PlayStation wants to maintain its place within the most important video game brands. Therefore, Sony announced the purchase of Housemarque, the Finnish studio responsible for Returnal, one of the most recent PS5 exclusive games, and some indications reveal that another studio could join the Japanese company.
In a post, PlayStation Studios director Hermen Hulst explained that this purchase was made because the studio “has incredible vision, capable of creating memorable games that resonate with our community,” such as Super Stardust , which has appeared on PS3, PS4 and PSP. However, he did not detail the amount of the operation.
Returnal has a rating of 86, according to Metacritic, and it was significant for the study, said Ilari Kuittinen, co-founder and CEO of Housemarque, as well as being their biggest foray into third-person shooter games and solidifying their brand in the industry , also bolstered his relationship with PlayStation for the immediate future.
“This gives our studio a clear future and a stable opportunity to continue offering game-centric approaches, while continuing to experiment with new methods of narrative delivery and pushing the boundaries of this modern art form,” commented Kuittinen, who noted that they will extend their offices.
For PlayStation Studios, this is the second largest purchase in several years. The first was Insomniac Games, in 2019, for 229 million dollars, a study that became the flagship of the PS5, as it has led the launches on this console from titles such as Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Ratchet & Clank : Rift Apart .
It is worth mentioning that the news of the Housemarque purchase did not come alone, as the Sony PlayStation Twitter account in Japan also published an image in which the acquisition of the Bluepoint Games studio was announced. Although minutes later the image was removed, it gave time for some users to save it and trace its origin, which, effectively, was the account of the Japanese company.
The leak is relevant, as it is one of the studios with the longest track record alongside Sony. Recently they were in charge of the remastering of Demon’s Souls , but they have also been in charge of refreshing important titles for the company, such as Shadow of the Colossus , Flower or the Uncharted trilogy.
Although the announcement by Sony is relevant, in contrast, Microsoft has bought a greater number of studios, such as Ninja Theory, Playground Games or more recently Bethesda. Faced with this situation, Hulst commented in an interview with GQ that its purchasing decisions are “very selective.”
“I am always looking for people with a similar set of values, similar creative ambitions and who work very well with our team in whom we can invest more and help grow as creators. It’s not like we’re hanging around and making random acquisitions. They are very specific purchases of equipment that we know well, ”explained Hulst.
While PS acquires studios, Xbox debuts on iOS
On the other hand, Sony’s most direct competitor in the field of video games announced yesterday that XCloud, the cloud game streaming component of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate that does not require a console to use, can now be deployed on iOS devices. , such as iPhones and iPads, plus macOS computers and PCs through the web browser.
Before, the service was only available in the beta period by invitation, but now it can be used by Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in 22 countries, who will be able to have more than 100 games, in addition to playing with controllers connected via Bluetooth or USB.
