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Sony to open new 65,000 sq ft Liverpool office

Lunatic_Gamer

Gold Member
The firm had been placed at Wavertree Technology Park, and it's been a part of the city since the debut of the original PlayStation in Europe. The new 65,000 square foot campus sees the company move from the suburbs into the middle of the city. The new facility boasts 'collaboration and entertainment' spaces, a cafe, staff gym and rooftop terrace. It'll open in the Spring.

PlayStation has been a big business in Liverpool and at peak employed some 500 staff. It has also operated numerous developers in the area, and last year it acquired Firesprite Studio, which is also based in the city.

Sony says that the new location is designed to attract and retail talent, and better connect with tech companies, business partners and academic communities.

 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Weren't there exodus in the past, due to UK high taxes? I know thing changed, wasn't the Evolution studios in Liverpool?
 

yurinka

Member
Weren't there exodus in the past, due to UK high taxes? I know thing changed, wasn't the Evolution studios in Liverpool?
Psygnosis, later known as SCEE Studio Liverpool, plus Evolution and Bizarre Creations were in Liverpool. Now most of the main talent of these three studios is in Firesprite. A few more are at Lucid (also based in Liverpool) and some more in a Codemasters studio.

There are also a few former SCEE Liverpool devs in R8 Games, the developer of Pacer, the really awesome -specially on PC- spiritual successor of Wipeout. R8 Games are from Middlesbrough, which is pretty close to Liverpool. If I was Hermen I'd buy both Lucid and R8 and would integrate them into Firesprite, and would try to hire from Codemasters more former Evolution, SCEE Liverpool and Bizarre Creations staff.

This is just the start of the conspiration within Sony to bring back Psygnosis. Within a year or two the company will change names and the owlball logo will reign supreme again!
It would be awesome, and to reveal it at the same time they announce a brand new PSVR2 compatible (but not exclusive) Wipeout. If possible one that would also include some ships and references to Rollcage, merging both universes. And would be cool to do it also including the Sparrows from Destiny, merging both universes.

To make it more profitable, make it GaaS, in addition to a beefy single player and casual friendly part, include a eSports friendly side and release it on PC too half a year after PS5 release.
 
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Kokoloko85

Member
Didnt Sony close their UK liverpool studio last gen? Weird there going back and working with the same people, I wonder what happened?
 

SilentUser

Member
Psygnosis, later known as SCEE Studio Liverpool, plus Evolution and Bizarre Creations were in Liverpool. Now most of the main talent of these three studios is in Firesprite. A few more are at Lucid and some more in a Codemasters studio.
Sony, please bring MotorStorm back :messenger_smiling_hearts:
 

yurinka

Member
I hope they aren't planning on buying Lucid...
They have been growing a lot, and seems they want to grow even more. So probably they also acquire Lucid (I'd buy R8 Games instead or too) and merge into Firesprite.



ok ok, i'm done :p

It would be awesome to remake clasic Psygnosis themes like some of these ones (like the Blood Money theme) remixing them for a brand new Wipeout using a more wipeout-like style.

Didnt Sony close their UK liverpool studio last gen? Weird there going back and working with the same people, I wonder what happened?
Yes, previous bosses did shut down Evolution and Psygnosis/SCEE Studio Liverpool. Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst basically resurrected them and Bizarre Creations by acquiring Firesprite, acquire Fabrik to merge it into Firesprite and hiring a lot of former staff from Evolutiton, Psygnosis/Studio Liverpool and Bizarre Creations.

Sony, please bring MotorStorm back :messenger_smiling_hearts:
I'd buy it, but I need a brand new Wipeout first, please.
 
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mansoor1980

Member
soyouretellingmetheresachance-4.gif
 

lukilladog

Member
Why on earth are Sony wasting their money investing in the UK,didn't they get the memo.......we left the EU and have no future,lol.
Fuck all those Brexit doom mongers.....seriously,fuck 'em in the ear.

Sony was taking money from some program to promote the british culture and game industry incentives, it was probably build with your own taxes.
 
They have been growing a lot, and seems they want to grow even more. So probably they also acquire Lucid (I'd buy R8 Games instead or too) and merge into Firesprite.


It would be awesome to remake clasic Psygnosis themes like some of these ones (like the Blood Money theme) remixing them for a brand new Wipeout using a more wipeout-like style.


Yes, previous bosses did shut down Evolution and Psygnosis/SCEE Studio Liverpool. Jim Ryan and Hermen Hulst basically resurrected them and Bizarre Creations by acquiring Firesprite, acquire Fabrik to merge it into Firesprite and hiring a lot of former staff from Evolutiton, Psygnosis/Studio Liverpool and Bizarre Creations.


I'd buy it, but I need a brand new Wipeout first, please.
I just said no, why would you do that to me.

Makes sense it was probably SCEJ that shutdown Liverpool and SCEE president got his revenge. Liverpool is back and Japan Studios doesn't exist anymore...
 

freefornow

Member
I swear, if the main entrance way to this new office car park is not modeled after the image below, then I will no longer support Sony!!
QlUIMu5.jpg
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Why on earth are Sony wasting their money investing in the UK,didn't they get the memo.......we left the EU and have no future,lol.
Fuck all those Brexit doom mongers.....seriously,fuck 'em in the ear.
Isn't Jim Ryan English?
 

yurinka

Member
I just said no, why would you do that to me.

Makes sense it was probably SCEJ that shutdown Liverpool and SCEE president got his revenge. Liverpool is back and Japan Studios doesn't exist anymore...
Japan Studio didn't shut down, they got restructured to improve them.

As happened in the other regions of the world, their XDEV external development 2nd party production and publishing moved to become their own studio, that now reports to the global XDEV team instead of to a local studio. As an example, they did the same in USA, when they had the American XDEV team inside Santa Monica and now are working with Firewalk, Haven and Deviation. The Japanese XDEV team who did work with people like From Soft or Kojipro continues doing their same job after the restructuring. In fact they released Death Stranding Director's Cut after the restructuring and they have been hiring since then.

The other part of Japan Studio, the internal development part also continues alive and now after the restructuring has been (and still is) hiring in around a dozen areas. They did change management and merged all their internal development teams to focus them into their internal Team Asobi, whose managers now also are in charge of the studio. So they refounded their studio as Team Asobi. Like any other Sony internal teams they are highly growing now.

Seems that they want more Death Stranding, Bloodborne and Astro than more Knacks.
 
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Killer8

Member
Sony sure have a habit of killing their studios and driving out all the talent and then quietly rebooting the studio in a worse way later. lol.
 
Japan Studio didn't shut down, they got restructured to improve them.

As happened in the other regions of the world, their XDEV external development 2nd party production and publishing moved to become their own studio, that now reports to the global XDEV team instead of to a local studio. As an example, they did the same in USA, when they had the American XDEV team inside Santa Monica and now are working with Firewalk, Haven and Deviation. The Japanese XDEV team who did work with people like From Soft or Kojipro continues doing their same job after the restructuring. In fact they released Death Stranding Director's Cut after the restructuring and they have been hiring since then.

The other part of Japan Studio, the internal development part also continues alive and now after the restructuring has been (and still is) hiring in around a dozen areas. They did change management and merged all their internal development teams to focus them into their internal Team Asobi, whose managers now also are in charge of the studio. So they refounded their studio as Team Asobi. Like any other Sony internal teams they are highly growing now.

Seems that they want more Death Stranding, Bloodborne and Astro than more Knacks.

Just stop your fucking lies!!! You went all over the place and kept repeating your bullshit

Sony shut down Japan Studio. Most of the team left



Sony had all the chance in the world to make Bloodborne 2 with Miyazaki and From Soft.......but NOTHING!!!

 
Makes sense it was probably SCEJ that shutdown Liverpool and SCEE president got his revenge. Liverpool is back and Japan Studios doesn't exist anymore...
The Japan studio is alive and well. There was just alot of hippies there that didn’t understand sales and time management. Asobi(1st party developer part of Studio Japan) is going to become their platformer studio. I assume they are going to buy Capcom after GenDesign, and others left though.
 

Rossco EZ

Member
Why on earth are Sony wasting their money investing in the UK,didn't they get the memo.......we left the EU and have no future,lol.
Fuck all those Brexit doom mongers.....seriously,fuck 'em in the ear.
edit: nvm
 
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TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
He is,Sony are Japanese though aren't they......anyway I was just making the point it's nice to see investment like this despite all the Brexit bullshit we had to put up with.
Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised that lot of Men's skin care & toiletries has dropped in price by over £1 in my local big stores
Biggest drop I've ever seen.
Funny when things go up people blame Brixit, when they go down considerably...
They don't say shit
 

yurinka

Member
Just stop your fucking lies!!! You went all over the place and kept repeating your bullshit

Sony shut down Japan Studio. Most of the team left



Sony had all the chance in the world to make Bloodborne 2 with Miyazaki and From Soft.......but NOTHING!!!

Absolutely nothing of what I said is a lie. Everything is true and compatible with having some folks leaving or being fired, specially those who after decades haven't been able to release a hit (even if I loved some of their games). Miyazaki prefered to make Sekiro and Elder Ring multi, Sony signed a deal with their parent company but can't force them to cancel a job for another publisher and put them to work for them.

If you reject facts and the reality and prefer to live in your fantasies then go to get some therapy or something like that.

But will they reopen Studio Liverpool?
Almost. They did buy Firesprite and Fabrik and did hire a bunch of extra people. Which means Firesprite now has a ton of the main Studio Liverpool, Evolution and Bizarre Creations staff. And they continue growing, so very likely will bring back even more people.
 
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Absolutely nothing of what I said is a lie. Everything is true and compatible with having some folks leaving or being fired, specially those who after decades haven't been able to release a hit (even if I loved some of their games). Miyazaki prefered to make Sekiro and Elder Ring multi, Sony signed a deal with their parent company but can't force them to cancel a job for another publisher and put them to work for them.

If you reject facts and the reality and prefer to live in your fantasies then go to get some therapy or something like that.

you absolutely have no fucking clue what you're talking about, Bloodborne was released in early 2015. Sony could've greenlighted a sequel a few months or even a year or two after that. There's plenty of time before Sekiro or even Elden Ring came into the picture

Bloodborne is Miyazaki's favourite creation, he would do a sequel in a heartbeat

 
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yurinka

Member
you absolutely have no fucking clue what you're talking about, Bloodborne was released in early 2015. Sony could've greenlighted a sequel a few months or even a year or two after that. There's plenty of time before Sekiro or even Elden Ring came into the picture

Bloodborne is Miyazaki's favourite creation, he would do a sequel in a heartbeat

You're the one who has no fucking idea. After Bloodborne, half a year before the Sekiro release Sony published FromSoft's Déraciné, a game codirected by Miyazaki.

Blooborne and Sekiro releases were separated by 4 years, and 3 years from Sekiro to Elder Ring. This is not "plenty of time", this is the normal development time for a AAA. In fact it's pretty fast, specially for a new IP even if you don't count Déraciné.
 
You're the one who has no fucking idea. After Bloodborne, half a year before the Sekiro release Sony published FromSoft's Déraciné, a game codirected by Miyazaki.

Blooborne and Sekiro releases were separated by 4 years, and 3 years from Sekiro to Elder Ring. This is not "plenty of time", this is the normal development time for a AAA. In fact it's pretty fast, specially for a new IP even if you don't count Déraciné.

Deracine is a very small project,

Most likely scenario, Sony didn’t green light Bloodborne sequel because it didn’t sell like their other Western cinematic games. That type of game is Sony’s executive favourite

Whatever. One thing for sure Sony will not get another exclusive content from From Soft, and that’s for the better. From Soft time and effort were wasted on Sony
 
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yurinka

Member
Most likely scenario, Sony didn’t green light Bloodborne sequel because it didn’t sell like their other Western cinematic games. That type of game is Sony’s executive favourite

Whatever. One thing for sure Sony will not get another exclusive content from From Soft, and that’s for the better. From Soft time and effort were wasted on Sony
If Sony doesn't want to make more Soulsborne games, then why they did remake Demon's Souls with other teams while FromSoft was busy doing other projects?

To me it sound as if Sony was the one wanting more soulsborne but FromSoft instead wanted to do these other games multiplatform instead. So Sony went to make their own Soulsborne.
 
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