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Playstation acquires Firesprite

T8SC

Member
Psygnosis is bought by Sony, becomes Studio Liverpool, & is then closed by Sony, ex-employees start up new dev "Firesprite", Sony buy Firesprite.

Lets hope they don't get lumbered with just VR games. Studio Liverpool became "F1 & Wipeout only" ... when they were Psygnosis, they were far more diverse including Lemmings, Colony Wars, Destruction Derby, G-Police, Shadow Of The Beast etc
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Psygnosis is bought by Sony, becomes Studio Liverpool, & is then closed by Sony, ex-employees start up new dev "Firesprite", Sony buy Firesprite.

Lets hope they don't get lumbered with just VR games. Studio Liverpool became "F1 & Wipeout only" ... when they were Psygnosis, they were far more diverse including Lemmings, Colony Wars, Destruction Derby, G-Police, Shadow Of The Beast etc

Different time, different people in charge of studios now and people running firesprite now have a better output and direction than they did when they were Liverpool.
 

CamHostage

Member
Impressive how smart and witty you are.....and clueless if you don't even understand the post.

No, it's not that hard to understand your post. You're saying, "LOL, AAA, I don't believe you!" Which, okay, that's you're opinion, we don't know what project they're hiring for or where it will fall in the grand scheme of the game market but FireSprite has not done any games that you consider "AAA" (maybe not most general gamers either) and so we'll have to see it to judge it.

But the post is looking for a professional writer in the industry, so it's speaking to somebody who understands what expectations that means when "AAA" is written into a job req for an experienced and reputable company (who has just been acquired by a major publisher) on a project with a considerable budget and backing. It's not an ad that's meant to speak to us as gamers or GAF posters... and I'm guessing it's not meant to speak to you as somebody who might be looking for a job as a "writer".
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
No, it's not that hard to understand your post. You're saying, "LOL, AAA, I don't believe you!" Which, okay, that's you're opinion, we don't know what project they're hiring for or where it will fall in the grand scheme of the game market but FireSprite has not done any games that you consider "AAA" (maybe not most general gamers either) and so we'll have to see it to judge it.

But the post is looking for a professional writer in the industry, so it's speaking to somebody who understands what expectations that means when "AAA" is written into a job req for an experienced and reputable company (who has just been acquired by a major publisher) on a project with a considerable budget and backing. It's not an ad that's meant to speak to us as gamers or GAF posters... and I'm guessing it's not meant to speak to you as somebody who might be looking for a job as a "writer".

Time will tell, it's just arrogant of them to say AAA when that seems extremely unlikely.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
I'm not smart lol

I just know how to read numbers, like the fact that firesprite has grown to 250+ these past 2 years with 40 more on the way

You know, the typical headcount for AAA games?

That's one part of an AAA game, the second would be the quality if the game and sales. It's not that outlandish to suggest that this particular company has no history of making or selling a quality AAA game.
 
That's one part of an AAA game, the second would be the quality if the game and sales. It's not that outlandish to suggest that this particular company has no history of making or selling a quality AAA game.

No, it's just the budget that makes it a AAA game. That's it.

Now you're just pulling shit out of your ass for making a stupid comment lmao
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
You didn't know AAA games could be bad and flop? Quality and popularity has nothing to do with it being AAA.

Not in my books, and I bet not in a lot of others. When we talk about sony or ms AAA games, we are typically referring to the best and most popular for that platform, not the big budget games that are horrible and flopped.
This is not a formal classification.
 
Not in my books, and I bet not in a lot of others. When we talk about sony or ms AAA games, we are typically referring to the best and most popular for that platform, not the big budget games that are horrible and flopped.
This is not a formal classification.

That's what most people refer AAA games as

Hence why they call them AAA games before they've even released. Including you
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
That's what most people refer AAA games as

Hence why they call them AAA games before they've even released, including you

And my point from the start was, that firesprite was basically advertising that they were developing game of that caliber is unlikely and arrogant on thier part, zero history to back it up. If naughty dog places the same ad I have no issue.
 
And my point from the start was, that firesprite was basically advertising that they were developing game of that caliber is unlikely and arrogant on thier part, zero history to back it up. If naughty dog places the same ad I have no issue.

They're advertising that they're making a AAA game because Sony has given them to budget to hire for a AAA game

Not difficult to understand
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
They're advertising that they're making a AAA game because Sony has given them to budget to hire for a AAA game

Not difficult to understand

Neither is the concept of the quality of the game mattering in that equation.

So your telling me if popcap games or gameloft threw 250 people in a team and told you they were making an AAA game for ps5 or series X that suddenly taken at face value?
 
Neither is the concept of the quality of the game mattering in that equation.

So your telling me if popcap games or gameloft threw 250 people in a team and told you they were making an AAA game for ps5 or series X that suddenly taken at face value?

This is a subsidary of Sony Interactive Entertainment, with all the resources and support that entails.

I'll take this at face value just like i'll take The Coalition's first AAA game at face value.
 
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skit_data

Member
This is a subsidary of Sony Interactive Entertainment, with all the resources and support that entails.

I'll take this at face value just like i'll take The Coalition's first AAA game at face value.
Don’t you mean The Initiatives AAAA-title?
I mean, a brand new studio inventing all new words and stuff maybe they should be met with more skepticism than Firesprites projects.
 

CamHostage

Member
Time will tell, it's just arrogant of them to say AAA when that seems extremely unlikely.

It sounds arrogant to you because A) you think a job advertisement on Monster.com is a message for you as a gamer, and B) you are confusing the difference between "AAA" as a business term used in understanding the scale of a project for interested parties, investors and employees versus "AAA" as a marketing term for gamers to froth / bicker about on a forum.

It's not arrogant. It's informative. In any case, people generally don't have much business reading job postings for videogame roles if they aren't actually looking for a job (and particularly if people don't understand the terms; I understand trolling the trades for scoops, but you have to know what you're digging for before you pull something out and scream, "Ah ha!") So just back off this one. You're welcome back on this thread or the next one in the distant future once Sony/FireSprite actually announce the title and show something of it, and when that happens you can argue or put up a poll or whatever about to debate whether it meets some standards of "AAA" , but for now, no reason to keep this conversation going...


I'm welcome to put in my two bits regardless of your permission to do so, be it in the past, right now, or the future. Just as you are entitled to be wrong.
Oh, this ain't my place, I'm sure you're welcome here any time... I'm just trying to nicely show you where the door so you can save yourself from getting your ass whooped by people who know facts.
 
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ANIMAL1975

Member
That's one part of an AAA game, the second would be the quality if the game and sales. It's not that outlandish to suggest that this particular company has no history of making or selling a quality AAA game.

Not in my books, and I bet not in a lot of others. When we talk about sony or ms AAA games, we are typically referring to the best and most popular for that platform, not the big budget games that are horrible and flopped.
This is not a formal classification.
In my books lol, just take the L mate.
Games are AAA because of their budget which is what determines all its production limits _ time, personnel, resources, etc. _ simple as that. You are not going to revisión game labeling with your books hrrr.

Time will tell, it's just arrogant of them to say AAA when that seems extremely unlikely.
Arrogant Studio of Arrogant Sony amirite?
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
In my books lol, just take the L mate.
Games are AAA because of their budget which is what determines all its production limits _ time, personnel, resources, etc. _ simple as that. You are not going to revisión game labeling with your books hrrr.


Arrogant Studio of Arrogant Sony amirite?

I could care less if it's sony, xbox or Nintendo.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
It sounds arrogant to you because A) you think a job advertisement on Monster.com is a message for you as a gamer, and B) you are confusing the difference between "AAA" as a business term used in understanding the scale of a project for interested parties, investors and employees versus "AAA" as a marketing term for gamers to froth / bicker about on a forum.

It's not arrogant. It's informative. In any case, people generally don't have much business reading job postings for videogame roles if they aren't actually looking for a job (and particularly if people don't understand the terms; I understand trolling the trades for scoops, but you have to know what you're digging for before you pull something out and scream, "Ah ha!") So just back off this one. You're welcome back on this thread or the next one in the distant future once Sony/FireSprite actually announce the title and show something of it, and when that happens you can argue or put up a poll or whatever about to debate whether it meets some standards of "AAA" , but for now, no reason to keep this conversation going.



Heh, four As, AAAA... the new frontier.

I'm welcome to put in my two bits regardless of your permission to do so, be it in the past, right now, or the future. Just as you are entitled to be wrong.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
That's one part of an AAA game, the second would be the quality if the game and sales. It's not that outlandish to suggest that this particular company has no history of making or selling a quality AAA game.

AAA is about the scope of the project, basically it’s budget/resources that determine what is and isn’t AAA. It’s a big studio with the most prominent AAA publisher in the industry, so do the math.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
AAA is about the scope of the project, basically it’s budget/resources that determine what is and isn’t AAA. It’s a big studio with the most prominent AAA publisher in the industry, so do the math.

It's a big studio with zero history of making good games, let alone big ones. So what if Sony is the publisher, this forum would be the first in line to say a crap studio is a crap studio if ms bought them. Somehow magically since Sony bought them they are now magically capable of AAA first party top quality games? Please.
 

CamHostage

Member
/\ Noted. Moving on, hopefully...

Don’t you mean The Initiatives AAAA-title?
I mean, a brand new studio inventing all new words and stuff maybe they should be met with more skepticism than Firesprites projects.

Heh, four As, AAAA... the new frontier.

Yup that's the one. Forgot the AAAA nonsense lmao

They have such shit names I can never remember

Well, it's nonsense to say out loud or to put on a promotional video, but it does make some sense in terms of the business. AAA kind of came into vernacular in the PS2 era (I'm not sure if productions really considered themselves on that kind of scale on PS1 or SNES or whatever? Even if you had a big brand and got a star's likeness and invested some multimedia production value, I don't think MGS or Goldeneye or DKC were ranked as production line-items in that way?), and the difference between budget / development schedule / manpower for a PS2-era "AAA" and a PS5/XS-era "AAA" is canyon-esque.
 
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Unknown?

Member
It's a big studio with zero history of making good games, let alone big ones. So what if Sony is the publisher, this forum would be the first in line to say a crap studio is a crap studio if ms bought them. Somehow magically since Sony bought them they are now magically capable of AAA first party top quality games? Please.
No one's saying it will be good, they are saying it will be a big budget AAA game. By your definition The Order wasn't AAA and neither was Quantum Break.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
It's a big studio with zero history of making good games, let alone big ones. So what if Sony is the publisher, this forum would be the first in line to say a crap studio is a crap studio if ms bought them. Somehow magically since Sony bought them they are now magically capable of AAA first party top quality games? Please.

I don’t know why “history of making good games” matters at all to the size and scope of the projects they are currently working on. Whether the game ends up being good or being shit is something we will only know when they release.

Don’t forget these studios don’t develop the game alone, they rely on the network of studios + outsourcing, the whole pipeline set up by Sony.

Considering Sony only acquired them during production, they must like what they see at least.

It’s not the same as MS buying Ninja Theory, Double Fine or Inxile, in the sense that those were small studios that will have to expand in order to tackle an AAA project whereas Firesprite already had a big head count.

But again, to your point, quality is up in the air and the only reason why people will have any expectations is because of Sony.
 

yurinka

Member
AAA sounds good. Does the team have pedigree?
I did some research, Fabrik seems to have many former Evolution Studios staff and some former Liverpool Studios staff:

-Graeme Ankers (CEO/Managing director): Wipeout 2048 studio manager and producer or director of Formula One 04, 05, 06, 07...
-Kieran D'Archambaud (Studio Technical Director): driveclub lead programmer and programmer in MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Pacific Rift or RC..
-Simon Donbavant (Development Director): MotorStorm: Pacific Rift head of internal development, development director in Motorstorm Apocalypse, Artic Rift and RC
-James Le Noble (producer): QA in Elite Dangerous, Blur, The Club, Project Gotham Racing 4...
-Sarah St. Pier (producer): producer in Just Cause 4, Need for Speed: Rivals, Motostorm RC, tester in MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and Apocalypse
-Andy Kearney (producer): producer in Narita Boy, developer in Blur
-James Lacy (lead designer): designer in Motorstorm, Pacific Rift, Apocalypse, RC...
-David Deeble (senior designer): designer in Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed, tester in Wipeout Pulse, God of War: Chains of Olympus or Super Stardust HD
-Steven Tyson (senior programmer): Sackboy A Big Adventure programmer, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and Apocalypse, Need for Speed Rivals
-Andrew Hosfield (senior programmer): senior programmer in Driveclub, programmer in F1 2001 or Wipeout 64, special thanks in WipEout Fusion
-Manjit Ghataora (senior programmer): Team Sonic Racing, Formula Fusion, Wipeout 2048, Wipeout Pulse, MotorStorm: Apocalypse and Pacific Rift, Little Big Planet, Formula One 05, 06 and CE...
-Michael Salim Kaiser (senior programmer): Driveclub programmer
-Mark Hurd (senior artist): WipEout 2048 world art team, Blur
-Andrew Manns (artist): artist/lead artist/world art in Driveclub, Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, Need for Speed Underground...

I highlighted mostly their racing games, but many of them also are experienced in other AAA games beyond the ones I listed, you can research about it on Moby Games.
 
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Shmunter

Member
I did some research, Fabrik seems to have many former Evolution Studios staff and some former Liverpool Studios staff:

-Graeme Ankers (CEO/Managing director): Wipeout 2048 studio manager and producer or director of Formula One 04, 05, 06, 07...
-Kieran D'Archambaud (Studio Technical Director): driveclub lead programmer and programmer in MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Pacific Rift or RC..
-Simon Donbavant (Development Director): MotorStorm: Pacific Rift head of internal development, development director in Motorstorm Apocalypse, Artic Rift and RC
-James Le Noble (producer): QA in Elite Dangerous, Blur, The Club, Project Gotham Racing 4...
-Sarah St. Pier (producer): producer in Just Cause 4, Need for Speed: Rivals, Motostorm RC, tester in MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and Apocalypse
-Andy Kearney (producer): producer in Narita Boy, developer in Blur
-James Lacy (lead designer): designer in Motorstorm, Pacific Rift, Apocalypse, RC...
-David Deeble (senior designer): designer in Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed, tester in Wipeout Pulse, God of War: Chains of Olympus or Super Stardust HD
-Steven Tyson (senior programmer): Sackboy A Big Adventure programmer, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and Apocalypse, Need for Speed Rivals
-Andrew Hosfield (senior programmer): senior programmer in Driveclub, programmer in F1 2001 or Wipeout 64, special thanks in WipEout Fusion
-Manjit Ghataora (senior programmer): Team Sonic Racing, Formula Fusion, Wipeout 2048, Wipeout Pulse, MotorStorm: Apocalypse and Pacific Rift, Little Big Planet, Formula One 05, 06 and CE...
-Michael Salim Kaiser (senior programmer): Driveclub programmer
-Mark Hurd (senior artist): WipEout 2048 world art team, Blur
-Andrew Manns (artist): artist/lead artist/world art in Driveclub, Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, Need for Speed Underground...

🤔 Lots of driving experience, yet building a AAA horror game? Perhaps it will be like Christine (1984)
 

Kdad

Member
And my point from the start was, that firesprite was basically advertising that they were developing game of that caliber is unlikely and arrogant on thier part, zero history to back it up. If naughty dog places the same ad I have no issue.
Learn when to back away.
 

yurinka

Member
🤔 Lots of driving experience, yet building a AAA horror game? Perhaps it will be like Christine (1984)
Many of these folks worked in many other AAA games from other genres. I highlighted on purpose their diving game ones on purpose because I want them to make a new Wipeout (or Motorstorm). I assume that if they are working on a AAA horror game it's going to be the sequel of their previous game, which was a AAA VR horror game.

Now acquiring Fabrik they are in the 250-300 range, which means it's likely that they have 3 games in the works at the same time (they have two in the works in Firesprite and Fabrik may have another one).
 
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