Sony aquires Guerrilla Games

[Andy]

Sony Computer Entertainment today announced that it has acquired leading developer Guerrilla Games to further expand its development capability as part of Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS).

In a strategic move to secure long term excellence in game development for current and future PlayStation platforms, the acquisition of Guerrilla has formalised the already close working relationship between Sony Computer Entertainment and the studio.

Guerrilla B.V.(http://www.guerrilla-games.com), based in Amsterdam, Netherlands is the award winning developer of the Killzone game for PlayStation 2, which has shipped close to 2 Million units worldwide. The studio is currently working on a new Killzone title for PlayStation 3, early scenes of which were shown to wide acclaim when revealed at E3 earlier this year. The studio is also developing a further game within the Killzone universe for PlayStation Portable (PSP). Guerrilla signed an exclusive development agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in March 2004 and the acquisition will help the team grow as a key creative element of the SCE Worldwide Studios network.

Commenting on the acquisition, Phil Harrison, President of SCE WWS, said, "Guerrilla have a great combination of creative, technical and production talent in their team and we have enjoyed a close working relationship with their management and staff for a number of years. I am delighted that they will now become a member of the SCE Worldwide Studios network of developers. As we prepare for the launch of PlayStation 3 next year, this acquisition strengthens our development portfolio to take full advantage of the exciting entertainment opportunities provided by PSP, PlayStation 3 and beyond."

Hermen Hulst, Managing Director of Guerrilla said, "Sony Computer Entertainment - with its truly global presence, leading platforms and commitment to innovation - is an ideal partner for Guerrilla and we are delighted to take our existing relationship to the next level."

Excellent.

I've said it before, but I'm sure that regardless of what the E3 Killzone video was, I'm sure Sony is pumping insane amounts of money into Guerilla to make sure the final thing matches up, no matter what it takes. Halo is the biggest thorn in Sony's paw right now (at least as far as the gaming business is concerned), and I remember many people's initial reactions (even in the press) of the E3 video was that they may very well have done it if that is really how the game turns out.

[Drewbacca]

Smart move, although Killzone wasn't all that hot. I honestly don't believe we're going to see anything close to the Killzone E3 footage within this generation or even the next generation. If Sony has an amazing first person shooter to help combat the Halo buzz it will help. The best way to make a killer app is to launch it with the system. Guerrilla nees to produce the new Killzone in time for a PS3 launch or they'll lose a lot of attention. This is the game that made people hyped for the PS3 to begin with, so if they let the market down it will be game over.

The Playstation 3 has me more interested in it than the Xbox 360 does. Coming in to this generation I thought it would be the exact opposite because I played games on the Xbox way more than I did on the PS2 this gen. Microsoft sacrificed its technological advantage over Sony in order to rush their box out the door and it's going to cost them because they just don't have the kind of 3rd party support Sony does to back them up.

[salmonax]

Countless unconfirmed reports stated that over 13 million copies of Killzone were manufactured and less than 1 million were actually sold. Reportedly Sony has at least 10 million unsold copies of the over-hyped first-person shooting game stored in its warehouses.

Take that with your usual Wikipedia grain of salt, but it's still LAWL-tastic. If they can make the next Killzone look like the trailer, then good for them. But I'm preparing for disappointment.

[Dolemite]

OMG! The next-gen wars are over!

Seriously, buying the developer of an average-at-best (aside from the great atmosphere and art direction) FPS isn't that big a deal. But like Andy said, Sony'll probably dump shitloads of cash into Guerilla now. Hell, if they churn out a game that looks like the E3 video and actually plays well...

[avatar]

If Sony didn't show that footage at E3 would anyone care about this. Would this have even been posted?

[piku]

Take that with your usual Wikipedia grain of salt, but it's still LAWL-tastic. If they can make the next Killzone look like the trailer, then good for them. But I'm preparing for disappointment.

That has to be complete bullshit.

[Andy]

It is complete bullshit. If they actually had 10 million unsold copies the game would've been a dollar a month after release, ala NFL 2K2, and definitive information would've certainly been leaked about it. In reality, Killzone has sold nearly 2 million copies (as you can read in the very PR above), which much like The Getaway, makes it a surprisingly successful game, considering the decidedly mediocre reception of both.

Seriously, buying the developer of an average-at-best (aside from the great atmosphere and art direction) FPS isn't that big a deal. But like Andy said, Sony'll probably dump shitloads of cash into Guerilla now. Hell, if they churn out a game that looks like the E3 video and actually plays well...

Well, I'd say great atmosphere and art direction is a pretty valuable commodity among the FPS genre.

Personally, I thought Killzone was a letdown as well, but only because of the hardware. As I'm sure many who have actually played it would probably agree, the game definitely had some very cool atmosphere going for it, and as noted, great art direction, and believe it or not they actually did have some pretty ambitious game design going on. Unfortunately, it was all held back by the hardware, making for some really, really lacklustre framerate (my biggest complaint), lack of draw distance, and a lot of technical flaws/bugs. Yet at the same time, it was pushing easily one of the most technologically impressive achievements the PS2 has seen, so I think with far greater hardware Guerilla has a shot at producing something worthwhile.