Sony Liverpool (Psygnosis) is closed

[Hendo]

Sony has confirmed the closure of Sony Liverpool.

In a statement Sony said it was focusing on other studios that "are currently working on exciting new projects".

Sony has contacted Eurogamer to stress that the only part of the Liverpool campus that is being closed is WWSE Team Liverpool.

The campus will still house FQA, GFPQA, XDev, CSG-Video, Localisation services and WWSE Finance, among other departments.

A Sony spokesperson also said the company will try to relocate those affected to other studios. "We will be looking to relocate the team members throughout the studios, but unfortunately some redundancies will be necessary and in those cases we will assist staff in any way we can."

Sony Liverpool has bid a tearful farewell to WipEout, the sci-fi racing series that defined a generation and helped PlayStation achieve its wonderful mainstream success.

On the WipEout 2048 Facebook page an update let fans know of the unfortunate news that broke this morning.

"As some of you may have heard Sony have chosen to close Studio Liverpool as of today," the update reads.

"This page will no longer be maintained by the WipEout Team.

"We have loved making every game, every minute and every one of you. Keep the faith, keep loving WipEout.

"Thank you for everything, Pilots. It's been an amazing journey and we'll miss you. X"

More unemployed game developers, brilliant.

[Sly Reflex]

Pretty much everything that came out that studio was gold. F1. Destruction Derby. Colony Wars. G-Police. Team Buddies. Wipeout. Rollcage. Sure, they had their hand in some shit, but those titles made up for it. I wish they'd made some Colony Wars and G-Police games in the later years. Those games were godly.

[HandsomeDead]

This is really sad to see. But since they've been acquired by Sony they've only been making WipeOut and F1 games.

I know Lucid Games (founded by a lot of ex-Bizarre Creations staff) are based in Liverpool too, so I hope they end up with jobs there, and hopefully get details on a game from them.

[spatular]

this is getting a bit ridiculous, shutting down studios as good as this one and bizarre, it just doesn't make any sense to me, but that's probably why i'm not a businessman or something (wipeout just isn't as popular as it was - so i guess it does make sense but it should be popular because it's ace). i'll miss wipeout. also they had this on the radio news the reporter played some music from one of their old games which was pretty cool.