Sony acquires Returnal dev Housemarque for PlayStation Studios

What you need to know

• Housemarque is a game development studio located in Helsinki, Finland.
• Sony announced that it has acquired Housemarque, adding the team to Sony Worldwide Studios.
• The last team acquired by Sony was Insomniac Games, in 2019.

Sony acquired Housemarque for PlayStation, the company announced via PlayStation Blog. Housemarque is now a part of Sony Worldwide Studios, the first-party developers comprising PlayStation Studios. Per a press release, Housemarque is now officially the 13th studio to join the organization.

"Housemarque has flexed its creative palette on a wide range of PlayStation games over the years that have continually showcased the power of our hardware," said Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. "The addition of Housemarque to PlayStation Studios reiterates our commitment to elevating the best development teams in the industry and delivering new experiences that can only be found on the PlayStation platform."

Housemarque is known for a long history of difficult, "bullet hell" style experiences, including most recently Returnal, which was developed exclusively for the PS5. Some of the team's prior titles include PS4 launch game Resogun and the later Nex Machina.

"After more than 15 years of successfully collaborating, we're excited to amplify our potential even further and join PlayStation Studios," said Ilari Kuittinen, Co-founder and Managing Director at Housemarque. "Returnal is a testament to our strong relationship with PlayStation Studios and the organization believing in us to take a risk and give us the freedom to explore our creativity and develop something unique. We can't wait to bring PlayStation fans more fresh, new experiences."

The price of the acquisition was not disclosed. Back in 2019, Sony acquired Insomniac Games, developer of titles like Marvel's Spider-Man and the Ratchet and Clank franchise, for $229 million in cash.