PlayStation Closes Down Concrete Genie Developer PixelOpus

PlayStation first-party developer PixelOpus will be shut down on June 2nd. The unfortunate news dropped yesterday when the studio’s official Twitter account posted a message to all their fans, stating that the adventure had come to an end and sharing heartfelt thanks for everyone’s appreciation for the games made by PixelOpus.

IGN managed to get confirmation from a Sony spokesperson, though they only added the studio’s closure to date (Friday, June 2nd) and said the decision came after a recent review evaluation.

PixelOpus was a small team of around 20 employees headquartered in San Mateo, California. The studio released two games for Sony Interactive Entertainment: 2014’s Entwined, a rhythm game for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita, and 2019’s action/adventure game Concrete Genie.

The latter was by far the most well-received title of the two. Inspired by the likes of Jet Set Radio, Concrete Genie received multiple nominations and won the official Gamescom 2019 award for Best Family Game. In Wccftech’s review, Rosh Kelly rated it 9 out of 10.

Concrete Genie is a game that invites you to beautify the abandoned town of Denska. Armed with a magical paintbrush, you navigate through the city streets, creating murals on more or less whichever walls you fancy. There’s a narrative about the tangible notion of sadness that took over the city, but in essence, your job is to bring colour and life back to the empty streets with your artwork. But like I mentioned, the city is already beautiful. It is the picturesque coastal town, complete with piers, old warehouses, and odd-shaped buildings nestled up against one another. Even before you are gifted the power to add your artwork to it, there is already a lovely sense of place amongst these buildings.

Concrete Genie is a whimsical game for a dark age as it is perfect for both children and adults that want to recapture some of the magic we used to feel when we created something. Concrete Genie even comes with a separate VR mode to really dive into the artwork you create should you wish to. Drawing on the walls never gets old, and Concrete Genie should be considered an essential purchase for anyone that thinks games are more than just getting headshots.

PixelOpus was known to be working on a PlayStation 5 game in collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation. It would have been powered by Unreal Engine 5. Likely, the project didn’t review well at Sony and caused both its cancellation and the studio’s ultimate closure.