Today Sony Interactive Entertainment officially announced the acquisition of Returnal developer Housemarque.
Yet, something a bit less “official” also transpired: the Japanese PlayStation Blog published the same article (translated in Japanese) in terms of text, but with an image disclosing the announcement of Bluepoint’s acquisition.
It’s not just a matter of a mistaken logo as the image also includes an additional reference to the recent Demon’s Souls Remake that Bluepoint Games developed.
You can see the cheeky picture below alongside a screenshot of the article itself and the tweet from Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Twitter account, for good measure.
At the moment, no further details about the likely acquisition of Bluepoint have been shared and the image has been replaced with the correct one. While we should still take this with the traditional grain of salt, I’d say that the cat is pretty much out of the bag.
In the meanwhile, you can read about the acquisition of Housemarque below, directly from Ilari Kuittinen, co-founder and managing director.
“Today is a big day for Housemarque and it has been over 26 years in the making. Our strong partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment started with Super Stardust HD on PS3 and since then we have made arcade inspired games for all of the PlayStation platforms. With Returnal for PS5, our most recent release, our biggest foray into third-person action gaming solidified our voice and brand in the industry as delivering unique and quality player experiences.
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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