PlayStation Acquires Firesprite, The Team Behind The Persistence

Makes sense and will do very little damage to any of the other platforms in the grand scheme of things. It’s not a Bethesda style move. Which was bad for everyone.

@Stocksy from what we heard the rumblings of the Bethesda deal saved alot of jobs. As one of arhkan studios was gonna be closed. And a bunch of jobs cuts.
It's one of the reason they were signing exclusivity deals on games like ghost wire and deathloop.

And good for the studio seems mostly worked on psvr with one title being converted to a non vr game. Hope the studio does well

@Stocksy
how was it bad for xbox and pc?

I'm genuinely curious to see how many studios Sony acquires before someone will say "okay, maybe they're going a bit too far now". I just don't like how Microsoft gets all the hate for acquiring studios but when it comes to Sony, it "makes sense".

How doesn't it make sense that Microsoft needs more first-party studios as well as games to bolster Game Pass and that's why they needed to acquire ZeniMax?

"Because Microsoft is taking away games from PlayStation users"

And Sony is taking away games from Xbox users with their own acquisitions as well. Nothing is set in stone, just because a company is making games for Sony one moment doesn't mean that they won't be making games for Microsoft in the next. The example I keep bringing up is Sunset Overdrive, an Xbox exclusive made by Insomniac Games who is now owned by Sony. It's not out of the realm of possibilities that all these studios could've made games for Microsoft but now it's 100% the case that they won't.

"It's not on the same scale as the Bethesda acquisition"

Which is why I'm asking how many studios will it take for people to say that Sony is doing the same thing as Microsoft. They've acquired another studio today, tomorrow they're supposedly going to announce the Bluepoint acquisition during the PlayStation showcase according to a rumour and if they don't, we all know it's coming because PlayStation Japan already leaked it. So how many studios will it take? It doesn't look like they're stopping anytime soon.

Just please stop the hypocrisy. If you don't like acquisitions, then don't say one side is better for doing it while the other is worse. Either they're all worse or it doesn't matter to you.

@Stocksy Lol bad for everyone?! Cuz having their whole portfolio on Game Pass is bad for us Xbox and PC owners? Them having more funding to be able to support AAA titles as well as venture into new IPs and be able to more easily try new things is bad for them? k...

This will probably help bolster their VR library. These devs use to work for Sony some of them right?

@LtSarge I think the difference is Bethesda deal took away sequels in franchises and games that were definitely coming to PS. I have Xbox so I'm okay but would have missed out on the next elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, doom at the least. Pretty sure there are others as well. Sony purchasing Housemarque, Bluepoint and firesprite doesn't mean anything to Xbox owners really

@LtSarge I kinda get where you are coming from. But on the flipside I also think you are reading into it all a bit too much. A handful of PS users moaning Bethesda was a malicious acquisition doesnt make it bad for business. Microsoft absolutely needed a quick boost to their first party portfolio and it made sense.

On the other hand. Sonys approach to their own isnt wrong either. They dont have the spending power that MS do so they have focussed on developers that in the main have worked closely with Playstation. Their approach also makes sense in my view.

I dont think either is going too far and crucially in the current climate both companies and their acquisitons have safeguarded jobs in the process.

@Murray @Terrin It seems they are already starting to feel the heat. In few years when Xbox starts outputting AAA exclusives in every quarter that’s when the true mayhem will start for them. We Xbox guys should just grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.

@StonyKL Whilst I essentially agree with your comment, I, for one, am gutted that I won't be playing the Persistence 2 on my Xbox. I don't have (nor have any desire to have) a VR set (I think it would give me terrible motion sickness, as I get it in some games anyway), and with the Developer having now been acquired by Sony, I might not see the game on my TV. I do own a PS5, but I bought that for the likes of Horizon FW, which I have already pre-ordered, and for their big first party games. My XSX is my primary console; to put it in context, I managed to get both consoles day one, and I have played dozens and dozens of games on my XSX, but only played Demon Souls on my PS5. Basically, I would have played a TV version of Persistence 2 on my Xbox, even if I had to wait for some exclusivity deal to end on the PlayStation. Now that choice has been taken away from me. It's not up there with how the PlayStation gamers likely feel, but still mildly annoying nonetheless...

@Jaxx420 I agree with what you are saying. However, this "timed exclusive" game that Sony is predominately playing is getting really annoying.

@StonyKL Before Sunset Overdrive came out, you probably thought "Insomniac Games doesn't mean anything to Xbox owners". But then it did. You don't know what games would've come out on Xbox if Housemarque, Bluepoint and Firesprite were still independent. There's no knowing that anymore.

@Jaxx420 My point was that it doesn't matter if you think acquisitions are good for business or not as long as you don't slander one company while glorifying the other. Everyone has their opinion on things and I'm fine with that, but saying Microsoft is awful for acquiring studios while praising Sony for doing the same thing is nothing short of hypocrisy.

@LtSarge Aside from Bethesda, what have people been angry about in terms of MS buying? I can’t think of any other studio they bought that would really impact PS?

The discourse around this is really starting to become tiresome - every time Sony buys a studio everyone is going to have the same Bethesda argument, same way every time Sony charge for an upgrade people will argue about smart delivery.

I honestly struggle to see how this, or the Housemarque acquisition, or the whole debacle around H:FW can really be seen as relative enough to be covered on an XBox site. It's transparently just because they know those articles generate the traffic with the same pointless debates

Quite an ironic acquisition.
Sony closed down 'Studio Liverpool', developers of Wipeout, in 2012. The remnants of that studio formed 'Firesprite'.
And now they've come full circle with Sony buying them.

@LtSarge thats less hypocrisy and more fanboyism. Ignore them fanboys have nothing better to do most of them spend more time slandering than playing games.

@Trmn8r I dont disagree but both companies do it both historically and now just Sony a bit more so this gen.

Its a bad practice but not limited to one side.

@Senua hahaha all we can do plus if the runours are true that Xbox is lining up another here is 4-6 studios that are joining Xbox it isn't gonna help that narrative

Makes me laugh that when Sony buys a bargain bin studio all their fans start gushing over it as if it's the next Bethesda acquisition.

@Hellosmoothskin Hyperbole much? Lol.

Aside from that, the two games mentioned in this article are probably people have excitement

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-09-08-why-playstation-is-buying-firesprite-one-of-the-uks-fastest-growing-games-studios

@FatalBubbles Oh wow Wipeout....no

@Jaxx420 Sony did it more last gen as well. They've been doing it more for awhile now. But yes, Xbox has done it.

@Hellosmoothskin Wipeout? I was referring to the “game changing MP” and “dark narrative driven” games they talk about. I also don’t think I’ve seen anyone say anything as remotely ridiculous as you suggested.

Its funny how when MS buys a studio or another corp its nothing but cheers but when Sony buy a studio to clearly boost their VR its nothing but b*tching, talk about hypocrisy. If rumours prove true then in 24 hours you may be b*tching at the news that Sony bought Bluepoint who may be making a MGS remake exclusively for PS5.

Lots of fanboy'ing in this thread. The acquisition seems like a good fit for Sony and PSVR2, but industry consolidation is still concerning to me — regardless of who does it. I wonder if this was done because of a great opportunity, or because Sony had cash that would be losing 5-7% value year-over-year if they held out.

@WallyWest Polyphony Digital would like a word

Edit: You deleted your comment! Not fair. Have a good day.

How some people compare this and 2 other Sony buys to what Xbox has buy in last 3 years.
Sony has bought 3 gaming studios where 2 has almost been exclusive already.
Xbox has bought 21 studios where all made games to all consoles.
Xbox own 25 studios and Sony owns 14.

But if those people value Sonys 3 new studios more or equal to all 21 new Xbox studios then it is up to them.

@Stocksy “It’s not a Bethesda style move. Which was bad for everyone.”

It was great for me. I don’t have to buy those games, anymore. Apparently, it was good for Bethesda as well. They don’t have to prioritize monetizing their games like they did with Fallout 76.

@FatalBubbles "Game changing MP" is such a generic tagline with gaming developers these days. Does little to excite me. It's just some VR team that will amount to little.

@Hellosmoothskin Whether it excites you or not isn’t relevant to your hyperbolic comments that you made up about people comparing this to Bethesda and I was showing you why people may actually happen to be excited about it.

@Bdbrady I deleted my comment because i wanted to avoid the console war b*tch fight i knew it would cause, can't take the moral highground if you also partake in it after all.

I wonder if their games will be coming to Xbox.

@WallyWest yeah it was getting pretty rough in here. My comment was in jest

Have a good night!

@LtSarge C'mon man. This isn't the same as MS buying Zenimax. This is more akin to MS acquiring PlayGround and Undead. Now if Sony purchased Square...then I would agree.

Insomniac was mostly developing for Sony before the Sunset Overdrive. I get both sides to this. This acquisition from Sony ain't hurting Xbox in the least. Zenimax definitely hurt Sony because they developed games over there too. On the flipside, the Zenimax acquisition makes sense for Xbox for the obvious reasons of building a very high profile for AAA first party games. Add to the fact that many of Bethesda's games a played for months and years at a time. That works hand in hand with GamePass's numbers and the amount of hours or so on it.