I'm of the impression that provided a studio is profitable they get whatever creative freedoms they want.
When Dreams releases and can't recoupe the costs of that 6 year development time then I think Sony will have a closer look at the studio and insist on providing a little more creative guidance.
Again, I'm of the impression that Sony's Studio's are liable to lose their creative liberties before simply being axed. With Dreams I imagine MM were in a position where they can produce whatever they want.
Most of Sony's studios have been given second chances before being closed. Look at Evolution for instance, Motorstorm Apocalypse Underperformed, then Driveclub too, that's two games and over 8 years of game dev that essentially didn't result in profit.
Some Studios have received rougher treatment, however. Studio Liverpool for instance, produced Wipeout HD Fury for the PS3, one of the best rated games on the platform, then Wipeout 2048 on the Vita, again one of the best rated games on the platform.
Neither of those games were a huge success, despite critical acclaim, hardly the studios fault, yet they weren't given another chance. I imagine Sony looked at what Evolution were doing and figured they already had a considerable investment in the racing genre, and wanted to scale back. Perhaps Studio Liverpool had the opportunity to pitch something but failed to deliver anything Sony would want to produce.
Still, I do agree with the OP, while I wouldn't have closed the studio already. I have been thinking for a long time that Dreams will be Media Molecules doom. They're a studio built upon having unrestricted creative freedom, so when it fails what do Sony do? They can't really constrict their creative process to ensure they produce more appealing games, because that's not what Media Molecules games are about, and allowing them the same creative freedom would be a liability.
I forsee layoffs if Dreams doesn't deliver, Sony may allow them to continue as a smaller studio and produce another game (similar to what happened with Evolution and Motorstorm RC) but I don't see much commercial success in Dreams. It doesn't convey it's ideas clearly enough that your average Joe will get it, and want to play it. Even children may find it difficult to relate to the games abstract presentation, unlike with LBP which was built around a familiar genre.
That's the difference really. LBP had a hook that consumers would immediately 'get', at it's heart it's a platformer and consumers understand that. All of its additional creative elements are built around, layered on top of that point of entry that everyone can relate to. So it makes sense, people understand what the game is trying to do because they understand its genre, they understand platformers therefore they understand the potential of its creative toolkit in creating them. Dreams lacks that, you look at it's trailers and you return confused. Is this a game? How do you play it? Does it look fun? Those questions are clear with LBP, but not with Dreams and I feel that's where it will lose a sizable chunk of LBP's previous market.