Ben-DutkaWe don't know about you, but we applaud this move.
Today, Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that leading developer and long-time partner Sucker Punch Productions has joined the "global development operation of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS)." The inFamous and Sly Cooper developer is the 16th studio in the SCE WWS family.
This builds upon an already strong foundation between SCEA and Sucker Punch, and the press release clarifies that day-to-day operations "will continue to be run by the current management team and company founders." They'll just work "in conjunction" with the SCE WWS Foster City Studio. Said Shuhei Yoshida, SCE WWS president:
"Sucker Punch Productions is one of the most highly acclaimed development studios in the industry and we have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the company for over 12 years. We are delighted to officially welcome them to the SCE family. The addition of Sucker Punch to SCE WWS reiterates our dedication to developing world class gaming experiences that can only be found on the PlayStation platform. With one of the strongest exclusive software lineups in the PS3's history, combined with the diverse, innovate content in the works for PlayStation Vita, consumers have a lot to be excited about this year."
Sucker Punch managing partner Brian Fleming added that they've "enjoyed an incredible relationship with Sony" thus far, and this new relationship with SCE will give them "the flexibility and trust to take creative risks and invent new properties." There's yet another studio saying that Sony lets them create their own impact via risk-taking and innovation.
And as far as we're concerned, having Sucker Punch as an official part of the SCE team is…well, in a word, awesome .
Related Game(s): inFamous , inFamous 2
That is excellent news. I am glad Sucker Punch is now a Sony developer.
It's about time.
Happy time!
all devs half price? wait thats happy hour…
that IS awesome! wish insomniac would have done the same. its nice to hear some good news
Wait… what is this…? do you feel that?
WHOA! It's a smell of a new excellent exclusive(s) for us, PS3 owners! Good times!
Last edited by JackieBoy on 8/2/2011 9:49:51 AM
With the heavy promotion the INfamous series has ahad, this does not suprise me on bit.
Great news.
They need a good in-house RPG developer, though.
I wish they acquired Level 5 way back when, but they're as much a part of the Nintendo family as with Sony now.
Ah well. At least Level 5 will favour Sony as Sony kick started them.
Who are Sony's RPG developers? I can only think of Japan Studio, but isn't that made up of many teams?
They could still take a much stronger stake in Level 5 without making them a 1st party studio. Alternately they could buy out a majority stake in Level 5 with a contractual understanding that Level 5 continues to make DS/3DS games as well.
Personally I have to hope that Sony brings one of the JRPG houses into the fold soon. What I think would work nicely if Level 5 is impossible would be for Sony to acquire NIS and IREM. IREM is responsible for some of the most profitable content in PS Home in Japan (and the rest of the world, NIS is a solid JRPG maker. They are probably undervalued right now and would make an easy target. NIS and IREM work together with Sony on at least one Home project in Japan, so they definitely have some association already. Taking NIS under their wing would bring some genuine JRPG expertize into the 1st party population.
Hey, Lotusflow3r, regarding Japan Studio, isn't it a bit like London Studio in that it's a collection of teams that change as needed depending on the project?
I want them to snap up From Software…
Sony needs 2 RPG devs, one to make exclusive RPGs that put the multiplat efforts like ME and Dragon Age and Skyrim to shame, and one that offer JRPGs that we used to see like we once did with Final Fantasies, Grandias, LoDragoon, Suikodens.
I suppose so Highlander.
One thing they can always do though with companies like Level 5, is fund any project at any time on good solid ground due to good relations. In other words, Sony can ask for an exclusive at any time with Level 5….i suppose that's good enough.
Yeah, Nis would be a good choice. I mean, Disgaea, being one of the greatest SRPGs ever (the 4th looking unbelievable), are PS3 exclusives anyway. We could do with them. I know a few people that bought a PS3 for the NIS games alone so it makes sense.
As for Japan Studio, yeah, that's what i figured. Hmm.
And yes! From Software would be a beast of a purchase. But i think that's a little similar to Level 5's situation. Sony could fund a project with them on good grounds.
@highlander, didn't IREM pull all content from PlayStation Home?
Not that I'm aware of. IREM is still in PS Home in the US, and the last time my wife went to the IREM space in Japanese Home it was still well populated with items and features.
Edit:
WOW! I didn't know this at all. IREM is essentially closing most of it's operations and cancelled the majority of it's projects. A new company is being born out of the chaos – Granzella – made up of some former IREM folks that used to work on their Home spaces. But the weird thing is that the IREM spaces and items in Japanese Home were some of the most popular there, heck they're some of the more popular ones here too.
I bet that this has something to do with the PSN outage. Remember in Japan it took even longer for PSN to return, and the online commerce systems were down for at least two months, the two months leading up to this.
Sony should really step in and buy IREM out from under Eizo, good lord, Eizo makes monitors and medical equipment, what do them what with IREM?
Last edited by TheHighlander on 8/2/2011 9:43:42 PM
How about Atlus, their good RPG makers, right?
Indeed Biker, Atlus too.
Atlus, Gust, Compile Heart, NIS, Idea factory, Level 5, and others.
Please Sony, just buy one of them, or at least a significant fraction of one of them to ensure the flow of JRPGs for the future…please?
Last edited by TheHighlander on 8/3/2011 11:19:00 AM
Should have mentioned Tri-Ace, and also point out that Atlus is more of a publisher than a developer…
Good news, but I guess they didn't hear Katsuhiro Harada's advice that all developers should be on 360. lol
Last edited by The Doom on 8/2/2011 10:29:09 AM
LOL! One Tekken producer a development house does not make….
It just blew my mind that he actually said that. If he paid any attention to sales for Tales of Vesperia, Enslaved, Shadows of the Damned or any 3rd party wii game, he should know that just because you make a game available for a popular console doesn't mean it's going to sell well.
But I guess this means future Tekken games will be multiplatform.
Maybe he just felt bad for 360 cuz it has no games.
Rofl World. xD
Awesome….
Great job Sony. Congrats to Sucker Punch.
Now I'd like to see Insomniac next…
I think Insomniac have said in the past that they are not interested in that kind of relationship. They are pursuing multi-platform games because they want to expand in that manner, but at the same time have gone to great lengths to state categorically that they want to maintain their excellent, but independent, relationship with Sony.
Don't worry, after a few flops on the X360 they will fall in line with the rest 🙂
Karosso –
Well, Insomniac seems to have a the Ninja Theory mentality and I hope you correct!!
I love insomniac for Resistance, but I gotta say Overstrike looks pretty lame. I don't think a game like that has an audience.
I think they probably feel that way because it hasn't happened. It's easy to say you wanna stay independent until someone throws money at you. by that I mean things could be great, but sometimes incentive means bigger growth. Considering how ND talks about Sony, well "the grass is always greener!"
But on the flip side Insomniac I believe was said to be one of the best businesses to work for and maybe they do have something great going on that they'd hate to let go?
All I know is I love there games and want more of them, developed strictly for one console.
Last edited by bigrailer19 on 8/2/2011 5:09:23 PM
This is a very good day for PS3 owners! Congratulations to all of us!
YES YES YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Excellent news indeed.
Great news! When the PS4 comes out Sony is going to give us even more Gaming Awesomeness! Come on Sony, get a good RPG company to seal it with a golden key!
Yay! 😀
WOOHOO!!!
This made me smile 🙂
Wow this is great news, I had no idea that this was going to happen. Now along with new IP's maybe we'll see inFamous 3. Hey I can dream can't I?
i just got infamous 2 yesterday and i am liking it, but not loving it. once again it is the generic waves of enemies that are as dumb as a box of rocks that are putting me to sleep. i am not that far into the game yet so i am hoping it improves with more varied combat encounters later.
it's great that sony has all these developers, but i sometimes wonder why this has not translated into more success for sony this gen. maybe it is marketing. i guess only a handful of exclusives are true console sellers.
What makes you think Sony isn't having success this gen?
Because they are behind in MS. Don't bother with this Debbie downer. He always has to take a dump on the fun.
The reason that not every Sony exclusive is a system seller is because there is such a wide stable of them. If you take a look at what sells you'll largely find that it is those titles with nothing excessively similar to them.
Jawknee,
Don't forget that the 'MS' factor really fades outside the US. Outside the US, Sony is doing extremely well.
I believe they are being successful, Sony is doing just fine. People also have different tastes in games. So you can't expect games to be exploding off the shelf in record breaking sales.
Oh indeed Highlander. I know how successful Sony is. I think all of us do except well…
i think it is fair to ask why is sony in last place despite all the great exclusives. sorry, that's just not how i feel about it.
you would think all the great exclusives would translate into more sales. the na market is a problem for sony. no doubt about it.
maybe this strategy will pay off more next gen in terms of sales. i really do wish things would have went better this gen, though.
PS3 is in last place because it debuted last and had a rocky start. There's your answer son.
Owned. lol
World answered it for you.
Last edited by Clamedeus on 8/2/2011 3:32:13 PM