Sony buys inFamous dev Sucker Punch

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 2 August, 2011

Bigs up 2011 PlayStation exclusives.

Sony has bought inFamous and Sly Cooper developer Sucker Punch.

The US studio, which has been making PlayStation games exclusively for over a decade, is now part of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, joining the likes of LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule and Uncharted developer Naughty Dog.

"Sucker Punch Productions is one of the most highly acclaimed development studios in the industry and we have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the company for over 12 years," SCE WorldWide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida said. "We are delighted to officially welcome them to the SCE family.

"The addition of Sucker Punch to SCE WWS reiterates our dedication to developing world class gaming experiences that can only be found on the PlayStation platform. With one of the strongest exclusive software lineups in the PS3's history, combined with the diverse, innovate content in the works for PlayStation Vita, consumers have a lot to be excited about this year."

Last month, following the launch of PlayStation 3 exclusive superhero game inFamous 2, Sucker Punch advertised for staff to work on a new PS3 game. Is it inFamous 3? Last year Sucker Punch told Eurogamer it would give "serious thought" to a request from Sony to create a third game in the superhero series.

"We'll see where we want to go next," Sucker Punch co-founder Bruce Oberg said. "That could be with Sony. We have a great relationship with them. We love the PlayStation platform. I'm not lying when I tell you it's a really killer technological platform for us to work on.

"The support and marketing, and also their approach to us, to let us make the game we want to make, is really incredible. Our relationship with Sony has been just incredible, all through the Sly series and all through inFamous."

The previously independent studio did not own the inFamous intellectual property – an arrangement it described as a "small price to pay" for the "freedom to make the game we want to make".

Sony did not disclose the financial terms of the acquisition.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 10 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Quint2020 #1 10 months ago

    I thought they owned them already if I'm honest...

  • kingpin3000 #2 10 months ago

    It's moves like this that puts Sony in a fantastic position when it comes to first-party titles going forward. Not only in this generation, but also in the next.

    My only concern is that all these major studio's are only doing PS3 games and none (that a know of, and may be wrong) are making games for the PSV. It's good to see Sony investing in the first-party.

  • GAmbrose #3 10 months ago

    Expect them to be closed down in about 3 years then?

    Or is it only Activision and Disney who do that?

  • repeater #4 10 months ago

    Meanwhile, someone at Microsoft comes up with another Kinect-enabled kid franchise they can force Rare to work on.. And God cries.

  • liquid-s #5 10 months ago

    Since they seem to put out Sony exclusives anyway then this seems to be a sensible move for both parties. Sucker punch enjoy the funding and experience at Sony and Sony get more exclusives for this Gen and probably next. Could put them in a great position when the next gen arrives.

  • Stomp224 #6 10 months ago

    Regarding Infamous 3, I'd LOVE to see which Infamous 2 ending they use. :D

  • Ford #7 10 months ago

    Good business. Buy a dev that already makes exclusives.

    Glad I'm not a shareholder. lmao

  • NotSoSlim #8 10 months ago

    @Ford

    They chose to make exclusives just like Bungie did. Sony are investing in games something MS are not and it will bite them in the arse next gen.

    Cannot rely on third party to prop up machine

  • abigsmurf #9 10 months ago

    Probably inevitable, just hope they don't pull a Psygnosis and gradually dissolve them into Sony over time.

  • Kano-11 #10 10 months ago

    See that Microsoft - Thats how you develop and nurture great franchises, great games and a great first party line up.

  • DavoTheDiv #11 10 months ago

    "Good business. Buy a dev that already makes exclusives. Glad I'm not a shareholder. lmao"

    It's called safeguarding you dingbat. Glad I'm not in buisiness with you.

  • evild_edd #12 10 months ago

    Good move by Sony, even if the InFamous games aren't my cuppa.

    Sony definitely look to have better exclusives on PS3 this year (and I say this as a 360-only owner - there's only so much Halo and Gears I need), and I would expect the PS3 to have a better range of exclusives over the next 2-3 years.

    @repeater: Don't be surprised to see MS come out with more traditional/hardcore exclusives for the next Xbox. As always, they'll want to get the hardcore on side as they successfully managed with the 360 (and original Xbox, to a lesser extent), and the 3DS sales demonstrate that the hardcore will only go where there are quality, original games.

    I can understand MS's focus on focusing on casual gamers for a wider demographic, whilst serving hardcore through multi-platform releases and XBLA exlcusives. I can understand this tactic, but it doesn't mean I have to like it....

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #13 10 months ago

    @Ford

    Yeah why would Sony want to safeguard there first party developers by buying them, rather than just do what MS do with there best exclusive game devs like Bungie and Bizzare Creations, oh wait....

  • kangarootoo #14 10 months ago

    "Good business. Buy a dev that already makes exclusives."

    Are you kidding?


    "Glad I'm not a shareholder."

    The rest of the board no doubt share your feeling.

  • kangarootoo #15 10 months ago

    Finished Infamous 2 recently. Thought it was great.

  • Beano #16 10 months ago

    Infamous 2 is great and a nice improvement over the first game. Finished it two weeks ago and started my 2nd playthrough as a bad guy right away :)
    Infamous 3 is pretty much a given after the good sales number of Infamous 2.

  • jumpdeveraux #17 10 months ago

    Well played by Sony. I'd expect to see more of these types of plays by both MS and Sony moving forward to lock in some of the higher tier devs and guarantee platform exclusivity for top titles moving forward.

    (Sony isn't just making a play against MS, it also strengthens their position versus Nintendo who are relying on 3rd party support and cross platform titles to try and entice the hardcore to WiiU. In fact Nintendo would be wise to have got out their wallet and bought up some western devs to ensure their future core portfolio instead of relying on fickle publishers).

  • chris_ace #18 10 months ago

    Post deleted at 11:55:13 13-12-2011

  • ToAks #19 10 months ago

    awesome news for one of the best dev teams in the industry.

    hopefully more marketing will happen in the future as its been rather weak with all sucker punch games even though they all rock!

  • Hindle #20 10 months ago

    Post deleted at 15:13:16 09-05-2012

  • gm914 #21 10 months ago

    @chris_ace
    Hell yeah

  • gandhimaster #22 10 months ago

    Sony's first/second party studios are amazing.

    Totally agree with their policy on exclusives. MS could learn a lot from Sony in this regard!

  • Retro_ #23 10 months ago

    Good move on Sony's part. Perhaps MS paid Sucker Punch a visit. InFAMOUS 2 was a very decent title.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #24 10 months ago

    As a 360 only owner, this just shows time and time again that MS can make some pretty fucking stupid shortsighted decisions. Take note of the following MS!!...

    Well made and TRUE exclusives give gamers a reason to buy your console.
    When gamers own consoles they recommend them to more casual potential owners who didn't directly care about exclusives.
    First party games tend to show off the power of your system.
    This makes some buyers think they are buying a more superior system.

    I bought a 360 this gen because, at the time it had a much larger library at almost half the price for a similar gaming spec. Regardless of what the fanboys say, if you held no loyalty to either brand (I didn't - I had a PS2 not an Xbox) it was a no brainer.

    When the next gen launches, unless Sony make similar mistakes (launch a similar spec machine to MS (for games) a year later, for twice the price) I'll be buying a PS4.

    You hear that MS, you're fucking it up big time!

  • coolbritannia #25 10 months ago

    Microsoft buy a dev and they're evil. Sony buy a dev and that's great.

    Sigh.

  • Feanor #26 10 months ago

    What devs have MS bought lately?

  • God_Octo #27 10 months ago

    Good for Sony, Sucker Punch and us! I can't wait for InFamous 3!
    Edited by God_Octo at 02/08/11 @ 18:47

  • TriggerHippie #28 10 months ago

    No that bothered about InFamous 3. I enjoyed the first two and now I want to see what else this excellent dev can come up with.

  • AnteCashovina #29 10 months ago

    @coolbritannia

    MS destroys devs they buy, Sony makes them better.

  • des #30 10 months ago

    Well,that's certainly a surprise

    Nothing changes,funny how Sony is hiding $$$ transaction data,maybe some smart analyst will give us some hints:p

    probably not much since SP worked on Sony owned IPs for ages

  • man.the.king #31 10 months ago

    @spacedelete

    "i am considering trading my 360 if this carries on. ps3 seems to satisfy all needs from a gamer in late 2011 and that pains me to say as i have owned a xbox since 2005. "

    This is something I've not been able to understand. WHY do you need to trade in one console to enjoy the other?

    I've had a 360 since Mar 2006, a PS3 since Feb 2007, and a Wii since July 2008, and even though the majority of my gaming takes place on my PS3, I've never felt it necessary to trade my 360 or my Wii, as there will always be some games exclusive to those platforms which I want to experience and enjoy.

    Of course, if it's a financial thing, then it's a different issue. But if that's the case, for someone who has financial worries, gaming should be at the end of the list anyway.
    Edited by man.the.king at 02/08/11 @ 18:28

  • man.the.king #32 10 months ago

    @spacedellete

    "infamous is rubbish though, sony can keep its poor selling franchises on its poor console."

    I think this link best describes the perspective of the rear-orifice above.

  • Ror1984 #33 10 months ago

    I'll echo the statements of others, in that I just assumed they were already first-party.

    As for Infamous... I have to admit, I never finished the first. I really liked the demo, and pre-ordered the SE (the comic-styled cardboard box one), but just got bored when I reached the second part of the city, and realised I'd just be expected to do all the same stuff all over again. By all accounts, Infamous 2 is very good, but I just can't be arsed to go back and play the original again.

    @NotSoSlim: "They chose to make exclusives just like Bungie did."

    Err, what?? They made exclusive Halo games because MS bought them. They became independent in 2007, and Reach could only have been an exclusive, as MS owns the IP.

  • Murton #34 10 months ago

    "Microsoft buy a dev and they're evil. Sony buy a dev and that's great."

    I'm not entirely sure, but that might have something to do with the fact that MS bought one of the most beloved developers in the world and then put them to work on the Avatar system while Sony buy a developer and then support them in building their future titles.


    Like many others I kinda assumed that Sucker Punch was at least partly owned by Sony as they had access to the tech sharing program and received consultations and tech from Naughty Dog to improve animation and visuals for InFamous 2. Bringing them fully into the fold is a great move and makes me feel quite excited for the future of Sucker Punch and the PlayStation brand. More Sly, more InFamous and a bottomless pit of investment for a new IP, what's not to like about that?