The PlayStation Studios family features some of the world's greatest developers. With the acquisition of Firesprite, the PlayStation Studios family grows one studio larger, becoming the 14th member of the illustrious group.

Like Microsoft with the Xbox, Sony has had first-party developers ever since the original PlayStation, some of which are still with the company to this day. It was not until 2020 when Sony revealed the PlayStation Studios branding that all of its first-party studios would fall under. The PlayStation Studios brand includes developers like Naughty Dog, the creators of The Last of Us 2, Insomniac Games, the developers of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, and many others. Complete with a sleek animation of various games flashing along the surfaces of the iconic shaped button icons like the introduction to a Marvel Studios movie, the sense of prestige and quality is immediately conveyed when it plays while starting up a game.

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The Head of PlayStation Studios, Hermen Hulst, took to the PlayStation Blog this morning to announce that Firesprite would be joining the PlayStaion Studios family. Firesprite is a Liverpool based studio that has worked closely with Sony PlayStation in the past, developing games like The Playroom on PS4 and The Playroom VR. Earlier this year, PlayStation announced that it had acquired Housemarque, the developer of this year's Returnal, making Firesprite the 14th studio to join the PlayStation Studios family.

Hulst's blog post includes a letter from Graeme Ankers, the Managing Director of Firesprite, where they express their excitement for joining PlayStation. Both Hulst and Ankers reflect on Firesprite's PlayStation roots, as some of the team's developers can be traced back to titles like the original WipEout. Ankers extends their thanks to PlayStation for not only letting Firesprite help develop PlayStation's visions for games but helping them create their very own IP in The Persistence, a 2018 PSVR horror game.

This announcement comes at an auspicious time for Firesprite, it coming just days ahead of the PlayStation Showcase 2021. While Ankers' closing remarks, "you'll continue to hear and see more form us all very soon," may just be a rhetorical statement, they could very well also be pointing towards an announcement during the upcoming showcase. According to their website, Firesprite is currently developing Star Citizen: Theaters of War for PC, so an announcement may be in relation to this (perhaps coming to PS5) or something totally unexpected. Regardless, it is great to see another developer be rewarded for their hard work and attaining the pedigree that comes with being a PlayStation Studio.

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Source: PlayStation Blog