One of Sony’s latest acquisitions – Housemarque who is the developer behind the PlayStation exclusive, Returnal has revealed some more details regarding its recent acquisition. In an interview with Yle.fi, one of the co-founders and CEO of Housemarque, Ilari Kuittinen, revealed that apart from Sony, there were other parties who were interested in this acquisition as well.
“Usual Suspects, ie major players in the field from China, Sweden and the United States,” Kuittinen said. “I have to say that there is a very special spring behind us and the fact that we have been competing even feels a little surreal. In our discussions, it became clear that Sony wanted to buy us because we are doing something that others are not doing. Their starting point has not been that we would start making games according to the formula defined by Sony.” (translated by Google)
One of the biggest names in China is – Tencent, which has been investing in every major studio for a while. For Sweden, it’s possible that Embracer Group reached out to Housemarque for this deal. As for the United States, Epic Games, and/or Microsoft would be a fair bet here. It’s interesting to see recent big studio deals from Sony, as well as Microsoft. You can read the full interview here.
Apart from Returnal, Housemarque has also developed games including, Nex Machina, Furmins, Matterfall, and many more. Returnal was originally revealed as a PlayStation 5 title last year during PlayStation reveal stream on June 11, 2020. The game was officially released earlier this year on April 30, 2021, after being delayed.
