After almost a decade, Concrete Genie developer Pixelopus is not any extra. Sony has shut down the studio, because the crew introduced on Twitter.
Sony closes Pixelopus
Pixelopus posted a heartfelt goodbye on its social channels, thanking its thousands and thousands of gamers as they supported the crew in its endeavor to “make lovely, imaginative video games with coronary heart.”
The San Mateo-based studio by no means formally introduced what it was growing after Concrete Genie shipped in 2019. It was working with Sony Photos Animation on a PlayStation 5 sport, however it wasn’t ever clear what that was outdoors of a “new and thrilling” journey. Since Sony Photos Animation was concerned, some speculated that it was a Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sport, however that was by no means substantiated. Regardless, that undertaking will possible by no means see the sunshine of day, and it’s potential that it’ll keep a secret in the meanwhile.
Sony has been on an acquisition spree over the previous few years, however that is simply one of many closures and modifications seen in its first-party groups. Japan Studio was reorganized and re-centered round Crew Asobi in 2021. Manchester Studio was shut down in 2020 with out even releasing a sport. Evolution Studios and Guerrilla Cambridge have been additionally closed earlier than that in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
Pixelopus solely put out two titles in its nine-year existence. Entwined was its first official sport, and was an atypical on-rails expertise the place gamers use the analog sticks to manage a chook and a fish. Critiques have been lukewarm for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation 4 title, and it at the moment sits at an average score of 62.
Concrete Genie, its second and remaining sport, was obtained barely extra positively and settled at an average score of 77. It adopted a younger boy named Ash who makes use of a magic paintbrush to color a lifeless city so as to liven it up. It additionally had a mode that supported PlayStation VR.