via Examiner.com: "Throughout the game’s long playtime -- nearly 60 hours for a single playthrough of the campaign, many more including side-quests -- Square-Enix uses an incredibly small amount of traditional techniques, like pop-ups. Almost nothing is spoken about paradigms or its deeper layers of strategy that are all but required near the middle of the game. Did Square-Enix fail to realize how complex their game really was?"
Jason Dietz: "We reveal the past year's best and worst video game publishers (based on their 2025 releases) in the 16th edition of our annual Game Publisher Rankings."
I was just going to say this, their biggest and top rated game here is TLOU2 for PC….it’s embarrassing.
Even Ubisoft and EA are ahead
Kind of surprised Nintendo is pretty low aswell, their biggest game is also a rerelease with the Switch 2 version of TotK.
That’s what happens when you start shutting down your own studios and forget what actually made you matter in the industry in the first place. Sony used to set the standard — now it feels like they’ve lost that identity. And if they decide to walk away from the PC market too, that’s going to be another huge mistake — that platform is only growing, and ignoring it now would just put them even further behind.
@christopher:” Take note, Sony, you're falling behind by a lot.”
.
Why single out Sony? Microsoft didn’t do any better than the year before 5th same as Sony 9th and they have acquired activision and other mayor titles that have boosted their score massively from a 9th and Sony a 4th the year before the acquisitions.
Sony does need to do better without a doubt and I do hope they do take note but not the note of buying publishers is the way to succeed.
1. Microsoft didn't get worse.
2. Sony got way worse.
3. Because Sony needs the criticism the most considering their publishing output this generation has been propped up by last gen ports and third-party developers for the most part.
1Victor,
I don't wanna speak for Christopher, but like most of us we recognize that Sony's output this Gen has been way below their own standards.
Also Sony did buy a fair amount of Devs, I know you will say they were not publishers, and don't compare in size, but they had their fair share of Aquisitions, including the very well established Bungie.
The overall point is with their stellar first party track record of the past, they should not be going down, they are singled out because they are some of the best videogame devs/publisher on the planet...no matter what reasons we attribute to the situation, they are moving in the wrong direction... period.
Its widely accept that Sony this generation has been underwhelming. We've had more peripheral releases, controller variants, PS5 accessories than games it feels like. The exclusives were also PS4 and what little output they have put exclusively on PS5 is nowhere near as memorable as what came in every generation before that.
This isn't a Sony hate post but anyone who's older and has been around for a long time gaming will agree that PS5 is by far Sony's worst generation. As much as Xbox is in the gutter, I pray the do bounce back in the hope we get Sony to wake up again.
If you want to critique MS... you are doing so towards their management. The games output and their hardware have been much better than PS this gen. Sadly... people still hold a grudge against XB because of MS. Thankfully i am not that petty... I've been enjoying their games output in the drought of PS. And add in some NS1/2 games as well to balance things out. Things will change for me once Wolverine hits, and I start using my 5 more. That one I'm looking forward to. And the Marvel fighter... I'm not a GTA player so that has no bearing on my view of things.
Big part of that has been the live service push resulting in cancellation or flop after flop but when they put out the games their fans want we get amazing stuff like astro bot
Leadership really screwed the pooch trend chasing
https://www.metacritic.com/...
https://www.metacritic.com/...
Well I apologize I was wrong about not doing worse but my statement of Microsoft getting a boost still stand 🤷🏿
Well OBSCURED unlike you I’m honorable enough to recognize when I’m wrong and apologize.
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@ The software you know there’s no comparison between what Microsoft acquired and what Sony acquired that’s why you tried to get ahead of the conversation, yes we all know Sony can do better than what they have done this gen but they inhaled the poison GAS they thought would bring money for years but we make sure they got the message and quite a few games got cancelled you know as well a hit like that take years to be corrected and by now they hopefully will have taken steps away from the GAS and slowed their approach to them.
You will say anything when you are in denial that your hardware is dead and nobody wants your platform. Good luck with Helix because nobody will buy it.
But... but... the garbage-mongers always tell us that Square Enix is in trouble! 😂
Square doesn't help that it fear mongers itself with ridiculous 'goals' that they can't reach and then they proclaim failure if they don't reach it. They're quite freaking profitable and people act like they're dying.
Keep in mind that these "proclamations" are usually third-hand bad translations from somedude who was at the investor conference, posted on Twitter, and picked up by press and youtubers like they were gold, and then when the official translation comes out, they're much softer statements, but at that point, the damage is done.
to be very fair
being number one on these things does not indicate how "well" their games do selling wise.
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 Group Corp. is shutting down Bluepoint Games, the PlayStation subsidiary responsible for developing remakes of video games such as Demon’s Souls.
Roughly 70 employees will lose their jobs amid the studio closure, a PlayStation spokesperson said, writing in a statement that the decision was made “following a recent business review.” Bluepoint will officially shutter next month.
They’d been working on a God of War GaaS game that got shut down I think. Had been hoping they would be taking the lead on the remake of the original trilogy as their next project instead.
damn, loved their work on the Uncharted series remasters. That would have been great as I missed the earlier GoW entries.
Same. I figured they may have created some useful assets while working on the scrapped GaaS game that could have been transferred for use in the trilogy remake. Such a shame, Bluepoint did a phenomenal job with the Demon Souls remake. A transition to the GoW remake seemed like a perfect match for their talent.
The only reason Sony would've shut down Bluepoint is because it's not profitable. But the reason it's not profitable is because the studio has spent years working on a GaaS game that wasn't released - that's not its fault!
With a ready made accomplished team Sony could've had them work on anything, how short-sighted to dismantle them. This move is a bad move from the highest level of management and accountants and it's a worrying signal that behind the scenes PlayStation is being mismanaged.
God damnit Sony! These guys are so talented and you guys criminally misused them! And for what? Jim Ryan's crazy GAAS future that was hated by gamers from the get go and never materialized??
I hope that guy rot in gaming hell for what he has done but why didn't Sony put them onto another remake project? They are very good at that and whatever they come up with will surely sell, come on! Why the sudden closure? This sucks balls!
I am very worried about Bend Studio now.
DAMN... I say we stick it to Sony and all jump ship to Xbox.
/s
Yes, that was a joke. What isn't a joke is where will these guys go now? They are really talented at remaking games. So any publisher would be wise to scoop them up. Lord knows there are tons of quality games from years gone by that could use a bit of modern TLC and re-introduced to new generations of players.
Nintendo has a ton of old games that could use remakes fingers crossed
@lightning pretty rare for Nintendo to shut studios down
Uuh no Nintendo would turn then into a Nintendo retro shop reselling remastered games for 60 or 70$. MS? Would shut them down also. None of these companies are your freakin friends.
There’s a impostor among us 🤣
With what I’m going to say I want you to understand first that I’m raging inside but I also understand that there is a lot that don’t get published about studios closures like monetary burdens, management issues, quality issues, are some of the one that come to mind.
I wish the best for those that lost their jobs and hope that Sony compensate them more than appropriately.and they get hired fast by other developers.
Go f*** yourself Sony
Your stupid management are the ones who made them waste years on a God of War live service title only to cancel it.
This is insane, they’ve really screwed up here, what the actual f*** man.
Sony has been sabotaging themselves for the whole generation. their focus on live service has been an absolute disaster for everyone involved, the gamers, the studios, the investors. where are the solo games? what did Bluepoint do to deserve this? they done a brilliant job remastering and remaking games for sony and this is how sony treat them? after years wasted for a crap GOW live service nobody wanted.
man, fuck sony. they're so dumb it's incredible.
I've been hardcore PlayStation since the PS1 but man If Xbox was legitimately competitive and not just giving their games away I might consider switching hell Nintendos been more appealing than Sony lately at least they are putting games out
This live service push has killed so much of my hype for Sony this gen
"Sony has been sabotaging themselves for the whole generation. their focus on live service has been an absolute disaster for everyone involved"
This is it. This is why you stick to what you are good at. If a studio themselves have a genuine interest in live service, sure let them have at it, but to push it on to developers is exactly how not to handle a studio.
Like you said BluePoint didn't do anything to deserve this. It was Sony's mismanagement of forcing them to do something that isn't their strength that led to the closure. They have done nothing but great things till the live service push and would still be here had it not been for that.
How much money have they lost since this live service push? So much wasted time and money on cancelled games and failures as a result.
@Prof
Not sure what you mean. Ever since Xbox started PS fanboys been wanting Xbox gone. They barely competing anymore this is what it looks like now. Been telling ppl for years but fanboys just make stupid excuses. So welcome to the outcome.
Seriously fuck Sony. People in charge of making the decision to push GAAS are all safe but the actual developers who had no say are all fired. Great work Jimbo/Herman!!
I think we can sadly say that we are witnessing the PlayStation fortress collapse before our eyes..
@Profchaos you sound dumb as Hell. What are you like 12? What do you mean by you might consider switching? For what reason can’t your grown ass buy whatever console you want? No one has forced you to be a loyalists to a single platform but yourself.
Grow up bro. All jokes aside.
Respect for being consistent on this take. Not sure why sony has been self-destructing since 2020
This really sucks they couldve did Socom remaster or live service instead of milking gow to get shut down this sucks a good studio.
" Did Square-Enix fail to realize how complex their game really was?"
Can someone just slap my face with their feet right now? Please...
FFXIII complex?
lulz
If COM/COM/COM with genji/kaiser or SEN/SEN/SEN with imperial/entite is 'complex' or confusing......wait until SAB/SYN/SAB rolls in......with all of it's 'complexity.
FF13 complex .......no,just rather easy and mundane.
most boring, linear FF ive ever played!
SEN/SEN/SEN against Shaolongs is perfect for opening and great for Ultima sponging imo.It works for me.Other than that....I would be lying :(