PlayStation Studios
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Formerly |
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Company type | Division |
Industry | Video games |
Founded | September 14, 2005 |
Key people | Hermen Hulst (president) |
Number of employees | 2,700+[1] (2011) |
Parent | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
Subsidiaries | See § Studios |
Website | playstation.com/en-us/corporate/playstation-studios/ |
PlayStation Studios (formerly SCE Worldwide Studios and SIE Worldwide Studios) is a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) that oversees the video game development at the studios owned by SIE. The division was established as SCE Worldwide Studios in September 2005 and rebranded as PlayStation Studios in 2020.
History
On September 14, 2005, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), the video game arm of Sony, announced the formation of SCE Worldwide Studios, combining all studios SCE owned at the time. Phil Harrison was appointed as the division's president.[2] Shuhei Yoshida succeeded him in May 2008.[3] Following the 2016 reorganization of SCE into Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), Yoshida reported to Shawn Layden.[4] When Yoshida moved to lead the indie game development of SIE, Hermen Hulst, previously of SIE's Guerrilla Games studio, became the president of SIE Worldwide Studios in November 2019.[5]
SIE announced the formation of PlayStation Studios in May 2020 as a brand to be formally introduced alongside the PlayStation 5 that released later that year. PlayStation Studios was to serve as the brand for its first-party game development studios, as well as used for branding on games developed by studios brought in by Sony in work-for-hire situations.[6]
XDev
XDev, established in 2000 and based in Liverpool,[7] collaborates with independent development studios to publish content for PlayStation platforms. XDev has helped to create and publish titles such as the LittleBigPlanet, Buzz!, MotorStorm and Invizimals series, Super Stardust HD, Heavenly Sword, Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, Tearaway and Resogun. Partners include Quantic Dream, Magenta Software, Climax Studios, Novarama, Supermassive Games and Sumo Digital. In addition to funding projects, XDev offers production, project management and game design support. Games are supported with community management, online production and outsourcing management facilities. XDev works with marketing and public relations teams to promote and publish games worldwide.[8][9]
Studios
Name | Location | Founded | Acquired |
---|---|---|---|
Bend Studio | Bend, Oregon | 1993[7] | 2000[7] |
Bluepoint Games | Austin, Texas | 2006[10] | 2021[11] |
Firesprite | Liverpool | 2012[12] | 2021[13] |
Guerrilla Games | Amsterdam | 2000[7] | 2005[7] |
Housemarque | Helsinki | 1995[14] | 2021[15] |
Insomniac Games | Burbank, California | 1994[7] | 2019[16] |
London Studio | London | 2002[7] | — |
Malaysia Studio | Kuala Lumpur | 2020[17] | — |
Media Molecule | Guildford | 2006[7] | 2010[7] |
Naughty Dog | Santa Monica, California | 1984[7] | 2001[7] |
Nixxes Software | Utrecht | 1999[18] | 2021[19] |
Pixelopus | San Mateo, California | 2014[7] | — |
Polyphony Digital | Tokyo | 1998[7] | — |
San Diego Studio | San Diego | 2001[7] | — |
San Mateo Studio | San Mateo, California | 1998[20] | — |
Santa Monica Studio | Los Angeles | 1999[7] | — |
Sucker Punch Productions | Bellevue, Washington | 1997[7] | 2011[7] |
Team Asobi | Tokyo | 2021[21][a] | — |
Valkyrie Entertainment | Seattle, Washington | 2002 | 2021[22] |
XDev | Liverpool | 2000[7] | — |
- ^ Team Asobi was first established in 2012 as an internal team of Japan Studio, and was spun off as its own independent studio in 2021.
Former
Name | Location | Founded | Acquired | Divested | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bigbig Studios | Leamington Spa | 2001[23] | 2007[24] | 2012[23] | Closed[23] |
Evolution Studios | Runcorn | 1999[24] | 2007[24] | 2016[25] | Closed[25] |
Guerrilla Cambridge | Cambridge | 1997[26] | — | 2017[26] | Closed[26] |
Incognito Entertainment | Salt Lake City | 1999[27] | 2002[27] | 2009[28] | Closed[28] |
Japan Studio | Tokyo | 1993[7] | — | 2021[29] | Reorganized within SIE, primarily to Team Asobi[21] |
Manchester Studio | Manchester | 2015[7] | — | 2020[30] | Closed[30] |
Studio Liverpool | Liverpool | 1984[24] | 1993[24] | 2012[31] | Closed[31] |
Zipper Interactive | Redmond, Washington | 1995[32] | 2006[24] | 2012[32] | Closed[32] |
References
- ^ "Sony Computer Entertainment Acquires Sucker Punch Productions, Developer of Top Selling Infamous Franchise". Sony Interactive Entertainment. August 2, 2011.
- ^ "SCE Establishes SCE Worldwide Studios" (PDF) (Press release). Sony Computer Entertainment. September 14, 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 5, 2005. Retrieved September 14, 2005.
- ^ "Speakers". BitSummit. 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- ^ Byford, Sam (January 26, 2016). "Sony merges PlayStation businesses into US-based Sony Interactive Entertainment". The Verge. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- ^ Favis, Elise (November 7, 2019). "Sony appoints Guerrilla Games' Hermen Hulst new head of PlayStation worldwide studios". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- ^ Dring, Christopher (May 12, 2020). "Sony unveils PlayStation Studios brand to launch alongside PS5". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Barker, Sammy (August 28, 2019). "Guide: All Sony First-Party Studios and What They're Working On". Push Square. Archived from the original on September 29, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ Sony XDev Europe Archived September 13, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Official Site
- ^ Worldwide Studios/XDev Archived June 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. XDev on Worldwidestudios.net
- ^ Dyer, Mitch (January 28, 2014). "Who Is Bluepoint Games?". IGN. Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- ^ Tailby, Stephen (September 30, 2021). "Sony Finally Confirms Acquisition of Demon's Souls PS5 Dev Bluepoint Games". Push Square. Archived from the original on September 30, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- ^ "Careers". firesprite.com. September 8, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
- ^ "Why PlayStation is buying Firesprite, one of the UK's fastest growing studios". Gamesindustry.biz. September 8, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
- ^ Schreier, Jason. "Sony Buys Game Developer of PlayStation Bestseller Returnal". Bloomberg. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
- ^ Leedham, Robert (June 29, 2021). "Why PlayStation bought Returnal developer Housemarque: the inside story". British GQ. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
- ^ "Quarterly Securities Report For the three months ended December 31, 2019" (PDF). Sony. p. 39.
- ^ "PlayStation to open development studio in Malaysia". Gamesindustry.biz. November 8, 2019. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
- ^ "About us". nixxes.com. July 1, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (July 1, 2021). "Sony Buys Another Game Studio, Avengers And Rise Of The Tomb Raider's Nixxes Software". GameSpot. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
- ^ Varela, Ramón (January 16, 2020). "PlayStation: Todos sus estudios y los juegos en desarrollo" [PlayStation: All your studios and games in development]. Vandal (in Spanish). Retrieved March 19, 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b LeBlanc, Wesley (June 2, 2021). "Team Asobi Officially Announced as a PlayStation Studio, Reveals New Logo". IGN. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
- ^ "Sony Interactive Entertainment to Acquire Valkyrie Entertainment" (Press release). December 10, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
- ^ a b c Yoon, Andrew (January 10, 2012). "Sony shuts down Little Deviants, Pursuit Force dev". Shacknews. Archived from the original on November 23, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f MCV Staff (August 2, 2011). "IN DETAIL: Sony's sixteen first-party studios". MCV.
- ^ a b Brightman, James (March 22, 2016). "Sony confirms closure of Evolution Studios". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on September 26, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ a b c Frank, Allegra (January 12, 2017). "Sony shuts down 20-year-old studio in European restructuring". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 8, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ a b Cifaldi, Frank (May 13, 2011). "How Moving To Austin Energized Starhawk". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ a b Plunkett, Luke (January 16, 2012). "Every Game Studio That's Closed Down Since 2006". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 2, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ Robinson, Andy; Calvin, Alex (February 25, 2021). "Sources: PlayStation is winding down Sony Japan Studio". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
- ^ a b Dring, Christopher (February 4, 2020). "PlayStation to close Manchester VR studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
- ^ a b Yin-Poole, Wesley (July 21, 2015). "WipEout: The rise and fall of Sony Studio Liverpool". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on September 14, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ a b c Moriarty, Colin (March 31, 2012). "Confirmed: Sony Closes Zipper Interactive". IGN. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.