Bluepoint Games

Last updated

Bluepoint Games Inc.
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded2006;18 years ago (2006)
Founders
  • Andy O'Neil
  • Marco Thrush
Headquarters
Austin, Texas
,
US
Key people
Marco Thrush (president) [1]
Products
Number of employees
≈80 [2]  (2023)
Parent PlayStation Studios (2021–present)
Website bluepointgames.com

Bluepoint Games Inc. is an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2006 by Andy O'Neil and Marco Thrush, the studio is known for video game remasters and remakes, such as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (2015), Shadow of the Colossus (2018), and Demon's Souls (2020). Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired the company in September 2021, making them a first-party developer for PlayStation Studios.

Contents

History

Bluepoint Games was founded in 2006 by Andy O'Neil and Marco Thrush, two former Retro Studios employees who had worked on Metroid Prime . The studio's first game, Blast Factor , was released later that year. [3] In August 2009, Sony Computer Entertainment announced that remastered versions of God of War and God of War II would be coming to the PlayStation 3 as God of War Collection . [4] The ports were handled by Bluepoint and released on November 17, 2009, in North America. [4] [5] The studio's remasters of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus as The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection for the PlayStation 3 were released in September 2011. [6] [7] Years later, in 2018, Bluepoint would remake Shadow of the Colossus for the PlayStation 4. [8] The studio also handled the remastered HD versions of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance and Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence included in the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection , which was released on November 8, 2011. [9] [10]

Bluepoint collaborated with SuperBot Entertainment to develop PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (2012), which was built on Bluepoint's proprietary engine. [11] [12] Bluepoint also ported the game to the PlayStation Vita. [11] The studio collaborated with Santa Monica Studio to port Flower to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in 2013, as well as with Respawn Entertainment to develop the Xbox 360 version of Titanfall (2014). [13] After Titanfall, Bluepoint remastered the three PlayStation 3 releases of the Uncharted franchise to the PlayStation 4 as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, [14] as well as Gravity Rush Remastered , which was released in Japan at the end of 2015 and internationally in early 2016. [15] [16]

O'Neil died in June 2019 aged 47. [17] By August 2019, Bluepoint had hired several other former Retro Studios staff. [18] Notable hires include designer Kynan Pearson in July 2013 and artist Elben Schafers in 2014. [3] [19] In June 2020, Bluepoint was announced as developing a remake of Demon's Souls . The remake was released as a launch title for PlayStation 5 in November 2020 and received universal acclaim from critics. [20] [21] Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) acquired Bluepoint on September 30, 2021, making it part of PlayStation Studios. SIE had previously leaked its intent to buy the studio in June that year. [22] [23] At the time, Bluepoint and its roughly 70 employees were working on original content. [1]

Games developed

YearTitlePlatform(s)Publisher(s)Ref(s).
2006 Blast Factor PlayStation 3 Sony Computer Entertainment [3]
2009 God of War Collection [3]
2011 The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection [3]
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Konami [3]
2015 Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection PlayStation 4 Sony Computer Entertainment [24]
Gravity Rush Remastered [25]
2018 Shadow of the Colossus Sony Interactive Entertainment [26]
2020 Demon's Souls PlayStation 5 [27]

Support

YearTitlePlatform(s)Publisher(s)Note(s)Ref(s).
2012 PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale PlayStation Vita Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation Vita port [3]
2013 Flower PlayStation 4, PlayStation VitaPlayStation 4 & PlayStation Vita ports [3]
2014 Titanfall Xbox 360 Electronic Arts Xbox 360 port [3]
2022 God of War Ragnarök PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5Sony Interactive EntertainmentAdditional work [28]

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References

  1. 1 2 Dornbush, Jonathon (September 30, 2021). "PlayStation Officially Acquires Bluepoint Games, Next Game Planned to Be an Original, Not a Remake". Archived from the original on September 30, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Bluepoint Games". BluepointGames.com. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Dyer, Mitch (January 28, 2014). "Who Is Bluepoint Games?". IGN . Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  4. 1 2 Yoon, Andrew. "God of War Collection coming to PS3 this holiday". Joystiq. Archived from the original on January 28, 2015. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  5. ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (October 27, 2009). "God of War Collection strikes PS3 Nov. 17". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 8, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  6. ↑ Shuman, Sid (September 15, 2010). "Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection hits PS3 Spring 2011 with 3D". PlayStation Blog . Sony Computer Entertainment. Archived from the original on June 7, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  7. ↑ Lynch, Phil (June 7, 2011). "ICO & Shadow Of The Colossus Classics HD Coming 28 September". PlayStation Blog . Sony Computer Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  8. ↑ "How Bluepoint Rebuilt Shadow Of The Colossus For PS4". Game Informer . December 15, 2017. Archived from the original on January 31, 2018. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  9. ↑ Sterling, Jim (November 15, 2011). "Review: Metal Gear Solid HD Collection". Destructoid. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  10. ↑ Leadbetter, Richard (March 17, 2012). "Tech Analysis: Metal Gear Solid Remastered". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  11. 1 2 Lanxon, Nate (September 23, 2012). "Q&A: How Sony simultaneously develops the same game for PS3 and Vita". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on June 7, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  12. ↑ "PlayStation All Stars - Overview". Bluepoint Games. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  13. ↑ Haywald, Justin (January 27, 2014). "Titanfall developer Respawn finally reveals studio working on Xbox 360 version of their game". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 18, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  14. ↑ Koller, John (September 4, 2015). "Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection PS4 Bundle Out October 9th". PlayStation Blog . Archived from the original on August 2, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  15. ↑ Mejia, Ozzie (September 15, 2015). "TGS 2015: Gravity Rush will come to PS4 in December; sequel announced for 2016 [Update]". Shacknews. Archived from the original on July 1, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  16. ↑ Accordino, Nick (September 15, 2015). "Gravity Rush Remastered Coming to PS4 on February 9th, 2016". PlayStation Blog . Archived from the original on August 5, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  17. ↑ Wolfe, Hunter (June 18, 2019). "Bluepoint Games' Co-founder Andy O'Neil dies at age 47". VG247 . Archived from the original on June 6, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  18. ↑ Robinson, Andy (August 13, 2019). "Half of the core Metroid Prime 3 team is still at Retro Studios". Video Games Chronicle . Archived from the original on January 9, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  19. ↑ Sirani, Jordan (January 26, 2019). "Who Is Now Making Metroid Prime 4 at Retro Studios?". IGN . Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  20. ↑ Gach, Ethan (June 11, 2020). "Demon's Souls Is Being Remade On PS5". Kotaku. Archived from the original on October 4, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  21. ↑ "Demon's Souls". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 22, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  22. ↑ Scullion, Chris (June 29, 2021). "PlayStation may have accidentally revealed that it's acquired Bluepoint Games". Video Games Chronicle . Archived from the original on June 29, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  23. ↑ Tailby, Stephen (September 30, 2021). "Sony Finally Confirms Acquisition of Demon's Souls PS5 Dev Bluepoint Games". Push Square . Archived from the original on September 30, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  24. ↑ Linneman, John (August 22, 2015). "Uncharted: the Nathan Drake Collection is more than just a remaster". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  25. ↑ Saed, Sherif (April 24, 2017). "Uncharted Collection and Gravity Rush Remastered dev Bluepoint working on project "to please the masses"". VG247 . Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  26. ↑ Matulef, Jeffrey (June 14, 2017). "Shadow of the Colossus on PS4 is a remake, not a remaster, says Shuhei Yoshida". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  27. ↑ Dornbush, Jonathon (June 12, 2020). "Demon's Souls Remake for PS5 Announced". IGN . Archived from the original on June 11, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  28. ↑ Barker, Sammy (October 7, 2022). "Demon's Souls Remake Dev Bluepoint Games Assisted on God of War Ragnarok". Pushsquare. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
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