Right it made financial sense just like it makes financial sense for MS to chase the online shooter market and nothing else.
To me, and I guess this is me just being a naive Sony fan back in the day, i loved that they were investing in B games and B studios despite losing billions. Their games never sold particularly well. I remember Uncharted 1 selling 111k copies in its first month and only 650k lifetime. Infamous sold like 170k in its first month. LBP was around 250k. Ratchet FTOD was also under 100k and yet they sold relatively well over time and Sony understood the potential of the franchises to grow bigger and better.
To me, Evolution Studios never ever made a bad game. Even DC despite its online issues was a great fucking game. So when they go and shut down Evolution, Sony Liverpool, Sony Cambridge (GG Cambridge) and Zipper after finally posting profits I am like wait is the same company that had no problems funding these studios when they were losing billions? Maybe it's great business and IIRC Zipper was closed before the PS3 was revealed soon after Vita's launch so they never could've known that they would hit it this big with the PS4.
But GG and other studios were shutdown after posting record sales and making like a billion dollars a year just from PS+ subs. Again, it's great business and shutting these studios down maybe made them post profits but as a gamer, as a fan of those studios, as a guy who loved Sony for taking risks despite being in last place losing billions, i cant help but be disappointed to see the same company lose that drive to create first party games and acquire first party studios.
All the studios they have closed got a chance to make games and bring them to market. Now mis-managing them was on Sony for some of the studios, Like LiverPool, and Cambridge. Liverpool though all they did was make racing games, either F1 or Wipeout. I never heard anything from those developers in interview stating they tried a new IP and SOny shut it down.
That's on them as a developer, why do you think Naughty dog doesn't just make uncharted? Why do you think sucker punch makes more than Sly Cooper? It's so at least they can keep themselves relevant to the business as it changes within Sony. Sony is not the software giant Microsoft is, and it took them almost 10 years to get their TV business and camera business back into a good state.
Does it suck Sony has shut down studios yes, but they also open up more ports with their third party publishing+eastern partners and have more games from the east in this past 2-3 years than almost all of last generation.
Maybe they will open up a second studio or a third team in GG for some of the ex Cambridge guy's.
Business changes but the unique games haven't. Where do you want them to go? Back into non-profit days? Like all the money they lost on starhawk, MAG, puppeteer, socom 4, driveclub, motorstorm
acific rift, apocalypse has to get mitigated somehow.
It sucks I know, but your still getting amazing games? Just not ones in all the facets you would like. Something they could work on and maybe Days Gone can fix that and give Sony the idea of opening a new studio, or re-creating an old one.