Just in case you've missed the news coming out of the PlayStation camp this morning, it's been revealed that Returnal developer Housemarque has been snapped up by PlayStation Studios, described as a "big day" for the company.
It doesn't mean too much to us here at Pure Xbox, as Housemarque hasn't been involved with Xbox development in a long time, but the studio did give us the well-received Outland back in 2011 (which is still playable with backwards compatibility), and co-developed the Angry Birds Trilogy a year later in 2012.
Interestingly, their first game on Xbox was Transworld Snowboarding all the way back in 2002!
Following Angry Birds, though, Housemarque went on to develop exclusively for PlayStation on console, delivering the likes of Resogun back in 2013, and of course, the recent release of Returnal a couple of months ago.
The news is a shame, but given Housemarque's long period of absence from Xbox, we're not too surprised.
How do you feel about Housemarque joining PlayStation Studios? Let us know down in the comments.
[source blog.playstation.com]
Comments 52
Sensible bit of business and in line with Sony's usual acquisition policy of working with a developer, almost exclusively, for many years before a buyout.
Wishing Housemarque continued success... and an autosave feature in Returnal (it works for Hades without allowing save scumming so why not here)
Not personally a fan of their games but I recognize quality.
Great news for the studio as it means financial stability and hopefully bigger budgets for future games.
Nice business from PlayStation.
“Former Xbox Developer Housemarquee”
Marquee who? I don’t think anyone will reasonable enough to put those two words in same sentence. I feel that the next acquisition by MS will be several times more larger and meaningful, Satya Nadella has stated “nobody has our financial might”.
Also waiting for few concerned trolls at Twitter and ResetEra calling this indie acquisition (smaller than inXile for example) somehow bigger than Bethesda. 😂
Great acquisition, hope they make some great games in the future. Returnal does look nice.
Haven’t played any of their games but they have a reputation for quality so at least they’ll get more funding for their projects!
I got the platinum trophy in Returnal. The game is brilliant. I loved every death (ok not really). It’s my game of the year. Good news for Sony, PlayStation fans; and not really bad news for Xbox users.
@The_New_Butler it kind of is different though. Housemarque has worked closely with Sony for a decade now. Bethesda, as of October last year, was one of the largest third party AAA publishers.
@The_New_Butler to be fair, I would say that buying a smaller studio that they have a very close working relationship with and develop almost exclusively for already is quite a bit different than buying a major third party publisher. The Bethesda buyout is undoubtedly a worse deal for consumers. Not that I mind so much, but to suggest the deals are the same in terms of industry competition is a little disengenuous
Whenever an acquisition occurs, I'll view it from the perspective of how it benefits me as a consumer. And as a consumer, this acquisition doesn't really give me any immediate benefits or any future benefits at all besides future titles being potentially more ambitious and creative. Compare it to the ZeniMax acquisition where we've seen dozens of ZeniMax titles being added to Game Pass and we know that all future ZeniMax titles will be added day one on Game Pass. There are no such consumer benefits whenever PlayStation acquires a studio.
Not to mention that Microsoft is pursuing studio acquisitions because they have a purpose in mind, which is to release a steady flow of first-party titles every year: https://www.purexbox.com/news/2021/06/xbox_wants_to_release_a...
In Sony's case however, they're just acquiring studios to respond to the moves Microsoft has been making, but they don't have a purpose with these acquisitions. Games like Returnal are already exclusive, so it's not like PlayStation is receiving more exclusive titles than without these acquisitions. They're just buying them for the sake of it, which is why I as a consumer can't really be that excited for what the future holds when these studios have already been making games for primarily PlayStation.
@AgentGuapo I love it, but Christ do I wish they would add mid saves. I can't get into it as much as I'd like as I only have an odd hour here or there to play and my boy is addicted to Astro bot, so when he boots that up my run goes down the drain!
@The_New_Butler As you know, i'm over there too and get called a Xbox fanboy on PushSquare and a PS fanboy here (go figure, I just say it as I see it and don't stand for the fanboy party line on either)
Personally I don't think that is hypocrisy as you said.
There is a big difference between acquiring a studio like Housemarque that you have worked with almost exclusively for years, who have few (or no) major multi platform IP, and acquiring someone like Bethesda with all their beloved multi platform IP and suddenly making them exclusive.
The crucial reason it is different is that Xbox players aren't really losing anything. For the last ten years Housemarque has developed games exclusively for Playstation. None of those recent Housemarque games, partially funded or assisted by Sony, were likely ever coming to Xbox. They also aren't beloved IP you could previously play on Xbox.
Whereas the buying of Bethesda and the dozen or so major IP DOES directly impact PlayStation players they ARE losing games and not just any games but beloved and established IP like Elder Scrolls, Doom, Fallout, Wolfenstein, Doshonored, etc.
That isn't hypocritical, they are not apples to apples, or even close to it.
correct headline here should read Housemarque joins playstation studios...by saying former xbox developer made me think a first or second party was bought by sony from MS, not a studio who has one game that was a hit that came out nearly a decade ago(resogun).
@LtSarge at the risk of sounding like a PS fanboy (honestly I'm not, I love all my consoles!), but you could make the argument that Sony have adopted a more organic approach to acquisitions, whereas MS are brute forcing their way into big name exclusives (understandably, as they need a quick solution to their exclusives problem). Sony acquire studios they have a close working relationship with and who make games who fit well into their repertoire, thus the excitement would be seeing what this already exciting studio can do with the additional resources.
Didn't old Jim just have a go at Xbox for "throwing money". SMH
@LtSarge That's one way to look at it but a very one sided view.
The Bethesda acquisition can only be seen as a pro-consumer move if you are an Xbox player sure. But if you are a Sony or Nintendo player is is a massively anti-consumer move as you just LOST a huge number of future games coming to your platform, including a large number of some of the most beloved IP's ever made.
Whereas with this Housemarque move Xbox fans lost basically nothing.
I guess what I am saying is to ONLY look at it by what you gain as a consumer is not the full picture you also need to look at what other consumers lose.
"In Sony's case however, they're just acquiring studios to respond to the moves Microsoft has been making" I don't think that is true either. ALL Sony's acquisitions happen after years of working almost exclusively with the studio. (Bluepoint likely next) This would have been years in the planning, it is unlikely just a response to Microsoft's recent spending spree but a long term strategy.
Hardly a surprise.
@themightyant Back in 2014, Insomniac Games released a game exclusively for Xbox after having been primarily making games only for PlayStation. Just because a studio hasn't made games for a certain system before doesn't mean that they won't in the future. However, now that Insomniac and Housemarque have been acquired, this rules out any chance of the Xbox and Nintendo platforms receiving future titles. Also, PlayStation and Nintendo users aren't losing out on any of ZeniMax titles that have already come out. You can e.g. still play DOOM Eternal, The Outer Worlds and so on on those platforms. The only thing that is affected is all future titles, which is the same for Insomniac and Housemarque.
In other words, if you're of the opinion that acquisitions are bad, then it's just as bad that Sony acquires a studio close to it as Microsoft acquires a publisher. All future titles will be affected regardless.
@The_New_Butler "all of your points relate to the size of the acquisition" NO. All the points relate to the IP and future games being taken away from consumers on other platforms.
Look I have Game Pass and I personally massively GAIN from the Bethesda acquisition, by getting all those games Day 1. But overall I don't like it. I can see other fellow gamers are losing out from that acquisition and it's not just about me.
That isn't the case to the same extent with Housemarque.
@themightyant Of course it's one-sided, I want to buy the best possible products with my hard-earned money. So why should I care about other consumers' products? I want to reap as many benefits as I can, which is natural consumer behaviour. That's why I'm all for acquisitions because I want more reasons to buy the products that I want.
@The_New_Butler It's the fact that Bethesda was a multiformat publisher, and although they may have been close to MS, they were by no means as closely aligned as Housemarque is to Sony (which is why the Bethesda buyout was such a shock).
If you want another comparision, you could compage the Ninja Theory acquisition - that was a smaller studio that if anything had closer ties to Sony (Heavenly Sword was an exclusive and Hellblade was originally a PS exclusive), which MS bought out. As others have commented, XBox doesn't really lose out on the Housemarque acquistion, whereas Playstation does for the Bethesda/Ninja Theory/Double Fine/Obsidian acquisitions
@FraserG You can't win!
It's important to post these topics and engage in healthy and interesting debate, hopefully without it descending into tribalism.
I can't help but laugh at the comments about "financial stability" and 'secure future". Ask former employees of Evolution Studios, Guerilla Cambridge, Bigbig Studios, Sony Manchester, Sony Liverpool, Incognito Entertainment and Zipper Interactive about financially stable and secure futures. 😂
@LtSarge I get where you're coming from, and as @themightyant says, if anything it's win-win for me as I have both an XSX with gampass and a PS5, however there is definitely something unsettling about platform holders picking up big, previously multiformat publishers and developers for exclusive rights. It is why I find the Bethesda buyout troubling and it's why I found the Insomniac buyout troubling. However, I just don't get that feeling with Housemarque
@VenomousAlbino That's another reason why I'm not liking that Sony is acquiring studios just because Microsoft is acquiring studios. Microsoft has a purpose, it wants to expand the amount of first-party titles being released on Game Pass. That's why it doesn't matter if the games sell well or not as long as the subscriber count for Game Pass increases. So the closure of studios is not something we should be worried about in Microsoft's case, they want to have as many first-party titles on Game Pass as possible in order to make the service attractive.
But PlayStation doesn't have Game Pass or a strong focus on a subscription service like Microsoft. It doesn't have a purpose for these acquisitions. That's why I'm more worried in the case of PlayStation because if the games from these acquired studios don't sell well then there's a high risk these studios will be closed down. So unless Sony starts focusing on a subscription service, these acquisitions do not bode well for the studios' futures given Sony's history. I mean for crying out loud, Sony just downsized one of their studios a couple of months ago. So much incredible talent lost just because the games weren't selling well.
@The_New_Butler Yes, that's why I said it. I wasn't a massive fan of Sunset Overdrive, but I like that they gave it a go. And I don't like Sony buying up exclusives either; honestly their shenannigans with Final Fantasy is just silly and I would far rather their efforts were spent elsewhere. What I don't mind about this though is that although Housemarque have released multiformat games in the past, that was a decade ago and have since cultivated a very close working relationship with Sony, and Sony appear to have taken their time with it an ensured it is a good fit for them.
@LtSarge that's assuming Gamepass is an evergreen success (excuse the XBox pun). Subscription services can fail just as well as phyical games, and should gamepass experience a downturn in user numbers MS could easily dig into seeing which games aren't being played on the service and jettison the studios. Just as Netflix won't renew a show that isn't performing, so too can MS disband devs who's games aren't pulling in subs
All the organic growth talk aside this is great news. Sony will need more consistent content drops to stay competitive and we all need a strong and competitive Sony to keep Xbox on its toes. Bluepoint is supposedly being acquired as well.
@PapaGlitch Yeah but you can say that about anything. What we know right now is that Game Pass is seeing a positive trend. It's been grower faster and faster in terms of subscriber count so there's no reason to think that it won't be a success. Especially not after all the power moves Microsoft is making and will continue to make. They will be making more acquisitions in the future in order to bolster the library of Game Pass. So right now, there's no reason to think that the service will fail.
@The_New_Butler @LtSarge To be clear we see eye to eye on plenty
I'm also not generally not a fan of the huge acquisitions, and making games exclusive at all. (Though I accept exclusives are important)
Also accept it is often nuanced. As consumers in general we are better off when talented studios like Arkane, Double Fine, Housemarque have the financial support to keep pushing the envelope with their brilliant ideas and with the support of a bigger studio.
Also not a fan of timed paid for exclusives at all, which they both do, but Sony does more for a few high profile games like FF7R for longer but make no mistake Xbox does it for plenty of smaller games, though often for less long. Agree Sony is generally worse here, but it's a blight on both regardless.
Also accept that just because Housemarque, or Insomniac or whoever hadn't done anything major for a while doesn't mean they NEVER will again. Although based on recent history, it likely won't have been for a while. And crucially there weren't any games announced that were then retracted for some expected platforms.
But none of that changes the simple fact that in the recent future HUGE games & franchises like Starfield, Elder Scrolls, Doom, Fallout, Wolfenstein, etc. won't be coming to platforms where they would have ordinarily.
You call the size a red herring, I couldn't disagree more. YES the size of the IP and games matter.
Fans of these series and studios, who aren't in the fortunate position to play across platforms simply won't be able to play them now.
The simple fact is that many Gamers lost something tangible and seemingly within grasp with the Bethesda acquisition, whereas few, if any, do with the Housemarque (and most of Sony's) ones. I don't think that is hypocritical.
Good for Sony. Bring your games to PC day 1 and I'll start thinking of supporting Sony again. Not getting a PS5. Maybe a PC though.
@themightyant I agree with you. Housemarque has been making PS exclusives for 5+ years whereas everything Bethesda was doing was multi platform. It’s apples to oranges to compare the two.
@The_New_Butler 100% Agreed! Always good to have a civil discussion about the issues; particularly the bigger, more contentious, ones like this.
As you said the Bethesda + Xbox deal was, or is still, one of the biggest stories in gaming's history. It literally changed the gaming landscape and the shockwaves are still reverberating and will for many years to come.
Ultimately I just want as many gamers as possible to be able to play as many great games as possible.
@themightyant if you're a Sony or Nintendo player, you should be pressuring those platforms to allow GamePass. Solves the problem immediately.
Housemarque and Bluepoint make sense as Playstation Studios much like how Next Level Games makes sense as a Nintendo studio (vast majority of their library prior to acquisition is exclusive to the company that acquired them).
Bethesda being acquired by Xbox is the dodgy acquisition given their multiplatform status for a long time. But who knows, Xbox never truly answered the question about existing Bethesda IPs (even at E3 2021, it was all about new IPs) so maybe only the new IPs are Xbox exclusive.
Congratulations to them. Sure some added financial security will be great for the staff. Look forward to their next game. Still yet to try Returnal
@Generik I am (as well as xbox) and I do
Though although I want it conceptually it would likely be a bad business decision for those two!
@Generik Man would this be great. I guess the downside would be that people would potentially stop buying games from the actual system?
The problem with Sony fans is that they think that Microsoft should act identically in the conduct of company policy, thus believing that this is the only right way.
They have no relevance to Xbox. Good for them having security, but this is not news. If sony got capcom, that's impressive but sad.
Excellent acquisition as returnal was a great game and now their games will become better and bigger with sonys money
@themightyant I think what MS would need to do is offer full GamePass experience on Xbox/PC. Essentially everything it already is right now. For Nintendo/Sony GamePass could be modified to only include Microsoft 1st party titles with maybe a few deals for exclusive 3rd party games.
That sidesteps the issue of Sony or Nintendo losing sales in their stores for 3rd party games that are in GamePass. MS gets access to a large potential subscriber pool and everyone gets access to all MS games. Literally everyone wins.
Imagine xCloud working on Nintendo Switch. Nintendo users getting access to full versions of games, not ports stripped to run on limited hardware. /Drool
I was fine with MS buying Zenimax, I'm fine with this...
@Generik "Everybody wins" on the consumer side.
Sony, Nintendo could argue that if you are busy playing Game Pass games that less games they have sold you. But I love the optimism.
"Nintendo users getting access to full versions of games, not ports stripped to run on limited hardware. /Drool" They already have this on some games like Control and Hitman 3 with more to come. I agree is would be better for me, but a LOT of people don't like it and would prefer (lesser) native versions.
Well, there's a good reason to avoid Push Square for the day. Not sure I can tolerate the fake hype.
Housemarque is a great indie-to-single A dev, and they've shown they have the skill to do more with a big Sony budget, sure. But thus far, they've been third tier games mostly, and I really have zero tolerance for the hyping of Returnal as a major AAA game just because it says Sony on the lid. If it were 505 it would be thoroughly ignored as a weird niche game that wanted to be too much. Neat idea, neat presentation, definitely a small scale game with a very niche audience. The hyping of it as a massive AAA first party console-seller release at full price is just difficult to stomach. It always seemed like little more than a trial run before a buyout, plus bonus marketing.
@themightyant The argument that it will impact sales falls a bit flat for Sony, who already allows EA Play on Playstation. They've essentially already opened that door. MS would clearly have to strip all the 3rd party titles out of GamePass on Playstation for a true apples to apples comparison with EA Play,
Fair point regarding some of the games utilizing streaming on Switch. I played Control on my X1X and bought ultimate edition to get the next gen upgrade for my Series X. I've heard mostly positives about how that worked out for Switch but just haven't tried 'taxing' games on that system. With that said, I'm in the camp that would never pick a native Switch version of a game like Witcher 3 or Skyrim, for example. I'd much prefer those games streaming off higher end hardware delivering the full experience the devs designed. But I totally understand not wanting to be tied to streaming.
Here's one random dude's take on the situation, take it for what it is worth:
I don't like the way Microsoft operates as a company - the whole company, not just Xbox - and the Zenimax acquisition is an extension of the business philosophy I can't stand about Microsoft.
The best analogy I can use to explain how I feel about the Xbox division is it is akin to the kid with rich parents who bought him/her a new car in high school, the same kid who is given things without earning them (and the same kid we all secretly resent). There is a lot of third-party information, unverified, that the Xbox division itself has lost money, cumulatively speaking, every single generation it has existed. And I believe this to be true because former and current Xbox heads have openly admitted the Xbox brand was almost disbanded on at least two occasions, presumably for profitability reasons.
Xbox, as a brand, has never "earned" its position. It has been very lucky to be a small part of a hugely successful mega-corporation that can eat the Xbox divisions loses, year after year after year. Xbox is the corporate equivalent of the rich spoiled kid that doesn't know the value of a dollar essentially. And it shows in their output. As the old joke goes, the most impressive Xbox Series X exclusive right now is Microsoft Excel.
Xbox did not nurture Zenimax or any of its subsidiaries. They've worked together, but they have no special relationship beyond the usual arrangements. The acquisition feels forced and sloppy, namely because according to a lot of market pundits Microsoft vastly overspent on it. It was a brute force money deal.
Conversely, Sony "nurtures" its prospective studios by entering into second party relationships with them. Hence why you hear the word organic tossed around a lot. Yes, they are both soulless mega-corporations, I know, but the strategies are very different. And one of these strategies I find distasteful, and the other I actually believe will lead to better games getting made.
These are my sole opinions, apologies in advance to anyone who's parents bought them a car in high school haha.
@UnlimitedSevens
You really need to work on your analogies. 😑
@gingataisen
It's the most apt one I can think of at the moment, probably could've worded it better. That's how Xbox "feels" to me, for the reasons I mentioned. Probably biased, but I can only react to what I see.
@Ile
As much as I openly don't like Microsoft in general, I 110% agree with your point that if the roles were reversed - if Sony were in a financial position to do so - they would have bought Zenimax Media or a similarly large publisher with the same brute force approach.
The spin Sony puts on this, that they are selective and nurturing, suits them well and is a good narrative to go with considering the reason they use that strategy is probably simply because they lack any other alternative. So I definitely haven't fooled myself into thinking Sony are the "good guys".
But at the same time, by necessity or choice, being "selective and nurturing" is the strategy Sony have gone with this gen. And it is my opinion that will result in better games.
And at the end of the day, despite my personal feelings about this company or that company, I just want to play some good games.
Golf - Tee It Up is still the best golf game across 360, XB1 & SeriesX
@Generik "The argument that it will impact sales falls a bit flat for Sony, who already allows EA Play on Playstation. They've essentially already opened that door." I think you understand there is a BIG difference between allowing EA Play on there and Game Pass. Not saying it won't EVER happen but no time soon.
Re: Witcher 3 / Skyrim etc. Honestly there's a huge market for these downgraded versions (compared to PC and Xbox/PS) purely because they are portable. A lot of people don't care so much about the latest graphics really either, you get to play exactly the same gameplay and story on the move, both are genuinely impressive on handheld (less so on a 65+ inch 4K tv).
I actually bought Skyrim on Switch, it was a joy to be able to play this on the go. Especially if you see it more as an upgraded version of the original X360/PS3 versions, than a downgrade of the XBO/PS4 versions, which is more than good enough for many.
@Ile "If Sony could buy Bethesda, they would have done it."
Based on all their previous acquisitions and investment history this is highly doubtful.
They have a long track record of working hand in hand with developers, directly assisting them with their games for several years, offering the full backing of the SIE support studios to increase their dev count and checking the company is a good fit BEFORE acquiring a studio. They haven't done any of that with Bethesda.
Not saying it couldn't have happened, but based on previous corporate behaviour all the evidence suggests it is highly unlikely.
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