Returnal Dev Housemarque Next Game is a New IP - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 March 2022 / 1,654 Views
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced in June 2021 it had acquired Returnal developer and long-time PlayStation partner Housemarque. The studio had developed eight exclusive games for PlayStation consoles.
Housemarque CEO and co-founder Ilari Kuittinen in an interview with VentureBeat was asked about the studio's next game and revealed it would be a new IP.
"Well, the jury is still out there. We’re one of the very last dinosaurs making arcade games," said Kuittinen. "Nex Machina, a few years ago, was very much a shoot-’em-up game in the style of the coin-ops from the ‘80s. That’s sort of a clue. But it’s interesting. We’ve been thinking about that.
"We had our stint working on multiplayer games, because a few years back it seemed like you needed to have some kind of multiplayer experience. We tried that, and we really didn’t do it as well. But it’s early days with us starting a new game, a new IP, concepting it out. We’ll see what comes with that."
Housemarque game director Harry Krueger added, "We’re really trying to hold on to that identity, as you mentioned. It’s wonderful right now that gaming has grown and evolved so much that there’s so much variety and diversity of game experiences. They can all peacefully coexist. There can be live service games, multiplayer games, games with many different sensibilities. Returnal is just another voice. At this stage we’re quite proud of what we accomplished with Returnal, and we’re quite excited to pursue that same trajectory as a company."
Returnal released for the PlayStation 5 on April 30, 2021.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Good, bring new IPs, even more when they are quite unique in design compared to other AAA games.
Great. But I really think they should make something similar to returnal, the game is sick as f@#$, truly amazing!!
Haven't played it yet but only heard good things. It's on my list for sure just have to make my way through it. ER being the biggest game of all time isn't helping.
