Sony Acquires Housemarque and Potentially Bluepoint Games

Written by Brandon Hofer on June 29, 2021

News: Sony revealed on the PlayStation Blog that they have officially acquired Housemarque but a leaked Tweet also grabbed people’s attention.

It appears that two new studios are off the board now, so to speak, as Sony has a couple of new acquisitions. The first one is Housemarque. If that name sounds familiar to you, it should. They have had a strong presence on PlayStation platforms dating back to PlayStation 3 and Super Stardust HD. Most recently they released Returnal exclusively on PlayStation 5 which had largely positive reviews but was a tad divisive among the community for a number of different reasons. This acquisition isn’t a surprise to anyone as most figured it would happen at some point and now Housmarque will have some great stability where they can just focus on making fun games and not have to worry about funding or anything like that you see with game development. A letter from Ilari Kuittinen, Co-founder and Managing Director, Housemarque is below:

”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.”

The acquisition of Housemarque was officially revealed on the PlayStation Blog. What wasn’t revealed on the PlayStation Blog and was instead leaked via a mistaken Tweet is that Sony appears to have acquired Bluepoint Games as well. Now because this hasn’t been officially announced yet it is still in the rumor stage but Nibel (@Nibellion) was able to capture the following image on Sony’s Twitter before it was taken down:

PlayStation - Housemarque - Bluepoint

Since this was apparently a mistake on Sony’s end to upload that image right now, no details are available. Bluepoint has been rumored to be making a Metal Gear Solid remaster as well. Even without the potential of a Metal Gear Solid remaster though Bluepoint has proven themselves over the years as a studio that can do a great job at either porting games over to modern consoles or remaking something. A couple of their projects that PlayStation fans should recognize are Shadow of the Colossus and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection.

A big congratulations to Housemarque on joining the PlayStation family. We would also like to extend a tentative congratulations to Bluepoint if that leak turns out to be accurate and they have also joined the PlayStation family.

What do you think about Sony acquiring Housemarque? What do you think of them (potentially) acquiring Bluepoint Games? Tell us in the comment section below.