Earlier today, a follow-up story to last week's PlayStation Studios cancellations started doing the rounds online, claiming that the developers of these cancelled projects — Bluepoint Games and Bend Studio — only heard the news at the same time as everyone else.
If true, the whispers painted a rather damning picture of PlayStation management — but apparently, both teams did know about the cancellations ahead of the public announcement.
That's according to the ever-reliable Jason Schreier, who broke the original news. "I've seen this story getting a lot of traction on Reddit today but it's not true," he wrote on Bluesky. "People across the org were informed before my article went out last week."
The now debunked rumour stemmed from Jeff Grubb on the latest edition of his Game Mess Mornings show (as picked up by VGC). Grubb had stated that "the two studios found out [about the cancellations] at the same time as everyone else".
Last week, in reaction to the news, we called PlayStation's live service push a "disaster of utterly insane proportions". Obviously, if these reports had turned out to be true, then it'd put the whole situation in an even more negative light.
Now that the dust's settled, what do you make of PlayStation's ongoing live service saga? It could always be worse in the comments section below.
[source bsky.app, via youtube.com, videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 57
My uncle works there so I was actually the first to know this so I told my uncle about it
I mean, that would be really bad if true. But it’s still bad that Sony is chasing the live service dragon, and wasting studios’ precious time by cancelling projects that they’ve spent years on. This generation will see far fewer first party games because of that.
Sony are a complete s**t show at the moment. Should have left Bluepoint on the remaster train doing more PS1/PS2 games or hand them a legacy IP make a new entry & Bend should have had Days Gone 2 green lit given the sales success of the first game, see what improvements that put on a very good first attempt.
I wouldn't trust Grubb to tell me the time never mind listen to his "rumours" on the games industry.
Obviously, Sony's mismanagement of their GaaS initiative is bad, but I'm getting pretty tired of unsubstantiated rumors being treated as fact before anyone has a chance to provide sources. What happened to the integrity of journalism?
The usual #FIREHULST #MAKEPLAYSTATIONJAPANESEAGAIN and so on and so and so on
The ps5 gen is over, whatever they do now will be PS6 or PS5 Pro Pro. $ony has a sizable library of single player and multiplayer games, so they should keep trying until they get it right focusing on their 1st party, because third parties have been carrying the hell out of them. it also beats wasting time on remasters .
Whether the studio heads/execs knew is one thing - the workers knowing is a different question. The reality is that once the workforce was told, you could anticipate it hitting the press within mins to hours.
I think it's very likely that BluePoint will be very quickly be put onto the remaster/remake of old IP now... just based on the comments that were coming out of Sony a few weeks ago (I think they already knew this was coming). Games that can be put out in under 2-3 years (and still make the PS5 generation).
As for Bend - I'm sorry to say that I doubt the studio will survive outside being a support studio - at best. Edit - at least until PS6 comes out.
Why do we even give Grubb a platform, this is the same guy who made that rumour the Black Myth Wukong was bought by Sony.
The man is a hack shm...
Thanks for your service as always Mr. Grubb.
Ah Mr grubb, the guy who throws buckets of shi*e on a daily basis, in the hope that something sticks.
@Oram77 he said something that happened this one time ,and made a career out of it, he considers himself the gaming nostradamus, he talked bolloc*s as well
@lazarus11 He is the literal definition of "TRUST ME BRO".
What do you guys think as Uncharted 5 for Bluepoints next game? I mean, they did the old uncharted remasters, and with a bit of supervision or help from some ND developers they might pull it off.
PS. The whole ‘this gen sucks’ and ‘Sony has no more games coming’ is getting seriously hyperbolic. Lets just wait and see, before getting overly dramatic. They have almost 4 more years to go, i’m sure there’ll be plenty of games still coming, also from first party studios. Remember Bluepoint wasn’t even a first party studio last gen and Bend only produced one game, it’s not that we lost the most prolific studios or something.
To remind people, these are already announced exclusive games:
Thats 15 PS games already announced, not to mention games that are probably worked on right now that havent been announced yet:
Thats another 10 games with a high probability of being worked on but just havent been announced yet.
Then there’s all the games we don't even know about (Note to Sony: Bloodborne 2!). Im guessing, hoping at least, that Playstation still has plenty of games to show these upcoming years.
Some of you guys who love waiting on all these games to go to PlayStation plus or go on a deep sale are part of the problem. I don’t like Sony live service strategy fully but I get it. Sony spending 300 million dollars on they’re games and barely breaking even meanwhile Nintendo is spending a few million dollars on they’re games and selling 50 million copies each. If you love Sony single player games please for the love of god buy them full price at launch like I do, so we can keep getting them.
@LogicStrikesAgain Isn't it rumored that there's an as-yet-unnamed 1st party studio currently working on Uncharted 5?
I would personally want Bluepoint to go back to remaking/remastering games, since they're the industry leader in that arena, in my opinion. If devs on the team want to make original content, they should transfer to a different in-house developer.
It's a complete disaster regardless of when they were told. Senior heads should roll for something as big as this.
@wildcat_kickz Oh, was it? I dont know, but that would be nice! Yeah, i actually prefer them remaking games as well.
@LogicStrikesAgain Problem is Logic, I've been with Sony since the start, and have been 100% digital since PSN launched.
Hell I even worked there.
I have spent literally tens of thousands on games and consoles with them, had all the variations of PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4, bought PSPs and Vitas (I even own the PSPGo) even got the VR1 and 2 headsets, I can say there have been very few people more committed to the Sony brand.
PS5 Pro is the first console I haven't purchased of theirs, simply because there is zero content that interests me, I couldn't pick one on that list of yours that appeals to me, so if they want to ditch me in favour of a new audience they are going about it in the right way.
I just hoping and praying they start giving the real gamers something to look forward to again.
Hearing this story reminds me of when the EA Anthem devs was seeing the Anthem gameplay reveal trailer for the first time as everyone else was around the world and they didn’t even know it was there game until they heard the name was mentioned 😂😂😂😂😂😂
@Jay767 No, Sony is here the problem! It’s Sony which sells its games initially for 70 bucks or more (with Digital Deluxe BS). And then a couple of months later, you can buy them with 30 % or so discount. I paid 15 EUR for Uncharted Legacy of Thieves, 30 EUR for Returnal, 15 EUR for Death Stranding DC, … Nintendo still sells Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for 60 EUR, both digitally and retail, and incredible numbers of copies.
Sony is not Ubisoft, but it unintentionally trained many of us to not pay full price. Are 80 EUR standard retail price and GaaS really the answers on that?
@LogicStrikesAgain Great list!
Can also add Hell is Us to that list too (pretty sure it's an exclusive)
Edit: looked it up, I lied.
@wildcat_kickz welcome to pushsquare...
@wildcat_kickz You haven't been around for the last two decades, have you?? Journalism died when advertising was tied to clicks.
@Decoy_Snake Bluepoint didn’t want to just make remasters forever and Bend never pitched Days Gone 2 to Sony it was canceled internally by Bend first.
@LogicStrikesAgain as usual critical thinking and not knee jerk doom and gloom responses.. I approve 👏👏👏
@Fishnpeas genuine question. What would interest you?
@wildcat_kickz
Real journalism is dead in the age of rage bait.
Just imagine the amazing single player quality Sony Studio AAA games release schedule had they not done all this GAAS game production, then of course got cancelled.
Totally waste of developers time and company money. Surely some higher up head has to roll on this one. Must be hundreds of millions of dollars and pounds etc.
You can definitely see it last year and now this year where both Nintendo and Xbox studios will be releasing a lot more games and probably for the rest of this PS5 generation.
Such a corporate embarrassment.
More reason to ignore Jeff Grubb.
Lets hope 2025 is the year PushSquare realises he’s actually very unreliable.
@Jacko11 🤣
This is turning into one of those things where people will cling to anything negative regardless of if it's true or not. People like this rumormonger are just trying to get in on the attention.
@Jacko11 Agreed.
Can PS or gaming sites in general stop reporting rumors from that Jeff Grub guy?
Removed - unconstructive; user is banned
What's that?
A rumour started by Jeff Grubby turned out to be untrue!!!
I'll believe that when I see the President of USA dancing the YMCA
The double-edged sword of having such a commanding lead in the premium gaming market is that Sony can pretty much screw things up for its audience and studios and still maintain that lead as the rest of the gaming community - who are simply locked into the PlayStation ecosystem to play Fortnite, COD, [insert popular sports title for a region], etc. - don't care about any of this.
The intrigues and drama inside Sony/Playstation headquarters over the last years must have been like a mini Game of Thrones, just with suits and laser pens instead of armor and swords.
I really hope to see a TV show with all the spicy details in the future. Starring Harvey Keitel as Jim Ryan, of course.
@Jay767 "If you love Sony single player games please for the love of god buy them full price at launch like I do, so we can keep getting them"
What you suggest might works for people who only played Sony games.
I myself bought some Sony games on day 1 like TloU 1 and 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, GoW 3, Ghost of Tsushima, Spiderman, Patapon, Gravity Rush 1 & 2, SotC, Beyond 2 Souls, Bloodborne, Infamous 2nd Son, and The Last Guardian. Some games i bought later when they got discount but still brand new, some games i bought digitally, and the rest i bought secondhand.
But the thing is Sony is not the only company who makes games that i want to play. There's Capcom, Square, Sega, Atlus, Vanillaware, Bamco, KT, Falcom etc etc that i also want play.
So, if i must buy Sony and other games on day 1, it could be really really expensives to the point i will eat only rice with soy sauce or noodles for the rest of the year lmao. Heck, i'm not counting my other hobby like manga / comic book and monthly bill like electricity, water, internet, health insurance etc.
I say PS+ and deep sale are good options for people like me who can't afford multiple games on day 1 but still want to support Sony and the devs.
@PuppetMaster that’s fine as long as you support sony first party games day one when you can.
@Jay767 wow, what a comment this is. I mean, I have no words to describe this.
Of course he's commenting from BS 😂 #1 place for BS news these days!
@Jay767 Sure , everybody is rich enough to buy new games ... What are You 16 and live with Your parents ?
Wow, its almost like Jeff Grubb makes stuff up to try and get people to listen to his unpopular podcast because it's not very good and he's not an engaging person to listen to!
And this keeps happening over and over!
But that cant be true, because every time I mention hes a liar, I am refuted by people who explain to me "Nuh-uh".
@themightyant I'd love some tight 10-12 hour story heavy action games, ones that haven't been written by people who have the emotional range of a toddler, I want some decent racers like Wipeout or Ridge Racer, a lot more 3D platformers, a good tennis game like Virtua Tennis, a decent space combat game like Colony Wars, solid Dark Fantasy RPGs like Dragon Age Origins. Hell, I'd even take an updated version of Overboard at this point. Just give me some fun!
I am so sick of 100 hour open worlds with absolutely nothing interesting in them.
@PuppetMaster I bought every single Sony game day 1, but after Ragnarok, TLOU 2 and Spiderman 2 it will be a long time before I trust Sony again, they seem to have lost the ability to just tell a good story free of current day nonsense.
The other day I was told I should support remakes and remasters. Now I'm told I should support a billion dollar company.
I'll buy games for what they're worth to me and not a penny more. If that's not sustainable I await the crash. It's not like the entire industry will go away, it'll just be forged by market conditions and return sustainable.
@Fishnpeas Solid list. I’m with you on enjoying 10-12 hour story games, but isn’t that what Sony does already with Uncharted, Last of Us, Spider-man? They almost certainly do it more than most other publishers.
I’m also with you on bringing back WipEout. But don’t we have many Ridge Racer likes in things like Crew Motorfest, Wreckfest, Need for Speed, Art of Rally etc. that genre seems pretty well catered for (and with Forza probably coming)
With Topspin, Tiebreak and several others do we really need more Tennis games?
Colony Wars. One of my OG favourites. Not sure why the space combat games never really advanced it felt like they all felt the same after a while. It feels like the industry as a whole has mostly forgotten this genre.
@Jay767 this is correct
The wait of free game crowd is also a problem. Gamers are impatient and cheap. Live service games literally caters to them. But then they complain about that. When we support the things we want, we get the things we want. If all you want is free...well you'll continue to get live service
@Fishnpeas I'm not yet play GoW Ragnarok and Spidey 2, maybe next month i'll get Ragnarok after i'm done with some backlog. But imho TloU 2 story still solid despite some flaws here and there.
But hey, if you think Sony games isn't worth to buy on day 1 anymore then you should vote with your wallet. I'm possibly will buy a couple of Sony games on day 1 like Ghost of Yotei, Wolverine, and whatever Cory Barlog new IP.
Although currently i'm leaning more and more on arcadey games like beat em up, shmup, or character action games like DMC, Ninja Gaiden, Gungrave, or Streets of Rage that focus more on gameplay while the story is just okay. These games also doesn't take too long to finish but they have high replay value.
@themightyant Solid list. I’m with you on enjoying 10-12 hour story games, but isn’t that what Sony does already with Uncharted, Last of Us, Spider-man? They almost certainly do it more than most other publishers.
Look at TLOU 2, Spiderman 2 and Lost Legacy, all really badly written games, I want those, just good versions of them where the developers haven't got the emotional range of a cabbage.
I’m also with you on bringing back WipEout. But don’t we have many Ridge Racer likes in things like Crew Motorfest, Wreckfest, Need for Speed, Art of Rally etc. that genre seems pretty well catered for (and with Forza probably coming) Wreckfest came out in 2014, and every other Racer wants to be an open world RPG these days, just give me an arcade Racer.
With Topspin, Tiebreak and several others do we really need more Tennis games? We need good tennis games...
Colony Wars. One of my OG favourites. Not sure why the space combat games never really advanced it felt like they all felt the same after a while. It feels like the industry as a whole has mostly forgotten this genre. Everspace 2 was the closest so far.
@Fishnpeas We'll have to agree to disagree on the writing. TLOU2 was a masterpiece in my eyes, something that profoundly affected me like few other games have. If it evokes that sort of emotion, and I accept it didn't land for everyone, that is brilliant writing. ymmv
Spider-man 2's story was good until the end, it felt rushed, like something was cut. But it was also comic book writing, which it absolutely should be. I'm not expecting Disco Elysium in Spider-man.
@themightyant Bluepoint might not have wanted to keep doing remakes but to have them waste years on a LSG that's been canned probably wasn't the plan either. There's articles on this site (referencing Bloomberg) that Sony rejected the DG2 pitch.
Either way they've wasted years on games that won't see the light of day when they could have had something to show if they'd just been left to single player content, hopefully Sony realise what made them the place to play and get these teams working on something that'll release but that could very well be 5 years away now.
@Decoy_Snake Classic example of why you shouldn't believe everything you read online. Yes there were articles on MANY sites stating that Sony rejected the DG2 pitch, but that is outdated and false information that was formed around the games creative director John Garvin's incendiary tweets.
But it later came to light that Bend had never in fact pitched the game to Sony, but they felt DG1 was unpopular with Sony so didn't pitch them the idea, it was a local management issue not a Sony one, Push Square accurately reported this 3 years ago. This was re-reconfirmed in several appearances Garvin had with David Jaffe but by then it was not big news.
EDIT: More widely a part of the problem is with modern journalism where sites see an article on another site and rather than fact checking themselves and doing their own research they just publish an article based on the article, and false information and assumption spreads like wildfire.
A lot of people know about there work getting canceled or being layed off from social media so it would not have surprised me if that was true
@wildcat_kickz journalism has turned into getting traction as much as possible. The more likes, the more valid your article or ‘opinion’. There is still some journalism with fact checking, but most social media platforms and websites can’t bother with the time that takes.
That's GREAT NEWS! You say it like it was a bad thing
I'm sure some on the teams knew.
The question is whether that "some" was just certain management figures or everyone. Sony is the studio who held a party for London studios just days before shutting them down after all.
I find it all too easy to believe that the teams and most of the workforce were NOT made aware of this decision even if their managers were.
Its how Sony has been shown to operate.
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