expect? 100 exclusives? they are pumping them on enormous tempo, no one can offer more,not even close.
As a psvr owner glad to see it getting some love.
As a ps4 owner underwhelmed to basically see a rehash of last year's conference - only without the surprises.
Where is Dreams is my biggest question.