JFo Posted June 29, 2021 Report Share Posted June 29, 2021 Housemarque is now part of PlayStation Studios. Good for them. I have my complaints about Returnal, but this is an excellent studio that has made several fantastic games, and I’m glad to know that they will be around for the long-haul. Starhawk and Romier S 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted June 29, 2021 Report Share Posted June 29, 2021 Very much in line with the Insomniac purchase as making too much sense not to happen. Good for them and as you said, it ensures the financial support for them to keep making fantastic games. Waiting for Bluepoint to happen next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted June 29, 2021 Report Share Posted June 29, 2021 Looks like Sony Japan might have let the cat out of the bag a little early. This references Housemarque so it /could/ be a booboo but Demon’s Souls is added to the games backdrop which is not in the Housemarque announcement alongside the Bluepoint logo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted June 29, 2021 Report Share Posted June 29, 2021 Good interview with Hulst and company at HM about the acquisition. https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/housemarque-sony-playstation-acquisition Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFo Posted June 29, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2021 BluePoint would be another great acquisition for Sony. That said, their bench is already so deep, it's insane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted July 1, 2021 Report Share Posted July 1, 2021 Wow. I didn’t expect this one. Nixxes has been an excellent port house that has handled PC/console porting responsibilities for the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex series and more. No doubt this is a play to continue to put more PlayStation games on the PC platform and help ease the technical burden for their teams. They bring a ton of technical know how to support those other PS Studios. Magness and Angry the Clown 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted July 1, 2021 Report Share Posted July 1, 2021 Sony Interactive Entertainment (“SIE”) announced today that SIE has completed the acquisition of Nixxes Software B.V. (“Nixxes”), an industry-leading Dutch studio with more than 20 years of experience in game development and optimization. Based in Utrecht, Netherlands, effective immediately, Nixxes will join PlayStation Studios Technology, Creative & Services Group to provide high quality in-house technical and development capabilities for PlayStation Studios. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted July 1, 2021 Report Share Posted July 1, 2021 Probably crazy, but could they be waiting on the Bluepoint announcement to time with announcing a new game from them? There was that rumor floating around of a spiritual successor to Bloodborne in the works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted July 1, 2021 Report Share Posted July 1, 2021 This is interesting context on the Nixxes acquisition I wasn't aware of... Starhawk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFo Posted July 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2021 And in case you were wondering what the heck Nixxes even does: Axios: Sony buys another studio Quote Sony PlayStation has acquired its second studio of the week, the 22-year-old Dutch company Nixxes. Why it matters: Sony PlayStation is on a shopping spree, though Nixxes isn't a company many predicted would wind up in its cart. Nixxes' website crashed this morning after Sony's announcement, no doubt due to people trying to figure out just what Nixxes does. Unlike Sony's last two big acquisitions, Nixxes isn't a flashy studio known for making its own highly respected games. Nixxes specializes in PC development and recently handled ports of numerous games from Square Enix, including "Marvel's Avengers." That background is fueling speculation that Sony will tap Nixxes to help bring more PlayStation games to PC, a recent market expansion maneuver Sony has said it will continue. Nixxes will join the PlayStation Studios Technology Creative & Services Group "to provide high quality in-house technical and development capabilities for PlayStation Studios," according to the official announcement. What they're saying: At a 2017 talk at the Game Developers Conference, company founder Jurjen Katsman explained what Nixxes does: Quote "We do actual real game content development, we do engine development, but one thing that has sort of been with us from the start is PC ports. And ports are a bit of a dirty word and we like to pride ourselves in the fact that our port is not a dirty thing by itself. It really becomes a quality product." So, it's likely they'll be involved with porting Sony's games to the PC. It would be nice, however, if they were tapped to bring some of Sony's legacy first-party titles (PS3 and earlier) to the newer platforms. That's probably not what they're going to do, but a man can dream, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted July 1, 2021 Report Share Posted July 1, 2021 I would argue that their port of the 2013 Tomb Raider for PS3 was better then the CD 360 version. Interesting purchase indeed though. I imagine they will get their hands into a bunch of different things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted July 29, 2021 Report Share Posted July 29, 2021 …as expected. Magness 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted September 8, 2021 Report Share Posted September 8, 2021 Firesprite Studios is the latest to join Playstation Studios. Firesprite is comprised of ex-Studio Liverpool developers that used to be part of SIE. Their recent games include the Playroom and Playroom VR titles for Playstation along with the rather excellent "Persistance" which was a VR game and also released as a standard title in enhanced form. So this addition is certainly adding to their stable of VR developers with PSVR2 on the horizon. https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/08/welcoming-firesprite-to-the-playstation-studios-family/ Quote Today is an incredibly exciting day for Firesprite as we join PlayStation Studios with the backing of Hermen and the entire PlayStation Family. We are very much looking forward to the next part of our journey! Firesprite, headquartered in Liverpool in the North-West of the UK, was founded in 2012 with the vision of creating games that bring new innovations to any experience we develop. The North-West is steeped in gaming history, producing many iconic developers, publishers and games such as WipEout. Many of our 'Sprites developed and shaped titles from this era and we are very proud of those roots! We've had the pleasure of working with many talented developers and publishers across the industry and PlayStation in particular has been a friend and co-development partner for the best part of a decade, collaborating together on many exciting projects including The PlayRoom, Run Sackboy! Run and The PlayRoom VR. PlayStation also gave us the opportunity to create our own IP, The Persistence, and we were given the creative freedom to explore, innovate, and release a survival horror game we are immensely proud of. Now, as a first party studio, we know we have the full support of PlayStation in furthering our heritage of combining creativity and technical innovation to offer some truly unique experiences for PlayStation fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted September 8, 2021 Report Share Posted September 8, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted September 8, 2021 Report Share Posted September 8, 2021 Also worth nothing, this isn't a small studio: Starhawk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted September 8, 2021 Report Share Posted September 8, 2021 Get them to work on a new wipeout. Magness 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldDarth Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 Fantastic news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry the Clown Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 I'd be curious to know whether, in the long run, it cost Sony more or less to have cut Studio Liverpool loose only to then end up buying Firesprite years later. I don't know how many Studio Liverpool staff are actually at Firesprite, or indeed how many of those go as far back as Psygnosis (certainly the key PS1 era Wipeout people went off elsewhere long, long ago). My Wipeout dream was always the hope to see what the original creators would do with it today. I know Nick Burcome was keen to do something if Sony let him have the licence, but that clearly never panned out. I keep wishing for a new Wipeout that was a little bit more like the original three, or just to have the original three remastered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted September 30, 2021 Report Share Posted September 30, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted September 30, 2021 Report Share Posted September 30, 2021 Finally announced! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted September 30, 2021 Report Share Posted September 30, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted September 30, 2021 Report Share Posted September 30, 2021 Hulst says they’ll be working on an original game in the near future in a Famitsu interview: So what role does Bluepoint play in PlayStation Studios? I think it's natural to predict that "more remakes or remasters will come", but there is a possibility that you can make an original blockbuster or go to the help of other studios. Herman Halst: Bluepoint is a remastered master, so you can see the impression. There is no reason not to let it happen in the future. But first and foremost, I would like to mention that the team at this studio, led by Marco, will be working on the original content . It will be revealed in the future what it will be like. But they are flexible. As Marco mentioned earlier, I've worked with different teams, so I'm familiar with how our team works, what skills we have, and we've worked with different art styles. .. This is a great way to get started working together as they are starting original content for PlayStation Studios. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFo Posted September 30, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2021 'Bout fricken time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted September 30, 2021 Report Share Posted September 30, 2021 52 minutes ago, JFo said: 'Bout fricken time. That poor Japanese intern can finally breath a sigh of relief.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFo Posted September 30, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2021 2 minutes ago, Romier S said: That poor Japanese intern can finally breath a sigh of relief.:) At least Hermen has a good sense of humor about it: Starhawk and Romier S 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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