Lock if old.
Today, IGN can confirm that the spirit of Sony Liverpool has officially returned, and it’s done so in the form of Firesprite, a studio made of remnants from the defunct studio. The team’s first project together was helping a still-functioning Sony-owned developer – Studio Japan – with the bundled-in PlayStation 4 game The Playroom.
“[Firesprite] came about organically, but we all had a shared vision,” the new studio’s Managing Director, Graeme Ankers, told IGN. “The founding team met up socially after Studio Liverpool and we talked about all the things we had achieved over the years, the platform launches, the variety of games, going back to [the] Psygnosis days and through to F1 and WipEout. We knew we wanted to carry on making great games.”
Indeed, the core leadership team at Firesprite – consisting of five people – helped create games for each and every piece of PlayStation hardware, from PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3, to PSP and Vita. They have over 80 years of collective experience working on PlayStation titles.
With Studio Liverpool shuttered and some core members of the team still talking regularly with each other, they began meeting at one of their apartments, discussing what they wanted to do next. They began to figure things out and “moved quickly into getting an office and putting together the Firesprite team,” according to Ankers. “Over the years, we worked with some of the best games content creators and quickly built a team of 20 people, 15 of which had been on the journey with us through the years at Studio Liverpool. It’s an energetic mix of experience and new talent.”
“We have been working hard on creating a new game engine and tool chain that allows us to put the creative power in the best hands – the artists and designers,” Firesprite’s Technical Director, Chris Roberts, said. “That puts us in a great position delivering the best experiences for players. It also allows us to get our games running on multiple platforms including mobile – so we can deliver platform specific features that make the best games.”
When asked if Firesprite can be counted on to make a PlayStation-exclusive, what with its experience slanting heavily towards PlayStation development, Ankers stressed that his team is independent, even with their solid Sony connections. “We do have a lot of experience on PlayStation platforms,” he admitted, “and it’s been fantastic being part of the journey on all of them.
I am Torgo, I take care of the place while the master is away.
"Hes the clown that makes the dark side fun.. Torgo!"
Ha.. i won my bet, but i wasnt around to gloat because im on a better forum! See ya guys on Viz
