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Concrete Genie developer PixelOpus announces its closure

One of Sony Interactive Entertainment's in-house studios, PixelOpus had been in business since 2014.

Ozzie Mejia

May 5, 2023 12:45 PM

PlayStation

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Sony Interactive Entertainment has had numerous in-house studios helping create titles for its PlayStation consoles. Among them was PixelOpus, a smaller team who worked from PlayStation's campus in San Mateo, CA. They released 2014's Entwined and 2019's Concrete Genie, but sadly, that appears to be where their story will end. On Friday, the studio announced that it will be closing its doors.

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! ❤️🙏 pic.twitter.com/rQO2Cgvhnq

— PixelOpus (@Pixelopus) May 5, 2023

The following was posted to the PixelOpus Twitter account:

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!

There's no official word from PlayStation representatives regarding the studio's closure. In addition to the aforementioned Concrete Genie and Entwined, PixelOpus had been rumored to be developing a new title in conjunction with Sony Pictures Animation. The studio had begun hiring for this unspecified project back in 2021. The rumored title would have been built with Unreal Engine 5 and released on the PlayStation 5.

PixelOpus' sudden closure is a sad one, as while Concrete Genie had some issues, it was a genuinely creative effort and unlike many titles coming from first-party PlayStation developers. We'll keep an eye on this talented crew and be on the lookout for where their journey takes them next. For more updates, keep watching Shacknews.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?