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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Damn, I don't know what to say. I'm at a loss of words since it was so sudden.

For those who don't know, Pixel Opus is a small team inside Sony's HQ in San Mateo that made beautiful artsy games like Concrete Genie and Entwined.

Update: IGN just got Statement from SIE about the closure of PixelOpus.

"PlayStation Studios regularly evaluates its portfolio and the status of studio projects to ensure they meet the organization’s short and long-term strategic objectives. As part of a recent review process, it has been decided that PixelOpus will close on June 2."

 

[envyzeal]

Title sums it

The studio behind Entwined and Concrete Genie announced on Twitter that their adventure has come to an end.

 

[FunkMiller]

Who?

 

[ungalo]

Sad to hear, but i can't say i was interested in their games. I sure hope Sony won't do the same with Media Molecule.

 

[Tsaki]

Closing such a small studio that doesn't cost much seems very weird. Especially when your competitor has no plans to stop growing.

 

[BennyBlanco]

 

[Punished Miku]

Weird decision when they have PS+ now and are starting some day 1 indies.

 

[Dick Jones]

Concrete Genie was a lovely little game. Pity to not get a follow up

 

[SlimySnake]

My son loves concrete genie. Sony shutting down these smaller studios is really lame.

 

[Ar¢tos]

But they were working with Sony Animation on a new game for the last 2 years..

 

[rofif]

Closing such a small studio that doesn't cost much seems very weird. Especially when your competitor has no plans to stop growing.

very weird?
"As of 2019, PixelOpus is comprised of between 12 to 19 employees"
So that's 19 people getting paid for doing nothing. Or maybe the main talent left. we don't know.

Concrete genie was not THAT good

 

[DeepSpace5D]

Thought they had been working on a game for some time now since Concrete Genie? Wonder what happened…

 

[ByWatterson]

Makes sense. Good but not great content, from another era.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Closing such a small studio that doesn't cost much seems very weird. Especially when your competitor has no plans to stop growing.

Pruning is a real thing. Resources, big or small, can be better spent on productive teams. They were likely years away from releasing a game that had no chance at moving the needle for PlayStation.

 

[SJRB]

 

[Mr Moose]

Damn it, Shawn!

 

[GymWolf]

Never actually played concrete genie but from the trailers i always loved the artstyle.

 

[Ar¢tos]

very weird?
"As of 2019, PixelOpus is comprised of between 12 to 19 employees"
So that's 19 people getting paid for doing nothing. Or maybe the main talent left. we don't know.

Concrete genie was not THAT good

Better than many of the big games we get nowadays....
I loved its originality.

 

[graywolf323]

that’s a shame but not terribly surprised since what exactly have they done since Concrete Genie? I can’t find anything really since this nearly 2 years ago

Pixelopus Working on a PS5 Game in Collaboration With Sony Pictures Animation, Developed on Unreal Engine 5 - PlayStation LifeStyle

Concrete Genie developer Pixelopus is working on a PS5 game in collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation, the film studio behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Mitchells vs. The Machines.

www.playstationlifestyle.net

 

[Represent.]

RIP

 

[Heisenberg007]

Oh wow that's surprising. They were making their 1st big game with Sony Animation.

It seems like the game wasn't turning out as per plan. Unfortunate, nevertheless.

 

[SlimySnake]

Never actually played concrete genie but from the trailers i always loved the artstyle.

I played it some whenever my kid got stuck. its an indie game through an through. not much in the way of combat. story is also standard childrens fair.

But its unique and frankly sony doesnt have any games like this. there is a reason why switch is so popular. nintendo has literally dozens of games for kids.

 

[envyzeal]

Bring Ember Labs home and move teams together

 

[ElCasual]

Looks like they dont make games as service. Fuck off Jim.

 

[Abriael_GN]

Not cinematic enough for Jim.

 

[HTK]

Sad to hear, but i can't say i was interested in their games. I sure hope Sony won't do the same with Media Molecule.

I hope they do, Media Molecule hasn't produced a single game I give two shits about. They need to either go or make some compelling games.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Looks like they dont make games as service. Fuck off Jim.

I was literally about to post this. PlayStation doesn't have many single player only studios left. Jim Ryan is a rock star.

 

[envyzeal]

I hope they do, Media Molecule hasn't produced a single game I give two shits about. They need to either go or make some compelling games.

They're probably next in line if they don't come up with something economically viable

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Not cinematic enough for Jim.

 

[STARSBarry]

If Sony keeps trimming its more unique studios its going to end up with a library line up that is essentially just Ubisoft but good...

You can't accidentally stumble onto the next big thing if all your making is Assassin's Creed.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

I hope they do, Media Molecule hasn't produced a single game I give two shits about. They need to either go or make some compelling games.

Tearaway on Vita was good.

 

[Spukc]

Who?

Who.gif

 

[Elog]

They have not released anything for quite some time. Maybe there are things behind the scenes we do not know about?

 

[hemo memo]

I don’t know the studio but enjoyed Concrete Genie. It was awesome.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Decent team, but very offbeat for the direction Sony wants to head toward. Not surprised.

 

[ElCasual]

I was literally about to post this. PlayStation doesn't have many single player only studios left. Jim Ryan is a rock star.

 

[hemo memo]

If Sony keeps trimming its more unique studios its going to end up with a library line up that is essentially just Ubisoft but good...

You can't accidentally stumble onto the next big thing if all your making is Assassin's Creed.

Sony already said the focus is too big to fail games. They abandoned indies and creative small-mid titles the moment Jim took leadership.

 

[Godot25]

Devs Gone

 

[TransTrender]

Only played a little bit of Concrete Genie. Didn't like it.
Oh well. Best of luck to them.

 

[Raoul_Duke]

Media Molecule rn

 

[Ansphn]

Who?

Exactly lol

 

[Ansphn]

Media Molecule rn

MM is actually expanding and already started on their new game

 

[Husky]

Oh wow, I was really excited for Concrete Genie when it was announced. Totally forgot about that game. I don't have any new PlayStations, and I guess now a PC release would be unlikely

 

[Godot25]

MM is actually expanding and already started on their new game

Well. PixelOpus were also expanding and working on a new game...
...until they weren't

 

[Punished Miku]

MM is actually expanding and already started on their new game

British get out of jail free card

 

[killatopak]

Dammit Jim

I liked Concrete Genie

 

[hemo memo]

Media Molecule rn

It is weird. A studio with that performance would have been shutdown a long time ago. Maybe the cost to run the studio is very low.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

I guess Jim has to go. I expect a poll thread soon.

 

[StereoVsn]

that’s a shame but not terribly surprised since what exactly have they done since Concrete Genie? I can’t find anything really since this nearly 2 years ago

Pixelopus Working on a PS5 Game in Collaboration With Sony Pictures Animation, Developed on Unreal Engine 5 - PlayStation LifeStyle

Concrete Genie developer Pixelopus is working on a PS5 game in collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation, the film studio behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Mitchells vs. The Machines.

www.playstationlifestyle.net

It's a small studio. It's only been 2 years since last game? Things take a while to make.

It's a shame, they made cool and creative small games. It makes sense to have these alongside big cinematic titles and GaaS.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

that’s a shame but not terribly surprised since what exactly have they done since Concrete Genie? I can’t find anything really since this nearly 2 years ago

Pixelopus Working on a PS5 Game in Collaboration With Sony Pictures Animation, Developed on Unreal Engine 5 - PlayStation LifeStyle

Concrete Genie developer Pixelopus is working on a PS5 game in collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation, the film studio behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Mitchells vs. The Machines.

www.playstationlifestyle.net

That's the game I was looking towards. Hopefully another studio in SIE has also been working on said game and PixelOpus were just one of the other (much smaller, apparently) teams on the project. I hope that game isn't cancelled and maybe we get to see a reveal for it at the showcase this year (another update on DokeV would also be very welcomed).

Again always a bit saddening to see teams close down but I'm also guessing the PixelOpus members will most likely just join other PlayStation teams like Team Asobi, Insomniac, Media Molecule etc.

Devs Gone

Deal Gone

They're probably next in line if they don't come up with something economically viable

Really feel for these smaller 1P games that aren't the GOW/Spiderman/Horizon style experiences they should lean into leveraging them for PS+ sub & revenue growth with Day 1 releases. Maybe some of them can also get mobile releases, if that's what it takes to justify making them & releasing them.

Microsoft's getting a lot of things wrong these days but one thing I'll say Game Pass is actually good for, is giving some unique indie & smaller to mid AA games a space. I also like that MS themselves are willing to fund and put out games like HiFi Rush and Pentiment. Those are areas that seem to be their strengths, I can respect them for that.