Company:Firesprite
 | |
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Headquarters | Liverpool , England |
Key people |
|
| Services | Video game development |
Number of employees | 265 (2021)[1] |
| Parent | PlayStation Studios (2021–present) |
| Subsidiaries | Fabrik Games |
| Website | Official website |
Firesprite is a British video game developer formed in 2012 by former members of Studio Liverpool based in Liverpool.[2][3][4] In September 2021, Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired the company, making them a first-party developer for PlayStation Studios.
History
Firesprite was founded in 2012 by Graeme Ankers as managing director, Lee Carus as art director, Chris Roberts as technical director, Stuart Tilley as game director, and Stuart Lovegrove as programming director. The studio is staffed by some developers that were part of Psygnosis and the five people in the studio's core leadership team have worked on games for every PlayStation console[citation needed]. Psygnosis was mostly known for the Wipeout series.
In 2013, the team worked on the visuals of one of the launch titles for the PlayStation 4, an augmented reality tech demo, The Playroom. which received a Metacritic User Score of 6.9.[5] Run Sackboy! Run! followed on mobile devices in 2014 and received a Metacritic score of 65%.[6] Again in collaboration with SIE Japan Studio, and one of the launch titles for Playstation VR, The Playroom VR was created "in Japan Studio by the same team that brought you The Playroom on PS4" and released in 2016.[7]
Following up in May 2019 it was announced that an update would be released soon for The Persistence. Launching as a free update for owners of the game, the Complete Edition will bring The Persistence to flat-screen TVs for the first time.[8]
In March 2021, the company announced a partnership with Cloud Imperium Games to work on Theaters of War (working title), a large scale combined arms multiplayer game mode in development for their game Star Citizen.[9] Their partnership started in early 2019 after Cloud Imperium outlined their vision for the game mode,[9] but in April 2022, development of Theaters of War was transferred back to an internal CIG vehicle tech team. According to Tyler Witkin in a Spectrum post, "work with Firesprite has ended."[10]
In September 2021, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that it had acquired the studio.[11] Later in the month Sony acquired Fabrik Games "in connection with Firesprite joining PlayStation Studios”,[12] bringing the studio's headcount to 265.[1]
Job listings confirmed that two games were in development, one being a multiplayer action game and the other being a horror game.
Games developed
| Title | Year | Platforms | Note(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Playroom | 2013 | PlayStation 4 with PlayStation Camera | Additional work |
| Run Sackboy! Run! | 2014 | PlayStation Vita, Android, iOS | |
| The Playroom VR | 2016 | PlayStation 4 with PlayStation VR | Additional work |
| Air Force Special Ops: Nightfall | 2017 | ||
| The Persistence | 2018 | ||
| The Persistence | 2020 | PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows | Enhanced edition released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Microsoft Windows in 2021 |
| Horizon Call of the Mountain | 2023 | PlayStation 5 with PlayStation VR2 | Co-developed with Guerrilla Games |
| Star Citizen | TBA | Microsoft Windows | Theaters of War mode, co-developed with CIG |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Firesprite acquires Fabrik Games". 29 September 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-09-29-firesprite-acquires-fabrik-games.
- ↑ Hing, David. "SCE Liverpool devs form Firesprite". bit-gamer. bit-tech. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2013/12/06/sce-liverpool-devs-form-firesprite/1. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
- ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (6 December 2013). "From the ashes of WipEout dev Studio Liverpool rises Firesprite". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-12-06-from-the-ashes-of-wipeout-dev-studio-liverpool-rises-firesprite. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
- ↑ "Firesprite: Sony's Studio Liverpool Lives Again". 5 December 2013. http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/12/05/firesprite-sonys-studio-liverpool-lives-again.
- ↑ "The Playroom" (in en). https://www.metacritic.com/game/the-playroom/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-4.
- ↑ "Run Sackboy! Run!" (in en). https://www.metacritic.com/game/run-sackboy-run/critic-reviews/?platform=ios-iphoneipad.
- ↑ "25 fun facts about the Playroom VR (Warning: Contains bird poop)". 30 September 2016. https://blog.eu.playstation.com/2016/09/30/25-fun-facts-about-the-playroom-vr-warning-contains-bird-poop/.
- ↑ "The Persistence: Complete Edition". playstation.com. 15 May 2019. https://blog.us.playstation.com/2019/05/15/the-persistence-complete-edition-out-soon-playable-outside-ps-vr/. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Cloud Imperium Games and Firesprite Unveil Development Partnership for Star Citizen Multiplayer Mode" (in en). 2021-03-18. https://firesprite.com/news/2021/03/cloud-imperium-games-and-firesprite-unveil-development-partnership-for-star-citizen-multiplayer-mode/.
- ↑ "Spectrum - v6.8.2". https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/3/thread/roadmap-roundup-april-27th-2022/5038588.
- ↑ "Why PlayStation is buying Firesprite, one of the UK's fastest growing studios". 8 September 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-09-08-why-playstation-is-buying-firesprite-one-of-the-uks-fastest-growing-games-studios.
- ↑ Editor, Marie Dealessandri Deputy (2021-09-29). "Firesprite acquires Fabrik Games" (in en). https://www.gamesindustry.biz/firesprite-acquires-fabrik-games.
External links
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