PlayStation Studios developer Housemarque have confirmed that their next game won’t be a sequel to Returnal, but rather a fresh new IP. The studio’s managing director Ilari Kuittinen recently spoke to journalists at the DICE Awards, confirming that they’re already working on their next game.
As reported by VentureBeat, Kuittinen basically confirmed that the studio is currently in the early stages of developing a new IP instead of a highly requested Returnal sequel (or DLC, for that matter). This might come as a surprise to fans, but Housemarque have historically seen greater success with newer ideas and concepts.
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Kuittinen’s full comment made at the DICE Awards reads:
“We’re one of the very last dinosaurs making arcade games. Nex Machina, a few years ago, was very much a shoot-’em-up game in the style of the coin-ops from the ‘80s. That’s sort of a clue. But it’s interesting. We’ve been thinking about that.
We had our stint working on multiplayer games, because a few years back it seemed like you needed to have some kind of multiplayer experience. We tried that, and we really didn’t do it as well. But it’s early days with us starting a new game, a new IP, concepting it out. We’ll see what comes with that.”
Despite being acquired and absorbed into the PlayStation Studios family, Housemarque is still trying to hold onto their identity as a studio that primarily focuses on arcadey games. Returnal director Harry Krueger chimed in:
“There can be live service games, multiplayer games, games with many different sensibilities. Returnal is just another voice. At this stage we’re quite proud of what we accomplished with Returnal, and we’re quite excited to pursue that same trajectory as a company.”
Returnal is now available exclusively for PS5.
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Source: VentureBeat