SIE Worldwide Studios

Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SIE Worldwide Studios) is a group of video game developers founded in September 2005 by Sony Interactive Entertainment.[2]

SIE Worldwide Studios
Formerly
SCE Worldwide Studios (2005–2016)
Division
IndustryVideo games
FoundedSeptember 14, 2005 (2005-09-14)
Headquarters
San Mateo 
Key people
Hermen Hulst (president)
Number of employees
2,700+[1] (2011)
ParentSony Interactive Entertainment
SubsidiariesSee § Studios
Websiteplaystation.com/en-us/corporate/about/worldwide-studios/

It is a single internal entity overseeing all wholly owned development studios within SIE. It is responsible for the creative and strategic direction of development and production of all computer entertainment software by all SIE–owned studios, all of which is typically produced exclusively for the PlayStation family of consoles.

With the launch of the PlayStation 5 in 2020, Worldwide Studios plans to brand all releases be it internal or externally developed under the "PlayStation Studios" label.[3]

History

Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE Worldwide Studios) was established on September 14, 2005, with Phil Harrison being appointed as president.[4] In May 16, 2008, Shuhei Yoshida became president.[5] In April 2016, Sony's Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI) divisions merged, creating SIE Worldwide Studios.[5] Hermen Hulst succeeded Shuhei Yoshida as president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios on November 7, 2019, with Yoshida being delegated to lead Sony's indie development.[6]

Studios
Name Location Founded Acquired
Bend Studio Bend, Oregon 1993[7] 2000[7]
Guerrilla Games Amsterdam 2000[7] 2005[7]
Insomniac Games Burbank, California 1994[7] 2019[8]
Japan Studio Tokyo 1993[7] —
London Studio London 1993[7] —
Media Molecule Guildford 2006[7] 2010[7]
Naughty Dog Santa Monica, California 1984[7] 2001[7]
Pixelopus San Mateo, California 2014[7] —
Polyphony Digital Tokyo 1998[7] —
San Diego Studio San Diego 2001[7] —
San Mateo Studio San Mateo, California 1998 —
Santa Monica Studio Los Angeles 1999[7] —
Sucker Punch Productions Bellevue, Washington 1997[7] 2011[7]

Former
Name Location Founded Acquired Divested Fate
Bigbig Studios Leamington Spa 2001[9] 2007[10] 2012[9] Closed[9]
Camden Studio Camden Town 1998 — 2002 Merged
Evolution Studios Runcorn 1999[10] 2007[10] 2016[11] Closed[11]
Guerrilla Cambridge Cambridge 1997[12] — 2017[12] Closed[12]
Incognito Entertainment Salt Lake City 1999[13] 2002[13] 2009[14] Closed[14]
Manchester Studio Manchester 2015[7] — 2020[15] Closed[15]
Studio Liverpool Liverpool 1984[10] 1993[10] 2012[16] Closed[16]
Sony Online Entertainment San Diego 1995[17] — 2015[17] Sold off[17]
Zipper Interactive Redmond, Washington 1995[18] 2006[10][18] 2012[18] Closed[18]

Other divisions

ICE Team

Naughty Dog is home to the ICE Team, one of Sony's Worldwide Studios central technology groups. The term ICE originally stands for Initiative for a Common Engine which describes the original purpose of the group.[19] The ICE Team focuses on creating core graphics technologies for Sony's worldwide first party published titles, including low-level game engine components, graphics processing pipelines, supporting tools, and graphics profiling and debugging tools. The ICE Team also supports third party developers with a suite of engine components, and a graphics analysis, profiling, and debugging tool for the RSX. Both enable developers to get better performance out of PlayStation hardware.[20][21]

XDev

SIE XDev Europe, established in 2000 and based in Liverpool, England,[7] collaborates with independent development studios across Europe and other PAL territories to publish content to PlayStation platforms all over the world. XDev has helped to create and publish, titles such as the LittleBigPlanet, Buzz!, MotorStorm and Invizimals series, Super Stardust HD, Heavenly Sword, Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, Tearaway and Resogun. Partners include independent developers such as Quantic Dream, Magenta Software, Housemarque, Climax Studios, Novarama, Supermassive Games and Sumo Digital, as well as SCE subsidiaries such as Media Molecule and Guerrilla Games. In addition to funding projects, XDev offer full production, project management and game design support. Titles are also supported with community management, online production and dedicated outsourcing management facilities. XDev work directly with Marketing and PR teams in all Sony territories to promote and publish games worldwide.[22][23]

References
  1. "Sony Computer Entertainment Acquires Sucker Punch Productions, Developer of Top Selling Infamous Franchise". Sony Interactive Entertainment. August 2, 2011.
  2. "SCE Establishes SCE Worldwide Studios" (PDF) (Press release). Sony Computer Entertainment. September 14, 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 5, 2005. Retrieved September 14, 2005.
  3. Dring, Christopher (May 12, 2020). "PlayStation Studios brand will launch alongside PS5". GamesIndustry.biz.
  4. "SCE Establishes SCE Worldwide Studios" (PDF) (Press release). Sony Computer Entertainment. September 14, 2005. Retrieved September 14, 2005.
  5. "Bitsummit". bitsummit.org. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  6. "Sony appoints Guerrilla Games' Hermen Hulst new head of PlayStation worldwide studios". Washington Post. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  7. Barker, Sammy (August 28, 2019). "Guide: All Sony First-Party Studios and What They're Working On". Push Square. Archived from the original on September 29, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  8. "Quarterly Securities Report For the three months ended December 31, 2019" (PDF). Sony. p. 39.
  9. Yoon, Andrew (January 10, 2012). "Sony shuts down Little Deviants, Pursuit Force dev". Shacknews. Archived from the original on November 23, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  10. MCV Staff (August 2, 2011). "IN DETAIL: Sony's sixteen first-party studios". MCV.
  11. Brightman, James (March 22, 2016). "Sony confirms closure of Evolution Studios". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on September 26, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  12. Frank, Allegra (January 12, 2017). "Sony shuts down 20-year-old studio in European restructuring". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 8, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  13. Cifaldi, Frank (May 13, 2011). "How Moving To Austin Energized Starhawk". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  14. Plunkett, Luke (January 16, 2012). "Every Game Studio That's Closed Down Since 2006". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 2, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  15. Dring, Christopher (February 4, 2020). "PlayStation to close Manchester VR studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  16. Yin-Poole, Wesley (July 21, 2015). "WipEout: The rise and fall of Sony Studio Liverpool". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on September 14, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  17. Crossley, Rob (February 2, 2015). "SOE Turns Independent, Eyes Xbox Support". GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 2, 2016. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  18. Moriarty, Colin (March 31, 2012). "Confirmed: Sony Closes Zipper Interactive". IGN. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  19. Mark Cerny's "Road to the PS4" @ Gamelab 2013 Archived December 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. YouTube (June 27, 2013). Retrieved on July 16, 2013.
  20. Naughty Dog Careers Archived February 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Naughtydog.com. Retrieved on July 16, 2013.
  21. Sony’s Secret Super Development Team Archived April 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. PS3 Attitude (June 5, 2009). Retrieved on July 16, 2013.
  22. Sony XDev Europe Archived September 13, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Official Site
  23. Worldwide Studios/XDev Archived June 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. XDev on Worldwidestudios.net
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