Believe it or not, the PlayStation 3 was released nearly four years ago, and since then the console has been graced with hundreds of great titles. Therefore, over the next few weeks, PS3 Attitude thought they’d take some time to pay tribute to the people who create the games that make our mundane lives just that little bit more entertaining: the developers. This is the fifth of ten articles in our mammoth list of one hundred development teams, and includes Kojima Productions, Media Molecule, Naughty Dog, and many more.
Former Naughty Dog artist Gabriel Betancourt explains why the "sweet spot" for game teams is under 200 people and how AAA "factories" kill creativity.
There’s definitely some truth to this. When teams get too large, coordination starts to outweigh creativity—layers of approval, risk aversion, and tight deadlines can turn bold ideas into “safe” ones. Keeping a team under ~200 people sounds ideal for maintaining clear communication and a shared vision. That said, massive AAA projects also come with huge technical demands and expectations, so scaling up isn’t always avoidable. The real challenge is figuring out how to keep that small-team creativity alive inside big studio structures.
More than that, it's logistically untenable. Inevitably, when teams get too large, how do you keep tabs on accountability? I suspect this massive team size is a consequence of the perfectionism streak Naughty Dog has.
I wish we could have so many people working on something and it turns out great because I'm all for collaboration in spirit - the problem is too many people as part of the larger team and smaller units. Suppose for example that you have too many people in the art department; you will very often come up against fiercely competing visions for how things should look. That competitive vision will cause friction between team members, team doesn't work as a unit, the back and forth can further delay parts that the other departments are waiting for, etc etc.
A 200-person team says, to me, that we need to scale back game development. Even if it means we go back to PS2 era costs and scale, why not? Those games are still great fun, the budgets were in check, and you could literally break the 200-man team into like 10 20-man teams working on different projects.
Level-5: "We will be streaming "LEVEL5 VISION 2026 Takumi" on YouTube starting at 21:00 on Friday, April 10, 2026.
At this event, we plan to reveal various latest information on Level-5 titles.
Please stay tuned for the announcements on the day."
Anything from their golden age would be great. Apart from that Level 5 just doesn't hook me anymore.
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.
I haven't seen the other parts but considering the first studio they listed was the one making Kane & Lynch..... lol. Instant tab closed.