SIE owns Housemarque, the development of "Return".I heard about the background in an online interview

On June 29, 2021, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) announced that it had completed the acquisition of Finnish game studio Housemarque and made it the 13th studio of PlayStation Studios.

Housemarque is a development studio for TPS (third-person shooter) "Returnal" released as PlayStation 5 exclusive software this year. "Resogun" has also been released at the launch of PlayStation 4, and although neither is a straight AAA (blockbuster) type work, it is finished in a highly evaluated title that draws out the characteristics of the new hardware from time to time. Is a feature.

"Returnal" development studio Housemarque becomes a member of Sony Interactive Entertainment! As a member of PlayStation Studios, we will bring you more memories and exciting titles ... https://t.co/ambkQWZy4P

In this issue, we conducted an online interview with Mr. Harman Halst, who is in charge of PlayStation Studios, and Mr. Irari Quittenen, who is the co-founder and managing director of Housemarque. We asked him about what was evaluated about Housemarque and what kind of development he was aiming for in the future, including not only "Returnal" but also the story of the old work.

Herman Halst

General Manager of SIE PlayStation Studios.

Irari Quittenen

Housemarque Co-founder and Managing Director

After the success of "Returnal", take the next step under the umbrella of SIE

――First of all, I would like to confirm, but unlike the partnership agreement announced with Deviation Games etc., is it okay to put Housemarque under the umbrella?

Herman Yes. The simple answer is to welcome Housemarque's Irari and his amazingly talented team to PlayStation Studios. In other words, it will be completely under the umbrella of SIE and will be a full member of PlayStation Studios. Welcome, Irari!

――Please tell us why you decided to add Housemarque to your company. Housemarque is known for its relatively compact, arcade-like, but twisted games, including Resogun. It's different from the hundreds of AAA studios.

On the other hand, "Returnal" made a big leap, and it was a very unique semi-AAA game that felt like an AAA game. Also, if you look closely, you can find beautiful particles like "Resogun" flying, or having a room-based game structure like "Matterfall" and "Nex Machina", and finding parts that are common to past works. Is also an interesting part.

Herman Housemarque is a very exciting studio that fits what we want for a number of reasons. Sure, it's a small category compared to other PlayStation Studios studios, but it's not a problem in itself. I like the fact that it brings diversity in terms of geography, team size and genre.

Also, it's great to be pursuing a gameplay style that is unique to Housemarque and is an arcade-like and fierce battle. I also like being innovative and trying to take our style to the next level. I can feel a certain ambition.

It's also a growing studio, although it's relatively small now. By doing so, I think we will continue to evolve and improve quality, and that is also the point we want to help (by putting it under our umbrella). Irari, do you have anything to add?

Irari Yes, it's certainly well known for arcade games before Returnal. It feels like we have inherited that style of game light from Japanese game makers such as Cave and Treasure.

And, of course, there is an innovative spirit of constantly updating ourselves. As you've noticed, Returnal is actually a combination of all the elements you've learned over the last 25 years, plus a new dimension of 3D (*). (* Editor's note: Previous works combined 3D graphics with top-down and side-view 2D gameplay, but "Returnal" has become a full 3D action shooter.)

Irari This was possible with the help of SIE (which was on the publishing side). The discussion about what to do with this work started more than four years ago, but if I was doing "Why don't you change the camera perspective?" "Ah! But that would increase the development cost at once ..." The Sony people were like, "Don't worry about that, let's try it first and see what happens."

It was great to believe that we were pursuing a new vision at that time, and I think that probably led to our being interviewed here today.

--So what does this new relationship bring to the studio? Will it be bigger with the success of "Returnal", or is it more important for the studio to be stable? And what about the role of Housemarque in PlayStation Studios?

Aiming to be a more solid organization than Irari , I would like to fill in the gaps and add new talent to the team to grow steadily. I'm not thinking about making it suddenly too big. I would like to learn from people who have experienced these steps, such as Harman.

We also received a lot of help from various departments in creating "Returnal", so we will continue to collaborate with them. By leveraging the great resources of PlayStation Studios, you don't necessarily have to do everything in the studio.

Harman That's right. By becoming an official member of PlayStation Studios, Housemarque can benefit and contribute to a variety of things, including technical and development management, employee benefits, and more.

As we have just talked about the development collaboration part, collaboration is progressing deeper in search of how to take the utilization of DualSense controller to the next level, especially around audio such as 3D sound. Their team is very technically sophisticated and shares what they have learned with that amazing acoustic effect.

They share their experience of creating a breathtaking world. These accumulations add to the PlayStation Studios knowledge base, which is (internally) accessible to everyone and freely shared. This is exciting for me too.

A combination of the pursuit of tight gameplay and solid technology

――What do you think about the strengths of the studio? "Returnal" was a very interesting game. I think it's a roguelike TPS that is quite interesting without the high-speed loading and the utilization of each function of the Dual Sense controller, but such a function made a unique difference "unique to PS5 games". "Resogun" had a similar place. There was also a PS3 version and a Vita version, but after all the particle expression of the PS4 version was a difference that was not just a compact shooting game.

I think there are two parts. We've always been game developers who focus first on gameplay and drive it with technology.

That's exactly what we've been talking about about particles in Resogun. The combination is important. If you remove that particle's explosive effect from Resogun, it's not Resogun.

Both irritated audio and visual effects feedback has been very important to us. In a series of gameplays, you have to be able to immediately see if you've done well or messed up, such as "Ah, wasn't it?" Or "Done, increased magnification." I think these combinations are what we are good at.

Harman When I see the name Housemarque, the first thing that comes to mind is that it's a very technically capable team. In fact, when I first met Irari, I was helped with the technical part.

In 2006, when I was making "Killzone: Liberation" (not yet released in Japan) at Guerrilla Games, I had a very difficult time running it on the PSP. Then Irari came with a core Finnish development team of about 7 people and helped me get it working. It's been a long time since I was connected from that time.

I also always admire the arcade-like, very detailed battles. From here on, I want you to keep that DNA, albeit ambitious.

Of course, (in "Returnal") we are now creating a world of 3D exploration, with layers of stories and fascinating characters. We are continuously exploring such areas.

But at the core of it, I think the parts that have been in common with the past are the best in the world, and I will do everything in order to protect and nurture them.

――How did the negotiations proceed? Was there something like "this is" during the development of "Returnal"?

I'm irritated First, let's talk from me. The story began in early 2020. However, at that time, I decided to give priority to the completion of the game first and talk again later. So I restarted it a few months ago, and now it's decided.

Harman That's right. It was important to show that we were very enthusiastic about welcoming the PS family, but at the same time we started on an ambitious project like "Returnal" that would make a big leap from what the studio had done so far. I didn't want to distract my team.

I had to work from home to realize my big vision and ambitions, so support was more important than anything else, and I shouldn't have been distracted. So, while talking about the outline several times, I made it clear that the priority was to complete and optimize the game above all else.

――By the way, Finland has excellent game studios such as Remedy, but are there any strengths unique to Finland?

There may be many ways to answer, but it's because summer is short and dark winter continues! (* Editor's note: Stereotype that the technical ability improves because there is no choice but to face the computer)

Well, jokingly, the fundamental part is that you need to be interested in technology and how you can use it to survive in Finland.

In ancient times, there was a demo group mentality (*) from the MS-DOS era, and as computers became widespread from the 1980s to the 90s, the Finnish game industry was gradually shaped. I went. Since then, mobile has been successful. Nokia started in Finland. (* Editor's note: MS-DOS = OS widely used until the spread of Windows, demo = programming scene that competes for entertainment expression with video and music with as few program codes as possible)

But at the root of it, I think that there was a ground for accepting new technologies and trying out what they could do, and home computers were no exception. Of course, I think it's a combination of many other factors, such as the fact that there are many people with higher education.

Since the 1980s, parents have given their children computers. I was the same. I got the Commodore 64 around 1985. What would you do if you got a computer? You play games, don't you? Then some of them, including me, will start making games.

-There is no doubt. At that time, the games weren't as complicated as they are now, and there weren't many, so if you wanted to have more fun, you had the option of modifying or making your own. (Mr. Irari "That's right") By the way, how big is the studio now?

It's a little over 80 people. ("Will you expand it?") Well, while controlling as I said earlier, we will expand human resources to welcome more people and strengthen all areas necessary for future title development. I hope to do it.

Harman It's an exciting part because it's our first studio in Scandinavia . As I mentioned earlier, there are many excellent human resources in that area of ​​Europe.

I also want to support the fact that it does not expand unreasonably. Quality is important, and it's about matching your creative vision and growth to the level of ambition you're aiming for in your next title.

Beyond "Returnal" based on the accumulation so far

――How was the reaction of "Returnal"?

It's a relief as a creator ! Even if you feel that you can do this, you don't know how people will actually react until you put it out. But really every day, seeing it being covered in the news and getting platinum trophies on people's tweets, this is the best experience of the last few years. I am very happy and happy.

We are very proud that Herman Housemarque has delivered such an ambitious piece of work in a pandemic. We've finished the game with a cycle of quick recovery from death, taking advantage of the innovative, fast SSD, and playtesting it to balance everything. It's tremendous to do it from home.It ’s a gift of hard work and I think I ’ve done a great job.

--Lastly, to Japanese gamers ... what? I can't say anything about the new work, but what can I expect?

Irari I think "Returnal" will give you a hint as to what's next. I'm sure we'll go beyond that, and I want to create a great gaming experience and an unforgettable experience. I think that's all I can say now, but ... there may be a lot of explosions, right? We can also promise tight gameplay with a good operation feeling. That's what we've been doing for 26 years.

Herman It's my job to make his ambitions come true. For me, Housemarque has tight gameplay, flying barrages, explosions and great visual effects. The beautiful 3D world that can be explored overlaps there, and solid characters and multi-layered stories overlap. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do next.