Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has purchased UK's Firesprite Limited videogame studio as the 14th studio to join the PlayStation Studios "family."
Firesprite was founded by an industry veteran from SIE's Studio Liverpool and has partnered with SIE for more than eight years before the acquisition, a Sony press release said.
“We are delighted to welcome Firesprite into the PlayStation family,” Jim Ryan, president & CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, said in the release. “We have a rich history of working with the founders of Firesprite and are excited to grow the PlayStation presence in Liverpool. The portfolio of titles Firesprite has developed has continually demonstrated the team’s ability to transcend traditional gameplay experiences and brilliantly showcase the potential of our hardware.”
Firesprite is known for developing highly-polished showpieces for cutting-edge hardware and will help to play a critical role in expanding SIE's game catalog outside the core offerings PlayStation genres usually encompass, the press release said.
Firesprite is also responsible for the collaboration that brought the development with SIE games for the PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®VR launch, including The Playroom (PS4) and The Playroom VR (PS VR), according to the press release. Both PS4 and PS VR are known for their unique hardware capabilities and high-quality gameplay.
While Firesprite will be acquired by SIE, the Firesprite team will continue to run the day-to-day operations and will be run by the current management team, the release said.