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Bluepoint Games Already Has the Perfect Blueprint to Revive One Classic Playstation Title

18th August 2024

Highlights

Bluepoint Games is now a first-party studio for Sony after a successful history with game remakes.
The studio has experience with Team Ico’s games, suggesting it would be perfect for an Ico remake.
Ico, a cult classic, deserves a remake to reach a larger audience and capitalize on the growing market for artful games.

Bluepoint Games has been Sony’s go-to studio for remakes and remasters of classic games, especially in recent years. In the span of a few short years, Bluepoint Games was able to push out remakes of Shadow of the Colossus and Demon’s Souls for PlayStation, firmly establishing itself as a great studio for game re-creations. This success clearly caught Sony’s eye, as the publisher purchased Bluepoint in September 2021, officially turning it into a first-party studio.

While there’s been radio silence since this purchase, Bluepoint Games has seemingly been moving away from remakes as it plans for the next game to be an original project. Still, Sony would be wise to maximize the developer’s pedigree with remakes and remasters, and perhaps now is as good a time as ever to hand Bluepoint the reigns for an Ico remake. After all, if anyone could make a great remake of this cult-classic game, it has to be Bluepoint Games.

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Many Soulslike fans clamoring for a remake of 2015’s Bloodborne, and the developer of the Demon’s Souls remake, Bluepoint Games, might be the answer.

Bluepoint Is The Perfect Team For An Ico Remake

Bluepoint Has Clear Experience With Team Ico’s Lineup

Right off the top, Bluepoint Games clearly has an affinity for former developer Team Ico’s duology of games. Even before the team began creating proper remakes, Bluepoint put out The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection on the PlayStation 3 in 2011. The developer has already worked within Ico’s lineage before, so moving toward a full remake should be a natural transition.

What’s more, Bluepoint Games would later move on to develop a full remake of Shadow of the Colossus in 2018. Shadow of the Colossus may not be similar to Ico in terms of gameplay, but as a spiritual successor to Ico, it exists within the same thematic ilk as Team Ico’s debut title. Thus, with Bluepoint having strong experience with these two titles, it may be time to put that experience toward a full remake of Ico.

Ico Deserves a Second Chance On PlayStation 5

All things considered, Ico also deserves another chance at life. Under the radar, this 2001 PlayStation 2 title has become a massive favorite of game creators across the board, even influencing legendary developers like Eiji Aonuma and Hideo Kojima. It was one of the first games to really push gaming as an art form, and its minimalistic approach can still be felt to this day in numerous modern games.

Even so, Ico was not a massive financial success for Sony. Being a game intentionally designed to throw away every shred of conventionality, it was going to be a hard sell back in 2001. Over 20 years later, however, the market for more artistic games has grown rapidly, and given that it already has a built-in cult following, a remake of Ico would certainly not be out of place in today’s gaming landscape.

It was one of the first games to really push gaming as an art form, and its minimalistic approach can still be felt to this day in numerous modern games.

Shadow of the Colossus Was Massively Successful For Bluepoint Games

Bluepoint’s Shadow of the Colossus remake proves that today’s landscape is much more welcoming to more unconventional, artful gaming experiences. While the original PlayStation 2 version already sold well, the PlayStation 4 remake topped its original release’s first-week sales by 73%. Games that push the medium as an art form have grown exponentially in the time since Team Ico made these original titles, and a remake could give its debut game the audience it didn’t originally have.

Of course, it may be a long time before we get such a remake, given that Bluepoint is busy with its next original project. It’s important that they stay focused on this original game, as in a market loaded with remakes, remasters, and other such re-releases, it’s important to keep creating new titles as well. Still, if Bluepoint Games gets the chance to go back to the well with a remake, it would be great to see Ico get another chance to dance.