Firesprite, one of the newest faces of PlayStation Studios, has found an enormous new home. The company, currently located in Liverpool, UK, currently works out of an office space that is approximately 2,295 square feet, but the newly acquired premises completely dwarves their current environment, clocking in at an enormous 50,000 square feet of space. For perspective, the new studio will give the team nearly 22 times more real estate to work with.
Firesprite is one of Sony’s latest acquisitions, having been purchased in September 2021. The development studio itself announced the acquisition of Fabrik Games shortly after, expanding its own size. The studio had been working with PlayStation well before their acquisition, with their first work together dating back to 2013 when they assisted with The Playroom and the mobile title Run Sackboy! Run! These days, they are known for their work on the upcoming PS VR2 title Horizon: Call Of The Mountain with Guerrilla Games.
The studio’s new home aligns with rumors that along with the high-profile VR Horizon title, Firesprite has also taken the lead on several other titles. In January, it was reported that the studio had taken over lead development on the Twisted Metal remake after Lucid Games (Destruction AllStars) were taken off development on the title. The team is apparently also working on a AAA narrative-based horror game.
Firesprite was formed in 2013 by ex-Sony Liverpool developers who had worked on every PlayStation console to date. Known for their work on the WipeOut franchise, the formation of their new studio gave the developers a chance to branch into genres that they hadn’t dabbled in previously such as the ones found in The Playroom, Run Sackboy! Run!, and the sci-fi horror game The Persistence. Their hard work for the PlayStation brand was rewarded with their September 2021 purchase, and their new working arrangement suggests that they are looked upon favorably internally. The team is being given all the resources they need to turn them into one of PlayStation’s next premiere studios. They’re already one Sony’s largest European studios and this new building suggests that they’ll be bringing on a ton of new staff in the near future.
