Sony’s acquisition of The Persistence developer Firesprite this week definitely got here as a shock, however maybe the even larger shocker is the sheer scale of the group: totalling 250 workers, it’s truly bigger in headcount than the platform holder’s two different UK-based first-party studios, Media Molecule and London Studio, mixed.
Phrase is that the Liverpool-based group has a lot of totally different tasks within the pipeline: we’d heard on the grapevine that it was beavering away on a digital actuality model of Horizon, however it additionally apparently has a multiplayer sport and a “darkish narrative blockbuster” in manufacturing. With such a colossal group measurement, anticipate this new studio to be fairly productive.
Hermen Hulst, boss of PlayStation Studios, has already hinted that Firesprite’s output might be “fairly totally different from the groups that you’re conversant in” at Sony, in order that’s definitely intrigued us. Clearly, the Japanese large was already collaborating with the studio earlier than deciding to accumulate it solely. Meaning we may, probably, see one thing introduced throughout in the present day’s PlayStation Showcase.
Both method, we had no concept Firesprite had ballooned to such an unlimited measurement; to place its workforce into perspective, Guerrilla Video games – one of many largest builders in Europe – presently hosts round 350 to 400 workers, so it’s not one million miles off. It’s going to be fascinating to see what the group has in retailer for us.
