A little bit of gossip for you this Monday morning, apparently there’s going to be a Horizon universe VR game. The news comes from the XboxEra podcast, presumably not much was happening the world of Xbox that day.
“Sony acquired Firesprite which is the ex-Studio Liverpool studio that made WipEout,” said the host, Nick. “I have been told that they are working on a Horizon VR game.”
“I said is it Forbidden West VR? Is it Zero Dawn VR? It’s a separate thing set in the Horizon universe that is VR,” he adds. “I didn’t get told if it’s [Horizon VR] a full-blown game like Half-Life: Alyx or if it’s an “experience” like that Batman thing, that part I don’t know.”
He is referring to last week’s news that PlayStation has acquired Liverpool-based Firesprite, the developer that collaborated with Japan Studio on The Playroom and The Playroom VR for PlayStation 4, before going on to create the roguelike horror game The Persistence. Firesprite was founded by former employees of Sony’s Studio Liverpool after the Wipeout franchise developer was shut down by Sony in 2012. Sony essentially shut a studio down then had to re-buy it, silly Sony.
Speaking of the acquisition to gamesindustry.biz, PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst said, “But what I really like, is that Firesprite has grown so much. It is now a substantial developer of over 250 people. They’ve really established an entrepreneurial spirit as an independent team.”
“They’re very experimental in their approach to game development. I think the combination of that legacy, and that entrepreneurial spirit… that’s a great foundation for us to collaborate on the few great exclusive game projects that we’re working on together.”
Horizon Forbidden West will be coming out for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on February 18th 2022. Although PSVR2 has been revealed Sony have not dated the new hardware but is expected to get be pushed for release next year.
Source: XboxEra podcast via TheGamePost
