FEATURE STORY – From the developers of Halo, Destiny or the classic Myth, Bungie was the latest studio to become part of the PlayStation family, which has continued to grow in recent years. This article discusses the internal teams associated with PlayStation, such as Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch.

 

 

Not so long ago, we were surprised by the astonishing news that Microsoft would acquire Activision Blizzard, barely a year after it acquired Bethesda official. But while Xbox has gone from strength to strength with a huge publisher consisting of thirty prestigious development teams, Sony has not been idle. It has acquired several big talent studios worldwide. The creators of Halo, Destiny, and the classic real-time strategy from the nineties Myth I-II, are all part of the PlayStation family after Sony’s $3.6 billion move. And what is their latest acquisition?

The acquisition brings one of the most prestigious studios in Japan today, with a total of 18 internal team members, including Naughty Dog, Insomniac Games, Sucker Punch and Bluepoint. Bungie has stated that it will retain its creative independence and multiplatform philosophy. Yet, with this move, Sony has now signed up one of the best teams when it comes to making excellent action video games, and they will surely capitalise on this in some way in the future. For now, we know very few details beyond the fact that Bungie will continue to expand the Destiny universe with the next chapter, The Witch Queen, opening in February. Will this be the last PlayStation purchase? Are there other surprises incoming? According to the leaders of the major electronic entertainment industry, nothing could be further from the truth.

The head of Sony’s video games division has already stated that more PlayStation purchases can be expected in the future, although these are obviously top secret for now. Meanwhile, the video games industry has already reacted to the surprise purchase, with the head of Xbox being one of the most vocal examples, congratulating PlayStation on signing Bungie. To capitalise on this news, we at theGeek take a look at all the internal PlayStation studios and tell you what they’re currently working on… only what’s not a secret, of course.

 

 

PlayStation studios

 

 

Bend Studio

 

• Date of acquisition: 2000
• Notable games include Siphon Filter, Days Gone, Uncharted: The Golden Abyss
• What’s in development now: Unknown

 

After the release of Days Gone and lengthy discussions about a possible sequel that PlayStation has not approved, little is known about the near-future plans of the veteran development team that once delighted action fans with the iconic Siphon Filter series. For years, they were also the creators of some of the PlayStation handheld console’s standout titles, with Resistance: Retribution and Uncharted: The Golden Abyss among their most notable titles.

 

 

Bluepoint Games

 

• Date of acquisition: 2021
• Major games: remakes of Shadow of the Colossus and Demon’s Souls
• What’s in development now: Unknown

 

Over the years, Bluepoint Games has built a reputation worth its weight in gold, thanks to the excellent work of video game remakes on the scale of Shadow of the Colossus on PlayStation 4 or the recent Demon’s Souls on PS5. And while it will remain in touch with future remakes from the major PlayStation brands, the studio has confirmed that its next project will be a video game of its own. There are no further clues about that at the moment.

 

 

Bungie

 

• Date of acquisition: 2022
• Major games: Halo, Destiny, Marathon, Myth
• What’s in development now: Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, New IP

 

The latest acquisition of PlayStation. The renowned studio was making great games long before the adventures of Master Chief. The studio is best known for bringing the great Halo saga to life, followed by the equally popular Destiny years later. Founded in 1991, Bungie was also responsible for the legendary Marathon action series, which introduced elements familiar to shooter games, such as the use of dual weapons. In addition to action, they were also the authors of the Myth strategy saga.

 

 

Firesprite

 

• Date of acquisition: 2021
• Notable games include The Playroom, The Persistence,
• What’s in development now: Star Citizen (Theaters of War mode)

This British studio is the direct heir to the legendary Psygnosis, responsible for unforgettable games such as the futuristic speed series Wipeout, and has worked on titles for all PlayStation platforms. Since its reorganisation in 2013, it has developed a variety of titles, most notably those that aim to take advantage of the PlayStation Camera and PlayStation VR for PS4. Currently, the team is involved in the seemingly endless development of Star Citizen with Cloud Imperium Games and the Horizon Universe VR adventure with Guerrilla Games.

 

 

Guerrilla Games

 

• Date of acquisition: 2005
• Major games: the Killzone series, Horizon: Zero Dawn
• What’s in development now: Horizon Forbidden West

 

Formerly known as Lost Boys Games (a merger of three smaller development studios), the development team is now one of the most critical teams under PlayStation Studios. The Dutch have worked on various platforms, including Game Boy Color and the first Xbox, before achieving notable success with the PlayStation 2 exclusive FPS Killzone in 2004. Guerrilla continued to work on the Killzone series until 2011 when they started developing Horizon Zero Dawn, a new icon for the PlayStation brand.

 

 

Housemarque

 

• Date of acquisition: 2021
• Notable games: Returnal, Nex Machina, Dead Nation
• What’s in development now: Unknown

 

The masters of the arcade action genre, Housemarque’s games have always been prestigious, but sales have not kept pace, leading the studio to declare that arcade games are dead. Fortunately, their latest work has sold very well, and after the success of Returnal, now with PlayStation behind them, Housemarque promises even more significant games.

 

 

Insomniac Games

 

• Date of acquisition: 2019
• Major games: Sunset Overdrive, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Ratchet & Clank
• What’s in development now: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Marvel’s Wolverine

 

What can you say about Insomniac Games? One of the most prolific PlayStation teams in its long history has never stopped coming up with creative ideas and creating compelling new universes. They’re the creators of Spyro the Dragon or the Resistance saga, and in recent years they’ve had even more success with the great Marvel’s Spider-Man or the latest PS5 release, Ratchet & Clank. They’re currently working on a sequel to Spider-Man and the still mysterious Marvel’s Wolverine.

 

 

London Studio

 

• Date of acquisition: 2002, date of incorporation.
• Major games: The Getaway, SingStar, EyeToy
• What’s in development now: Unknown

 

Their PlayStation 2 game The Getaway is still a memorable one. Still, London Studio has recently been working on titles such as the community-focused SingStar and EyeToy and more recently on VR projects such as the intriguing Blood & Truth. With PlayStation VR 2 on the horizon, there’s a good chance that their next video game will be one of the first titles to take advantage of the new VR headsets.

 

 

Media Molecule

 

• Date of acquisition: 2010
• Major games: LittleBigPlanet, Tearaway, Dreams
• What’s in development now: Unknown

 

Media Molecule is one of today’s most creative and talented studios. Dreams on PS4 still surprised us with its incredible editing tools; still, the Media Molecule team has also brought to life other popular games with PlayStation fans, such as LittleBigPlanet and the somewhat lesser-known Tearaway. It’s unclear what new adventures the studio will embark on beyond continuing to breathe life into Dreams, which has been adapted for PS VR virtual reality after its PS4 port.

 

 

Naughty Dog

 

• Date of acquisition: 2001
• Representative games: Crash Bandicoot, The Last of Us, Uncharted
• What’s in development now: Unknown multiplayer game

 

Uncharted and The Last of Us are their best-known bestselling games, but let’s not forget that Naughty Dog is also responsible for such memorable titles as Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. While they’re working on a multiplayer game, possibly related to The Last of Us Part 2, it’s unclear what the Neil Druckmann-led team’s next big thing will be.

 

 

Nixxes Software

 

• Acquisition date: 2021
• Major games: Horizon Zero Dawn (PC), God of War (PC)
• What’s in development now: Unknown

 

Nixxes Software is another veteran Dutch studio specialising in cross-platform ports for major developers such as Crystal Dynamics, IO Interactive and Eidos Montreal. While it’s unknown what they’ll be working on after their acquisition by PlayStation in 2021, the team’s profile and the recent PC releases of important Sony titles like Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War suggest that they’ll continue to be actively involved in porting console games to PC.

 

 

Polyphony Digital

 

• Date of acquisition: 1998
• Major games: Gran Turismo, Tourist Trophy
• What’s in development now: Gran Turismo 7

 

The birthplace of the Gran Turismo series, Polyphony Digital has dedicated its entire existence to perfecting the simulation genre, achieving massive success as PlayStation’s best-selling video game series with nearly 80 million games played. On the eve of the release of Gran Turismo 7, Kazunori Yamauchi’s new creation is expected to push the boundaries of realism to the delight of motorsport fans.

 

 

Santa Monica

 

• Date of acquisition: 1999
• Notable games God of War (2005), God of War (2018)
• What’s in development now: God of War Ragnarok

 

Santa Monica is one of Sony PlayStation’s main frontrunners and is best known for one of the series most associated with Sony’s ‘DNA’ of video games, God of War. While the adventures of Kratos are arguably its most notorious works, in the shadow of Ghost of Sparta, the studio has been involved in other hugely exciting games such as Flow, Journey and The Order: 1886. It remains a key team in Sony’s development strategy.

 

 

Sucker Punch Productions

 

• Date of acquisition: 2011
• Notable games: inFamous, Sly Cooper, Ghost of Tsushima
• What’s in development now: Unknown

 

The Sucker Punch team teamed up with Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games to bring PlayStation fans a colourful action-platform adventure with their memorable Sly Cooper, but in recent years the studio has been aiming for a different kind of gaming experience with Ghost of Tsushima, their latest big hit. After a beautiful open-world action-adventure set in feudal Japan, it’s not yet known what the team is working on.

 

 

Team Asobi

 

• Date of acquisition: 2021
• Featured games: Astro Bot, Astro’s Playroom
• What is being developed recently: Unknown

 

The success of Astro Bot on PS VR and Astro’s Playroom on PlayStation 5 has endeared Team Asobi to fans of the brand. With the reorganisation of Japan Studio, the team is now part of the PlayStation family and includes veterans of the team that worked together on classics of the ICO scale.

 

 

Other PlayStation studios

 

In addition to the teams mentioned in this article, PlayStation also boasts several big names such as San Diego Studio, the creators of the hit sports series MLB The Show. Here’s a list of other smaller teams that are part of the PlayStation family:

• pixelopus
• San Diego Studio
• ValkyrieEntertainment
• XDev
• Malaysia Studio
• San Mateo Studio