Bluepoint Games

**Bluepoint Games** is an American developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2006 by veterans of from Retro Studios. Since 2021, it is a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment's PlayStation Studios.

Bluepoint Games specializes in remasters and remakes. As an independent company, Bluepoint had a strong relation to Sony Interactive Entertainment, having developed the original game *Blast Factor*, remastered several titles from Sony's library and remade *Shadow of the Colossus* into a high-definition game for the PlayStation 4, followed by a remake of 2009's *Demon's Souls* in 2020 for the PlayStation 5. The following year the studio was acquired by Sony with the intention of moving development into original content.

Bluepoint Games received strong praise from gaming media for its polished remasters, with gaming publications lauding improved mechanics and updated graphics produced by the studio in titles such as *Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection*. Their remakes of *Shadow of the Colossus* and *Demon's Souls* were met with universal acclaim for their visual fidelity and graphical advancements.

## History

### 2006 - 2015: Founding and early projects

Bluepoint Games was founded in 2006 by Andy O'Neil and Marco Thrush, two game engineers from Nintendo's Retro Studios, who both worked on Retro's debut game *Metroid Prime* and its sequels. Shortly after Bluepoint's founding, O'Neil and Thrush signed a deal with PlayStation maker Sony Computer Entertainment to produce a downloadable title for the PlayStation 3, *Blast Factor*. The game received mixed reviews.

Following *Blast Factor*, Bluepoint began to focus on remastering older titles. It collaborated with Sony's Santa Monica Studio to remaster 2005's *God of War* and 2007's *God of War II* as the *God of War Collection* in 2009, for the PlayStation 3. The collection received critical acclaim. For the PlayStation Vita version, porting duties were handed to Sanzaru Games.

Bluepoint's next project was 2011's *The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection*, a collaboration with Sony's Japan Studio and Team Ico to remaster Fumito Ueda's acclaimed titles, *Ico* (2001) and *Shadow of the Colosss* (2005), for the PlayStation 3. The same year, Bluepoint also released a multiplatform remaster of Konami's *Metal Gear* games, in collaboration with Kojima Productions.

### 2017 - 2020: Transition into remakes

In October 2015, studio manager Susan Benedict passed away; Bluepoint's 2018 *Shadow of the Colossus* remake is dedicated in her memory.

On June 10, 2019, O'Neil passed away at 47. Bluepoint Games announced his passing on June 17, eulogizing him for "always [pushing] Bluepoint to do great things".

Bluepoint Games and Sony announced their next game, a remake for FromSoftware's *Demon's Souls* at Sony's PlayStation 5 reveal event in June 2020; Japan Studio was assisting the development. *Demon's Souls* was released as a launch title for the PlayStation 5, and received critical acclaim.

### 2021 - current: Acquisition by Sony

In June 2021, the Japanese Twitter account of PlayStation tweeted on the acquisition of Finnish game developer Housemarque while mistakenly using a banner with Bluepoint's company name on it, before deleting on it. Sony did not comment on the event, while Bluepoint's Twitter account maintained the studio was "self-funded" and independent. In September of that year, Sony confirmed that it entered into an agreement to acquire Bluepoint Games. In an interview with IGN, Thrush confirmed that Bluepoint's next game will include "original content".

In October 2022, Bluepoint Games was confirmed to be one of the teams that worked on Santa Monica Studio's *God of War Ragnarök* alongside fellow PlayStation Studios team Valkyrie Entertainment.

## Relationship with other studios

### PlayStation Studios

Bluepoint Games has been a subsidiary of PlayStation Studios since September 2021.

#### Naughty Dog

Bluepoint Games and Naughty Dog have been sister-studios since 2021. Prior to Bluepoint's acquisition, the studio helped remastering Naughty Dog's first three *Uncharted* titles under the 2015 bundle *Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection*.

#### Santa Monica Studio

Bluepoint Games and Santa Monica Studio have been sister-studios since 2021. Prior to Bluepoint's acquisition by Sony, Bluepoint remastered the first two *God of War* games created by Santa Monica Studio, under the *God of War Collection* bundle. Following Bluepoint's acquisition in September 2021, Bluepoint was announced to be one of the partner studios working on Santa Monica Studio's 2022 title *God of War Ragnarök*.

#### Valkyrie Entertainment

Bluepoint Games and Valkyrie Entertainment have been sister-studios since 2021, which saw the acquisition of both companies by Sony. Both companies were among the partner studios that collaborated with Santa Monica Studio on *God of War Ragnarök*.

### External developers

#### FromSoftware

For the development of 2020's *Demon's Souls* remake, Bluepoint Games and Sony reached out to original developer FromSoftware, whose president and game director Hidetaka Miyazaki gave his blessing to Bluepoint on their project.

### Defunct

#### Japan Studio

Bluepoint Games worked frequently with Sony's Japan Studio prior to the latter's reconstruction and closure in April 2021. Bluepoint Games remastered Team Ico's titles *Ico* and *Shadow of the Colossus* in 2011, under the bundle *The Ico & Shadow of Colossus Collection*, and in 2015 remastered Team Gravity's 2012 game *Gravity Rush* as *Gravity Rush Remastered*.

Bluepoint Games further collaborated with Japan Studio on remaking two action-adventure titles from its legacy catalogue: the aforementioned *Shadow of Colossus* was remade in 2018 for the PlayStation 4, and *Demon's Souls* was remade in 2020 for the PlayStation 5. In both instances, Japan Studio's Gavin Moore served as creative director on Bluepoint's remake projects.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/28/who-is-bluepoint-games
2. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/blast-factor
3. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20121019045733/http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/11/17/god-of-war-collection-launches-today-for-ps3/
4. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/god-of-war-collection
5. ↑ https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2014-god-of-war-collection-vita-face-off
6. ↑ https://www.eurogamer.net/fumito-ueda-submitted-a-proposal-of-changes-for-the-shadow-of-the-colossus-ps4-remake
7. ↑ https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/statesman/name/susan-benedict-obituary?id=18326545
8. ↑ *Shadow of the Colossus* game credits.
9. ↑ https://www.gamesindustry.biz/bluepoint-co-founder-andy-oneil-dies
10. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/ps5-demons-souls-remake
11. ↑ https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/sony-confirms-demons-souls-remake-will-be-a-ps5-launch-title-2755028
12. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-5/demons-souls
13. ↑ https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/playstation-may-have-accidentally-revealed-that-its-acquired-bluepoint-games
14. ↑ https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/07/06/bluepoint-games-looks-to-be-debunking-playstation-acquisition-rumors-as-leak-suggests
15. ↑ https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/release/2021/211001.html
16. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OH977tutoE&ab\_channel=PlayStation
17. ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-acquires-bluepoint-next-game-playstation-exclusive

## External links

* Official website
* Twitter account

**Remasters**
*God of War Collection* - *The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection* - *Gravity Rush: Remastered* - *Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection*

**Remakes**
*Shadow of the Colossus* - *Demon's Souls*

**Others**
*Blast Factor*

**Technology**Bluepoint