Sony Acquires Housemarque, Developer of PS5 Title Returnal

Today, Sony announced that Housemarque had officially become an in-house studio.

“Housemarque has flexed its creative palette on a wide range of PlayStation games over the years that have continually showcased the power of our hardware,” said Jim Ryan, Sony Interactive Entertainment head, in a written statement. “The addition of Housemarque to PlayStation Studios reiterates our commitment to elevating the best development teams in the industry and delivering new experiences that can only be found on the PlayStation platform.”

The relationship between PlayStation and Housemarque dates back to Super Stardust HD on the PS3.

Housemarque also churned out Resogun and Nex Machina, but in 2017, the Finnish studio announced the days of it developing arcade-style games was over because of lackluster sales. 

More recently, Housemarque released Returnal on the PlayStation 5, a game that truly feels like a PS5 game and takes advantage of the new controller’s advanced haptic feedback for some very realistic rain—which stoodout even in Kotaku’s preview. 

On the PlayStation Blog, Housemarque’s co-founder and managing director Ilari Kuittinen discussed the move to officially become a PlayStation studio. Continuing, Kuittinen wrote:

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 artform. 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.

Finally, what this means for our fans? We at Housemarque are gamers, and we have grown from the need to perfect and tinker with facets of games that we have found most fascinating. We are also not known for shying away from running our own course and trying out new combinations. With the backing of SIE and its family of studios supporting us, we can truly grow into our place in the industry and show what Housemarque can create with no limitations. We can’t wait to show everyone what will be in store in the upcoming years, and we hope to usher in more lasting memories and exhilarating titles for the next quarter century and beyond.

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Details of the deal, including terms, were not disclosed. However, according to Sony, Housemarque’s current management will continue to run day-to-day operations in tandem with the PlayStation Studios External Development team.