Former Sony Worldwide Studios head Shawn Layden has voiced his disappointment over the closure of Concrete Genie developer PixelOpus. The first-party developer will probably be shuttered on 2nd June 2023, to which Layden responded: “This is a deep cut. So loved working with this team and watching them level up to deliver the genre busting, Concrete Genie, all while maintaining a culture of support, inclusion, challenge.”
Concrete Genie launched on PS4 shortly after Shawn Layden stepped away from his function at PlayStation, so the title was in improvement for a lot of his tenure. He wished each worker at PixelOpus the easiest for the longer term since “a new adventure awaits”.
Also liable for the attractive PS4 indie sport Entwined, the San Mateo studio will shut its doorways for good initially of June. As for why PixelOpus is shutting down, Sony stated: PlayStation Studios often evaluates its portfolio and the standing of studio initiatives to make sure they meet the group’s brief and long-term strategic targets. As a part of a latest evaluation course of, it has been determined that PixelOpus will shut on June 2.”
The staff did have a PS5 sport in improvement, as job listings pointed in the direction of a title produced in Unreal Engine 5 in collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation. Many PlayStation followers yearned for a Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse spin-off expertise, however even when that was what the studio was cooking up, it seems it will not see the sunshine of day anymore.
In a September 2021 interview, Shawn Layden defined he left his place at PlayStation as he grew to become burnt out with the trade. After serving to deliver to market PS4 exclusives like Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War, he felt it was “a good time to step off on top and allow another generation to take the PlayStation 5 to market”. Shawn Layden now works at Tencent as a strategic advisor.
