From our other sites
The story
Under SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment), reports of studio restructuring and canceled projects keep piling up: following the 2024 closures of London Studio and Firewalk Studios, we’ve now seen the shutdowns of Bluepoint Games and Dark Outlaw Games, a scaled-back rollout of physical discs, and the cancellation of a project led by Hideo Kojima. On 5ch’s hardware/industry board, posts mocking the sheer number of these “cuts” piled up, while opinions split between those questioning why the company would shrink its operations amid reportedly strong earnings, and others pushing back with data showing the division’s overall headcount has actually grown even after the reductions.
What people said
2025 — Dark Outlaw Games founded
2026 — Bluepoint Games shuts down, Dark Outlaw Games shuts down, physical disc discontinuation announced, Kojima's project canceled
They're basically the only ones actually doing solid work right now, so no way, lol
Depends entirely on how Wolverine sells
Why scale down when earnings are supposedly strong…?
Doesn't make sense to me
There's also stuff like 'Blackout Dawn 2' and 'Baldy Bride' (derisive nicknames fans use for other unreleased PlayStation projects), but between all the cost-cutting they genuinely have nothing left in the chamber
severance payouts and all
they managed massive cost savings
and wouldn't you know it, revenue roughly doubled
What brilliant management
Fiscal year-end
G&NS division headcount
―
March 2021
9,600
March 2022
10,200
March 2023
12,700
March 2024
12,700
March 2025
12,100
March 2026
12,300
Far from cutting back, headcount just keeps climbing
It hasn't grown since 2023 though
Once it's already started, you can see where the road leads
How does a company that can drop ¥500 billion on Bungie end up like this
It's precisely because they lost big on Marathon and Concord that they're cutting Kojima's project (Kojima Productions' game) and going into austerity mode
None of these three have put out a single brand-new game since their PS4-era cross-gen titles — zero all-new PS5 games between them
That's rough
Meanwhile Kojima's studio has been putting out a game every three years since going independent
Just looking at the results, yeah, of course they'd get cut
No idea what's actually going on behind the scenes though
FF7's relaunch, name-dropping Nintendo
FromSoftware going Nintendo-exclusive (what's even the point?)
Persona and Kojima's game heading to the Xbox brand
It's not just a feeling — this kind of exclusive-dealing maneuvering keeps increasing
And Capcom's throwing every one of its flagship titles onto Switch 2 as multiplatform releases too
Yeah, Insomniac is scary too
The first reveal of Wolverine was 5 years ago, and according to leaks development has run around 7 years
Leaks say the game's systems got reworked multiple times, including at least one major overhaul
If it flops after taking this long, that seems like exactly the kind of thing that'd set Sony off
It's nothing but ports
They got forced to make something they didn't even want to make, like that Last of Us Online thing, which then got scrapped — and on top of that we get 'Space Baldy'
If this doesn't sell, Sony's own execs should be the ones held responsible first
Feels like they'll end up on the next round of studio closures too
If it means Ark gets shut down, I'm all for it
Not sure SIE actually has the authority to do that though
I can only think of maybe four: Returnal, Saros, Concord, and Destruction AllStars, which already got its servers shut down
There's also Stellar Blade
It was a hit, but the developer got furious over Sony's 'slave contract' and the deal ended, lol
Metascore has nothing to do with sales anyway
Crimson Desert has a similar Metascore and sold 6 million
Meanwhile Saros scored an 88 and bombed hard
In the end it's just about how many people actually want the game — the score has nothing to do with it
Will it actually sell as a PS5 exclusive though…
Also, Crimson Desert responded to negative Steam reviews immediately, pushing out a patch within like 3 days, and has kept updating ever since
Most of Crimson Desert's sales are on PC, what are you even talking about?
Just pick Android or Windows already, lol
Isn't Windows off the table?
When they sold off VAIO, they'd have signed a contract restricting them from re-entering the PC business
It's the classic move of 'if the thing I worship looks like it's losing, drag the winner down with it so everyone loses'
The brainwashing hasn't worn off at all
SIE is shifting toward actively backing Chinese and Korean games
Background and key points of this discussion
Since shutting down its Japan Studio in 2021, SIE has repeatedly restructured its portfolio of studios, including acquired ones, and the recent string of closures and canceled projects discussed here is an extension of that pattern. Opinion in the thread split over how earnings can look strong even as the business appears to be shrinking at the same time — some argued the cost-cutting is what’s boosting profit margins, while others saw it as simply reining in investment in new IP development. One reply also pointed to overall group headcount figures, which had actually trended upward rather than down, a detail that shows studio closures don’t necessarily line up one-to-one with the group’s total staffing moves. Worth keeping in mind while reading: it would be premature to conclude, based on the sheer number of closures alone, that the organization’s overall headcount or investment is shrinking.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “[Sad News] SIE Has Apparently Made a Habit of Cutting Things Loose Lately lolololol“.
Leave a Reply