14 DAY TRIAL // Although Microsoft bought more than a dozen studios in the last couple of years, Sony doesn't feel challenged by the approach. Instead, the Japanese company prefers to acquire those studios with which it had strong collaborations in the past. Returnal developer Housemarque is Sony's most recent acquisition, but a long-time partner of the Japanese giant.
The Finnish game developer based in Helsinki started its collaboration with Sony in the PS3 days. The studio behind Super Stardust HD, Dead Nation, Resogun, and Returnal is now being welcomed in the PlayStation Studios family.
For Housemarque, this means financial stability for all its employees and access to more resources for the projects that wish to tackle. On the other hand, PlayStation players should expect better and bigger games from the Finnish team of developers.
“We are so excited to finally join the PlayStation Studios family! This gives our studio a clear future and a stable opportunity to continue delivering on gameplay-centric approaches, while still experimenting with new methods of narrative delivery and pushing the boundaries of this modern art form. Locally here in Helsinki, this also means that we will officially expand the PlayStation family to a growing industry hub and secure the legacy of the oldest game studio in Finland,” said Ilari Kuittinen, Co-founder and Managing Director, Housemarque.
With Sony and its portfolio of studios supporting Housemarque, the Finnish studio will certainly grow and be involved in more projects that require its expertise. And from the message conveyed to the world after the acquisition, it looks like Housemarque is anxious to show us what they can do when they have access to bigger budgets and larger teams.
We're happy for Housemarque and can't wait to see what's in store in the upcoming years, especially since the studio is known for tackling different genres regardless of how good its previous games have done commercially.