Sony acquires Returnal studio Housemarque—and maybe more
Sony has announced its purchase of of Housemarque, making the Finnish developer of Returnal a part of the first-party PlayStation Studios lineup—but that may not be the only big acquisition news in the works.
The announcement came via a post on the PlayStation Blog, which highlighted the long partnership between Housemarque and PlayStation.
“Today is a big day for Housemarque and it has been over 26 years in the making. Our strong partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment started with Super Stardust HD on PS3 and since then we have made arcade inspired games for all of the PlayStation platforms. With Returnal for PS5, our most recent release, our biggest foray into third-person action gaming solidified our voice and brand in the industry as delivering unique and quality player experiences,” said Housemarque co-founder Ilari Kuittinen as part of the announcement.
Kuittinen promised that his studio’s future titles will continue to emphasize “gameplay centric approaches, while still experimenting with new methods of narrative delivery and pushing the boundaries of this modern artform.”
But if that news isn’t enough to get PlayStation fans excited, there may be another acquisition on the way soon—and this isn’t some random leak, either. When the official PlayStation Japan Twitter account linked to the news, it posted an image with the logo of a different company: Bluepoint Games.
Though the tweet has since been deleted and replaced with a corrected version, eagle-eyed observers were able to grab a screenshot of the original, which also includes a shot from the PS5 Demon’s Souls remake in the background lineup.
It’s difficult to imagine that the PlayStation Studios graphics department had that image lying around for no reason. The safe bet is that Bluepoint will also be joining Sony’s stable of developers in the coming days or weeks, and that the accidental posting spilled the beans a little prematurely. If an announcement is on the way, we’ll likely learn soon.
In addition to Demon’s Souls, Bluepoint has worked on a number of high-profile PlayStation exclusives. The developer’s past work includes a Shadow of the Colossus remake, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, and a Vita port of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, to name just a few. It’s been clear for years that Sony trusts Bluepoint to handle some of its most beloved properties. That the platform holder might want to bring the studio in house is no surprise.
The bigger mystery is whether a potential acquisition would allow Bluepoint to work on an original title.
For more on the latest games from these two studios, check out our reviews of Returnal and Demon’s Souls on PlayStation 5.
