Sony buys Returnal developer - and leaks another huge PS5 acquisition

(Image credit: Sony)

Sony has bought Returnal developer Housemarque - but another huge acquisition for the company has leaked too.

In a PlayStation Blog post, Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst announced that Sony has acquired Housemarque, adding the developer to the first-party PlayStation Studios family.

Housemarque released PS5 exclusive Returnal earlier this year to critical acclaim and has previously worked with Sony on a plethora of releases such as Super Stardust HD. The acquisition means that we will likely see future Housemarque games being PlayStation exclusives, though this wasn't confirmed in the announcement.

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A leaked acquisition

Demon's Souls The Nexus — (Image credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment)

But it's not just Housemarque that Sony appears to have added to its PlayStation Studios family. PlayStation Japan appears to have accidentally leaked another big acquisition for the company: Demon's Souls developer, Bluepoint Games.

On Twitter, PlayStation Japan appeared to upload the wrong image with its announcement of the Housemarque acquisition, instead uploading an image that announces the acquisition of Bluepoint. The tweet has since been removed, but not before it was spotted and screengrabbed by Twitter user Nibel.

There have been rumors that Sony plans to acquire Bluepoint for some time but Sony hasn't officially confirmed the acquisition as of yet. The tweet suggests these rumors are true and we're likely to get confirmation of the acquisition in the near future - especially now it has leaked.

..so apparently PlayStation Japan uploaded the wrong image with their first tweet on Housemarque's acquisition, and it actually mentions a Bluepoint acquisition pic.twitter.com/yQBHtLbG5cJune 29, 2021

Sony buying Bluepoint Games makes sense given that, like Housemarque, the studio has a history of working on PlayStation exclusive titles, with an emphasis on remasters and remakes such as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Gravity Rush Remastered. Most recently, Bluepoint Games co-developed the remake of Demon's Souls.

Housemarque and Bluepoint join other PlayStation Studios such as Guerrilla Games, Insomniac Games and Media Molecule.

Given that Microsoft has, likewise, been hoovering up studios such as Bethesda, it looks like Sony is also making an effort to further strengthen its already meaty first-party offering.

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An award-winning games journalist, with seven years of experience in games journalism and a degree in journalism from City University, London, Vic brings experience from IGN, Eurogamer, The Telegraph, VG247, Dot Esports and more to the TechRadar table. You may have even heard her on the radio or speaking on a panel, as she’s previously appeared on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5, BBC Radio Ulster and more. Not only is Vic passionate about games, but she's appeared on both panels and podcasts to discuss mental health awareness. Make sure to follow her on Twitter for more.