PlayStation shuts down Pixel Opus, the developers of Concrete Genie

“Dear friends, our PixelOpus adventure has come to an end. As we look to new futures, we wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to the millions of passionate players who have supported us, and our mission to make beautiful, imaginative games with heart. We are so grateful!”

This message, posted on social media over the past weekend, was the prelude to the terrible news that Sony has decided to close Pixel Opus, the very young North American studio that created Entwined and Concrete Genie (BAFTA-nominated with an average score of 75 on Metacritic and a meritorious 81 by users). Founded in 2014 and comprised of a mix of college students and industry veterans, Pixel Opus was working on a title for PlayStation 5 that is de facto canceled.

At the moment Sony has barely issued a brief statement in which it does not explain too much of the causes of the closure: “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.”

This is Sony’s first shutting down of a main first-party studio after Japan Studio (in 2021) and Manchester Studio (2020). Since then the company has added to PlayStation Studios Firewalk Studios (2023), Haven Studios and Savage Game Studios (2022), as well as Bluepoint Games, Fabrik Games, Firesprite, Housemarque, Nixxes Software and Valkyrie Entertainment (2021).

If you’re curious, Concrete Genie is available on the PS Store (often participating in seasonal sales)