PlayStation Studios
Division of Sony Interactive Entertainment
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
PlayStation Studios (formerly SCE Worldwide Studios and SIE Worldwide Studios) is a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) that oversees the video game development at the studios owned by SIE. The division was established as SCE Worldwide Studios in September 2005 and rebranded as PlayStation Studios in 2020 to include the PlayStation brand.
- SCE Worldwide Studios (2005–2016)
- SIE Worldwide Studios (2016–2020)
Logo used since 2020 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Division |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | September 1, 2005 |
| Headquarters | San Mateo, California London, England Tokyo, Japan |
Key people |
|
Number of employees | ≈4,000[1] (2022) |
| Parent | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| Subsidiaries | See § Studios |
| Website | playstation.com/en-us/corporate/playstation-studios/ |
History
On September 14, 2005, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE, now known as Sony Interactive Entertainment), the video game arm of Sony, announced the formation of SCE Worldwide Studios earlier that month, combining all studios SCE owned at the time. Phil Harrison was appointed as the division's president;[2] he resigned in February 2008.[3] Kazuo Hirai became acting president,[4] succeeded by Shuhei Yoshida in May 2008.[5] When Yoshida moved to lead the indie game development of SIE, Hermen Hulst, previously of SIE's Guerrilla Games studio, became the president of SIE Worldwide Studios in November 2019.[6] The studios productions are generally supported by the Visual Arts Services Group, founded in 2007 in San Diego.[7]
SIE announced the rebranding of the division to PlayStation Studios in May 2020 as part of the introduction of the PlayStation 5, which was released later that year. PlayStation Studios serves as the publishing brand for Sony's first-party development studios, as well as for games developed by studios brought in by Sony in work-for-hire situations.[8]
In 2022, Sony stated half of its first-party PlayStation Studios games will be on personal computers (PC) and mobile by 2025.[9] In August 2022, SIE announced the formation of the PlayStation Studios Mobile Division, alongside the acquisition of the company's first mobile development team, Savage Game Studios,[10] later renamed Neon Koi.[11] In February 2024, Sony announced it would eliminate 900 jobs, or 8% of SIE and PlayStation Studios employees. These cuts included the closure of London Studio.[12][13]
In July 2024, Sony and Bungie announced that as part of restructuring at Bungie, one of the studio's incubation projects would be spun out, with the team behind the game forming a new studio within PlayStation Studios, later on in May 2025 it being revealed as teamLFG.[14][15] In October 2024, Sony announced the closure of Neon Koi and Firewalk Studios.[16][17] In March 2025, Sony formed Dark Outlaw Games, a new studio under PlayStation Studios, led by Jason Blundell.[18] In an August 2025 financial briefing, Sony CFO Lin Tao stated that SIE planned to fully integrate and oversee Bungie as a developer within the core PlayStation Studios lineup, after initially allowing them to function as an independent subsidiary since their acquisition in 2022.[19] On February 19, 2026, Sony announced that they will shut down Bluepoint Games.[20]
Studios
Former
| Name | Location | Founded | Acquired | Divested | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bigbig Studios | Leamington Spa | 2001[47] | 2007[48] | 2012[47] | Closed[47] |
| Bluepoint Games | Austin, Texas | 2006[49] | 2021[50] | 2026[51] | Closed[51] |
| Evolution Studios | Runcorn | 1999[48] | 2007[48] | 2016[52] | Closed[52] |
| Firewalk Studios | Bellevue, Washington | 2018[53] | 2023[53] | 2024[54] | Closed[54] |
| Guerrilla Cambridge | Cambridge | 1997[55] | — | 2017[55] | Closed[55] |
| Incognito Entertainment | Salt Lake City, Utah | 1999[56] | 2002[56] | 2009[57] | Closed[57] |
| Japan Studio | Tokyo | 2005[58] | — | 2021[59] | Reorganized within SIE, primarily to Team Asobi[38] |
| London Studio | London | 2002[21] | — | 2024 | Closed[13] |
| Manchester Studio | Manchester | 2015[21] | — | 2020[60] | Closed[60] |
| Neon Koi | Berlin | 2020[10] | 2022[10] | 2024[54] | Closed[54] |
| Helsinki | |||||
| Pixelopus | San Mateo, California | 2014[21] | — | 2023 | Closed[61] |
| Studio Liverpool | Liverpool | 1984[48] | 1993[48] | 2012[62] | Closed[62] |
| Zipper Interactive | Redmond, Washington | 1995[63] | 2006[48] | 2012[63] | Closed[63] |
See also
Notes
- Team Asobi was first established in 2012 as an internal team of Japan Studio, and was spun off as its own independent studio in 2021.[38]
