Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios

Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios
legal form	Division of YOU
founding	September 14, 2005
Seat	San Mateo, USA
management	Hermen Hulst ( President )
Branch	Software development
Website	https://www.playstation.com/de-de/footer/about-us/world-wide-studios

Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios , officially abbreviated as SIE Worldwide Studios or SIE WWS , is the umbrella organization founded in 2005 for all computer game development companies of the console manufacturer Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE). It is a mainly internal organization that oversees the development of all subsidiary studios within the SIE. She is responsible for the creative and strategic alignment of all development work and productions in the entertainment software area of the SIE studios for the PlayStation console family.

history

Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios was founded in 2005 as Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, under the direction of long-time Sony employee Phil Harrison . In December of the same year Sony took over the Dutch game developer Guerrilla Games , responsible for the development of Killzone . A few weeks later, in January 2006, Foster City- based Zipper Interactive ( SOCOM series ) also became part of SIE WWS. In 2007, the British Evolution Studios ( MotorStorm ) and its sister company Bigbig Studios ( Pursuit Force ) were bought by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

At the end of February 2008, Phil Harrison unexpectedly left the company for no reason. Within Sony there were considerations to close the department again. Finally, Shūhei Yoshida , previously Vice President and responsible for the US developer studios, applied for the vacant position. In May, Yoshida was introduced as the new President of SIE WWS.

In 2009, Incognito Entertainment ( Twisted Metal: Black , Warhawk ) was dissolved. There was no official announcement, but executives founded several new companies (Eat Sleep Play, LightBox Interactive). Other studios continued the previous Incognito developments such as Twisted Metal , while Incognito itself has not appeared since then. Due to the great commercial and critical success of LittleBigPlanet , Sony took over the young British studio Media Molecule in February 2010 , although it was the company's first and only title to date. In 2011, Sony acquired Sucker Punch Productions , the developers of the Sly Cooper and Infamous series .

In early January 2012, Sony reorganized its UK offices. Bigbig Studios closed after work on Little Deviants was completed. The reason given by Sony was a focus on more promising titles. At the same time, the Cambridge studio was renamed Guerrilla Cambridge and became the sister studio of Guerrilla Games in Holland. After completion of the work on Unit 13 , Zipper Interactive was closed in March , the latest developments of which could no longer build on old successes. Most recently, the Liverpool studio (formerly Psygnosis) was closed in August .

During 2013, Sony formed a development team called Pixelopus that consisted of graduates from the Entertainment Technology Center ( Carnegie Mellon University ) and the Animation and Illustration program from San José State University . The creative direction lay with Dominic Robilliard ( Star Wars 1313 , The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition ). In 2014, the team released their first game, Entwined .

Studios

Asia

The following studios are part of the operations area of Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia (Tokyo headquarters):

Japan Studio - Tokyo, Japan. There are several teams and departments within the studio that appear with their own name:
- JSEDD : Japan Studio External Development Department, usually responsible for working with larger external development studios, including responsibility for Soul Sacrifice , Soul Sacrifice Delta and Freedom Wars .
- PlayStation CAMP : Creator Audition Mash-up Project, responsible for working with independent developers, including Tokyo Jungle , Rain , Patchwork Heroes and Open Me!
- Team Gravity : Developer of Siren and Gravity Rush .
- Team Knack: Developer of Knack and Knack 2
Polyphony Digital - Tokyo, Japan. Developer of the Gran Turismo series

North America

The following studios belong to the operations area of Sony Interactive Entertainment America (company headquarters San Mateo):

Bend Studio - Bend, Oregon, USA
Foster City Studio - Foster City, California, USA
Naughty Dog - Santa Monica, California, USA
San Diego Studio - San Diego, California, USA
Santa Monica Studio - Playa Vista, Los Angeles, USA
Sucker Punch Productions - Bellevue, Washington, USA
PixelOpus - San Mateo, California, USA
Insomniac Games - Burbank, California, USA

Europe

The following studios belong to the operational area of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe (head office London):

London Studio - London, UK
Manchester Studio - Manchester, UK
Guerrilla Games - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Media Molecule - Surrey, UK
XDev - Liverpool, UK

Closed studios

Bigbig Studios
Studio Liverpool (formerly Psygnosis)
Zipper Interactive
Cambridge Studio / Guerrilla Cambridge

Other studios and organizations

ICE team

Naughty Dog is home to the ICE team, a technical workgroup across the Worldwide Studios. The designation ICE originally stood for I nitiative for a C ommon E ngine with which the original purpose of the working group was described. The core task of the ICE team is the development of central graphics technologies for the titles published by Sony worldwide. This includes low-level components of the game engine, graphics pipelines , auxiliary, graphics profiling and debugging tools. The ICE team also supports third-party developers with a collection of engine components as well as graphics analysis, profiling and debugging tools for the RSX Reality Synthesizer, the graphics processor of the PlayStation 3. Both are intended to help developers get better performance out of the PlayStation hardware .

XDev

Sony XDev Europe works with independent development studios across Europe and other PAL territories to publish content for the PlayStation platforms worldwide. The XDev, located in the Liverpool (Psygnosis) studio, were involved in the development and release of LittleBigPlanet , Buzz! , MotorStorm , the Invizimals series, Super Stardust HD , Heavenly Sword , Heavy Rain , Beyond: Two Souls , Tearaway and Resogun . Previous partner companies included Quantic Dream , Magenta Software , Clever Beans, Climax Studios , Novarama , Supermassive Games and Sumo Digital , as well as Media Molecule , Evolution Studios and Guerrilla Games acquired from Sony . In addition to funding, XDev provides full production, project management and game design support. The games also receive support with community management, online production and dedicated outsourcing management facilities. XDev works directly with Sony's marketing and PR teams around the world to promote and publish its game productions worldwide.

List of computer games from Sony XDev Europe

SN Systems

SN Systems is a provider of Windows development tools for game consoles, including the entire PlayStation family. SN Systems was acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2005 to provide software tools for the PlayStation 3 and future consoles. The move was seen as a response to Microsoft's XNA program .

SCEE R&D

Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Research & Development is a technical expert group for the PlayStation platforms. The working group reports to both the European headquarters SIEE and the main research department SIE R&D in Tokyo, which is responsible for the development of new PlayStation hardware. The department itself does not develop games, but provides the development studios with the appropriate technical materials for new games. The EyeToy is one of the developments by SIEE R&D .