Sony acquires Infamous studio Sucker Punch

Washington studio Sucker Punch has become the latest member of Sony’s fleet of first-party studios, the developer has announced.

Financial terms and stipulations were not disclosed.

The Sucker Punch buyout brings Sony’s first-party partner tally up to sixteen studios.

Sony’s acquisition gives the media conglomerate more local presence in the thriving Washington development cluster, which inhabits studios such as PopCap, Valve and other Sony studio Zipper Interactive.

“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,” said Sony’s global studios boss Shuhei Yoshida.

"The addition of Sucker Punch 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 line-ups 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."

Sucker Punch has gone gold with two PlayStation 3 games, both based on the successful new IP Infamous. The group, founded in 1997, broke onto the scene with the well-regarded N64 game Rocket: Robot On Wheels.

It went on to develop several games in the award-winning Sly Cooper series.

"We’ve enjoyed an incredible relationship with Sony that has allowed us to combine our creative design capabilities with their guidance to make some of the best franchises to hit the PlayStation platforms,” said Sucker Punch managing partner Brian Fleming.

“Equally important, the relationship with SCE has provided us the flexibility and trust to take creative risks and invent new properties," he added.