Sony's potential Bluepoint acquisition would be a huge blow to players

It’s cuffing season in the world of video games.

Following the announcement that Returnal developer Housemarque has been acquired by Sony, credible evidence suggests another studio acquisition by PlayStation is in the works. The team in question is Bluepoint Games, the developer behind the acclaimed Shadow of the Colossus remake, as well as the PS5 launch title Demon’s Souls.

When welcoming Housemarque to the PlayStation family, the official PlayStation Japan account accidentally tweeted out an image with Bluepoint Games on it instead of the Returnal developer. The social media gaffe strongly suggested the impending announcement of Bluepoint’s acquisition.

Bluepoint has worked closely with Sony for years now, and most of the developer’s portfolio consists of PlayStation-exclusive remakes. Speculation about a potential deal has already been swirling in recent weeks. While this acquisition would make sense, we’d love it if Bluepoint remained independent. Here’s why:

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If Sony were to acquire Bluepoint, presumably all of its games would be exclusive to PlayStation consoles. After all, Sony wouldn’t make such a large purchase if it planned to release Bluepoint remakes on other platforms.

While there are a slew of PlayStation franchises that could benefit from a remake treatment (like Ape Escape, Twisted Metal, and Sly Cooper), limiting it to only games under Sony’s belt is less than ideal for players.

Think of all your favorite games from your childhood that radiate nostalgia. Many of these probably don’t hold up as well today, but could get a second life with a renowned studio like Bluepoint remaking them. The problem is that there are so many games that need — and deserve — remakes. Not only PlayStation games, but across the board.

On the Xbox side of the fence, there are a lot of franchises we’d love to see remade by Bluepoint. The original Fable is an excellent candidate, as are Crackdown, Crimson Skies, and Alan Wake. Sure, Microsoft has done a fantastic job of preserving its older franchises, but it’s hard to argue against a shiny new remake — especially one from a team as talented as Bluepoint.

Beyond developing console exclusives, the gaming industry as a whole would greatly benefit from remakes of third-party franchises.

The one game that comes to mind is the original Metal Gear Solid. This is a mighty important game that we’d love to revisit if it were remade from the ground up. And while it’s always closely associated with PlayStation, the series has appeared on other platforms including Xbox 360 and GameCube.

If Bluepoint became a first-party Sony studio, a Metal Gear Solid remake would almost certainly not appear on Xbox or Nintendo systems — even though the series is technically multiplatform. In fact, Bluepoint actually handled the Xbox 360 port of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, so it certainly has in-depth knowledge of the series on a Microsoft platform.

But the list goes on and on. Think of famous games from the PlayStation 2/Xbox/GameCube era like Silent Hill 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Okami, Devil May Cry, and SSX Tricky, to name a few. Limiting Bluepoint to only PlayStation remakes would be a huge blow to the industry as a whole. We could all have our cake and eat it, too, if Bluepoint were independent — allowing the team to make games for any platform.

Sure, there are other studios that could fill the void of developing remakes for all platforms, but Bluepoint is often regarded as the best in its class. It would be a shame to see the studio only focus on PlayStation franchises because there are so many other games that could benefit from being remade.

The thing is, Sony is likely offering a boatload of cash to acquire Bluepoint, so we can’t necessarily blame the remake developer for accepting — if an offer is indeed in the works. But still, we’d love to see the team spread its wings without being restricted to only certain franchises.