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[nial]

Full credit to Uzupedro on ResetERA for getting the paywalled text.

When the deal was finally sealed a few months later, Housemarque's management rented the former boat of ice hockey player Teemu Selänne, the luxury yacht Lucky Eight.
They spent a sunny weekend in the Helsinki archipelago in the summer.

The price of Housemarque's Sony deal has not been disclosed, but it is more likely to be in the tens of millions of euros. With them, Sony bought expertise and a ready-made team.
According to tax information, Ilari Kuittinen and Harri Tikkanen each raised capital income of 9.8 million euros in 2022. According to Kuittinen, the cultural change has been major.
They have had to learn the HR practices coming from the group, develop their supervisory work and project expertise, and adapt to new information security practices. At the same time, Housemarque has gained the financial resources of a large group. The company has just moved to new premises in Kaartinkaupunki, Helsinki, and renovated them to the last detail, including its own cinema.

The budget for Saros is not public, but the game can be compared to Remedy's Alan Wake 2, whose development and marketing budget is estimated at around 70 million euros.
The project started in full force in 2022 and is now in the production phase. "You couldn't have made such investments as an independent studio," Kuittinen says.
Sony's investments in game development can be seen in the numbers: while Housemarque's turnover was 8.9 million in 2020, it was already 21.8 million euros in the financial year ending in March 2024. After the acquisition, Housemarque has renovated large new premises in Kaartinkaupunki in Helsinki.

HS Visio | Suomen vanhin pelifirma myytiin täydellisellä hetkellä

Housemarque on Suomen vanhin pelitalo, joka sinnitteli itsenäisenä lähes kolme vuosikymmentä ja myi lopulta itsensä täydellisellä hetkellä Sonylle. Nyt se kasvaa ja kehittää historiansa suurinta peliä.

www.hs.fi

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Housemarque coming after Insomniac for dat Most 1P Releases In A Gen crown .

Visual style for Saros looks sick, I'm interested in hearing more about the game mechanics and story.

 

[DenchDeckard]

This is going to be bonkers!

I wish it was PC day one, but I doubt it.

 

[GymWolf]

Make a normal tps instead of a roguelite, returnal was a great tps but kinda of a shit roguelite.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Are they going to make it AAA? Then sell a million copies max?

Weird, more money wont make it a better game.

They should be working on tighter budget.

 

[Clear]

Make a normal tps instead of a roguelite, returnal was a great tps but kinda of a shit roguelite.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and Selene wasn't "hot" enough for some people even though how she presented was entirely in keeping with the themes and content of the story.

 

[SweetTooth]

Thank you Sony for supporting this marvelous studio.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

No gameplay; just a fancy and meaningless title card.

I would expect this kind of reveal from your average third-party publisher.
and these types of articles! interviews are even worse.
Hulst went from an alpha male, silverback, chest-haired apex predator to someone who simps for an annoying female character and thought Concord would be the next Star Wars.

 

[GHG]

Weird, more money wont make it a better game.

They should be working on tighter budget.

Laughable.

Why should they be working on a tighter budget? Because you say so?

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Are they going to make it AAA? Then sell a million copies max?

Weird, more money wont make it a better game.

They should be working on tighter budget.

Who knows? Maybe they won't have firm metrics.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Laughable.

Why should they be working on a tighter budget? Because you say so?

Studios can run into trouble.

Last time I checked, HiFi Rush studio got into trouble.

Wouldn’t want same thing happening elsewhere, shall we?

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Are they going to make it AAA? Then sell a million copies max?

Weird, more money wont make it a better game.

They should be working on tighter budget.

You have some truly horrendous takes

 

[Hudo]

Perkele

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Studios can run into trouble.

Last time I checked, HiFi Rush studio got into trouble.

Wouldn’t want same thing happening elsewhere, shall we?

Sony bought Housemarque after the success of returnal

Stop the idiocy

 

[GymWolf]

Are they going to make it AAA? Then sell a million copies max?

Weird, more money wont make it a better game.

They should be working on tighter budget.

Sacrilege, returnal would not be the same if it just looked like their previous games (very simple)

I think the budget is perfect.

Sometimes the big publishers enable these games that don't sell a lot but they are fan favourites like returnal.

Not ever game need to be a smashing hit.

 

[GymWolf]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and Selene wasn't "hot" enough for some people even though how she presented was entirely in keeping with the themes and content of the story.

You are barking at the wrong door, i literally made 3 posts today to defend selene look in the ugly characters topic, but nice try.

The fact that you had to add that shit to my post that was only about game design speak volume, persecution complex much?

 

[nial]

No gameplay; just a fancy and meaningless title card.

I would expect this kind of reveal from your average third-party publisher.
and these types of articles! interviews are even worse.
Hulst went from an alpha male, silverback, chest-haired apex predator to someone who simps for an annoying female character and thought Concord would be the next Star Wars.

They already confirmed gameplay for later in the year.
Lol at acting like this is anything new for Sony:




It's like you had to justify making a random, unrelated, shitty post about Concord out of fucking nowhere.

 

[Clear]

You are barking at the wrong door, i literally made 3 posts today to defend selene look in the ugly characters topic, but nice try.

I didn't accuse you of that, I explicitly said "some people". The commonality however is the audience dictating the creatives choices not being something I can get behind.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Sony bought Housemarque after the success of returnal

Stop the idiocy

Are they free from market economics?

Last time I checked, Sony shuttered down Firesprite after Concord failed to gain traction.

Not saying this is going to be THAT bad. But studios need to be careful with their spending instead of boasting about out of control budgets.

Sacrilege, returnal would not be the same if it just looked like their previous games (very simple)

I think the budget is perfect.

Sometimes the big publishers enable these games that don't sell a lot but they are fan favourites like returnal.

Not ever game need to be a smashing hit.

They need to perfect rogue like mechanics.

Then go full AAA production, biggest, most varied rogue like ever made. Like how From Soft did it with Elden Ring.

 

[viveks86]

Make a normal tps instead of a roguelite, returnal was a great tps but kinda of a shit roguelite.

But what if they make a great tps which is also a great roguelite by learning from past mistakes? Come back stronger!

 

[Insanemaelstrom]

I tend to like their games and they are always fun. Pretty excited for sorus

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Are they free from market economics?

Last time I checked, Sony shuttered down Firesprite after Concord failed to gain traction.

Not saying this is going to be THAT bad. But studios need to be careful with their spending instead of boasting about out of control budgets.

An Alan Wake 2 sized budget is small

 

[blacktout]

Laughable.

Why should they be working on a tighter budget? Because you say so?

Seriously. Big budgets signal problems when they're a sign that a game is in development hell or that a studio has been strong-armed into deviating from their vision and making GaaSlop. Both are obviously not the case here. Four years of development time is remarkably efficient in the current development climate and it's clear Housemarque are being allowed to design to their established strengths.

 

[GymWolf]

Are they free from market economics?

Last time I checked, Sony shuttered down Firesprite after Concord failed to gain traction.

Not saying this is going to be THAT bad. But studios need to be careful with their spending instead of boasting about out of control budgets.


They need to perfect rogue like mechanics.

Then go full AAA production, biggest, most varied rogue like ever made. Like how From Soft did it with Elden Ring.

It's literally the opposite of what you say, the simpler the graphic, the more content you can put in your roguelite because it doesn't need detailed models, assets and animation or fancy graphic effect, something cheap looking like isaac has 300x times the content of returnal, elden ring can do that because they ricicle a lot of stuff from previous games and their games graphic is mid tier AA at best.

Perfecting roguelike mechanics is more about enabling a shitload of synergies between weapons and powers or making every run feel like you are making some progress or reworkimg the parasite\infliction system because 9 times out of 10 it was better to ignore that stuff to have a great run.

 

[touchfuzzy]

More investment brings more risk, of course.

Returnal was likely a modest success at the previous budget, but Saros selling the same would be a failure based on this. I don't think another ultra-hard roguelike will have the potential to really breakthrough more than Returnal did, be interesting to see what they're cooking.

 

[Sooner]

Housemarque coming after Insomniac for dat Most 1P Releases In A Gen crown .

With 2?

 

[Sooner]

Are they going to make it AAA? Then sell a million copies max?

Weird, more money wont make it a better game.

They should be working on tighter budget.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Are they free from market economics?

Last time I checked, Sony shuttered down Firesprite after Concord failed to gain traction.

Not saying this is going to be THAT bad. But studios need to be careful with their spending instead of boasting about out of control budgets.


They need to perfect rogue like mechanics.

Then go full AAA production, biggest, most varied rogue like ever made. Like how From Soft did it with Elden Ring.

Sony has never shuttered critically acclaimed studios. They've even given Media Molecule tremendous latitude, though I expect that might run out.

You don't even know you're studios, conflating Firesprite and Firewalk.

They closed Firewalk not just because Concord failed to gain traction, but because the studio became a PR nightmare.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

~3 years of development + probably a year of pre prod. I think we're good to go for 2026 release.

 

[Three]

Make a normal tps instead of a roguelite, returnal was a great tps but kinda of a shit roguelite.

From the trailer it's clear they're not making a normal tps. I wish it were like GoW Ragnarok, a nice rougelike and a meaty normal game all in one.

 

[GymWolf]

But what if they make a great tps which is also a great roguelite by learning from past mistakes? Come back stronger!

Because you risk of having another great tps chained down by non well-tuned roguelite mechanics, you have no idea if they actually learned something from the first game, it was a lot of people first roguelite because it is mostly a cheap looking pc genre, so it was praised a lot by people who don't know how a good roguelite should work.

I'm replaying the game during these days and you can straight up ignore half of the mechanics because they are useless or straight up bad for your run.

Roguelite should be all about engaging with all the systems to find synergies.

And sometimes it happen in returnal aswell, but it is few and far inbetween occasions.

Most of the objects you unlock kinda suck or are anything vut exciting and everytime you unlock one you just make the pool of objects larger but not necessarily more useful

The afflction system was way too severe, too many crippling malus for very small bonuses, why risking?

Same for parasytes, a few good, most unasable

And the sense of progression between one run and the other was nowhere near as good as the best roguelites, 90% of it was just unlocking new weapon traits, no health upgrade or dash upgrade or other stuff that you can improve between runs and make you feel good even when you lose.
If during a run you happen to use a weapon with no new traits you basically make zero progress between runs except when you beat a new biome and get a new traversing skill or weapon, but that happen only the first time you beat a biome.

I forget some shit but this is the bulk of my critics, basically any guide for the game is gonna tell you the same, avoid to pick afflicted stuff and parasystes for the most part and just focus on unlocking good weapon traits.


The plot was the only thing that really worked good with the roguelite mechanics.

 

[Loomy]

Some of the comments in here make it clear some people will just never be happy with anything.
And it's also clear some of you didn't rush home to play Resogun after getting your midnight launch PS4..

 

[Griffon]

Smells like a bad business decision. They haven't proven they can back up that sort of budget with huge sales numbers.

Usually you underspend to oversell, and then you up the ante with the next game. Don't go too high budget too fast.

 

[viveks86]

Because you risk of having another great tps chained down by non well-tuned roguelite mechanics, you have no idea if they actually learned something from the first game, it was a lot of people first roguelite because it is mostly a cheap looking pc genre, so it was praised a lot by people who don't know how a good roguelite should work.

I'm replaying the game during these days and you can straight up ignore half of the mechanics because they are useless or straight up bad for your run.

Roguelite should be all about engaging with all the systems to find synergies.

And sometimes it happen in returnal aswell, but it is few and far inbetween occasions.

Most of the objects you unlock kinda suck or are anything vut exciting and everytime you unlock one you just make the pool of objects larger but not necessarily more useful

The afflction system was way too severe, too many crippling malus for very small bonuses, why risking?

Same for parasytes, a few good, most unasable

And the sense of progression between one run and the other was nowhere near as good as the best roguelites, 90% of it was just unlocking new weapon traits, no health upgrade or dash upgrade or other stuff that you can improve between runs and make you feel good even when you lose.
If during a run you happen to use a weapon with no new traits you basically make zero progress between runs except when you beat a new biome and get a new traversing skill or weapon, but that happen only the first time you beat a biome.

I forget some shit but this is the bulk of my critics, basically any guide for the game is gonna tell you the same, avoid to pick afflicted stuff and parasystes for the most part.


The plot was the only thing that really worked good with the roguelite mechanics.

Oh I totally agree that it was a bad roguelite and all your criticism is valid for Returnal. It seems to me that the very tagline of the second game (come back stronger) is an indication that they have learnt something. To what extent, we shall see. It is a risk, but worth trying at least one more time imo.

 

[GymWolf]

An Alan Wake 2 sized budget is small

I think it's still fairly bigger than returnal tho.

 

[Schmendrick]

Small-ish studio with small-ish sales numbers so far suddenly gets their hands on a AAA budget....
Sounds risky at the very least, but who knows.
I´ll reserve judgment for when we get the first hand-ons.

 

[GymWolf]

Oh I totally agree that it was a bad roguelite and all your criticism is valid for Returnal. It seems to me that the very tagline of the second game (come back stronger) is an indication that they have learnt something. To what extent, we shall see. It is a risk, but worth trying at least one more time imo.

If they fix the progression between runs and make finding stuff more exciting then they have my bless.

Hopefully the bigger budget means also way more content and not recyclying 2 biomes out of 6 like they did with returnal.


Roguelites lives and die based on how much content they have, that's how you hook people with repeating the same shit over and over and over.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

I think it's still fairly bigger than returnal tho.

Sure

But I think with the tweaks they are making and the larger ps5 install base, this should sell a lot more than returnal

Honestly I’m expecting a masterful leap given the time they have to make this and the experience of returnal under their belt

It could be a demons souls to dark souls type jump in terms of popularity

 

[GymWolf]

Sure

But I think with the tweaks they are making and the larger ps5 install base, this should sell a lot more than returnal

Honestly I’m expecting a masterful leap given the time they have to make this and the experience of returnal under their belt

It could be a demons souls to dark souls type jump in terms of popularity

Not sure if i would use that comparison, a lot of people prefer demons to dark.

Unchy1 to unchy2 would be better.

 

[Hohenheim]

This is going to be bonkers!

I wish it was PC day one, but I doubt it.

I certanly hope it is too.
Replaying Returnal on PC in 4K with high fps and mouse/keyboard was was a fantastic experience.
It was awesome on PS5 too, but hard to go back to controllers/ lower fps after experiencing it in all its glory.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Small-ish studio with small-ish sales numbers so far suddenly gets their hands on a AAA budget....
Sounds risky at the very least, but who knows.
I´ll reserve judgment for when we get the first hand-ons.

How is that different from Sucker Punch? Which paid massive dividends. If Ghost of Yotei is as successful as Tsushima, that studio will probably end up doubling in size over time.

I don't think a single company in the industry has a better track record in the AAA space as Sony in terms of developing studios.

 

[Clear]

The plot was the only thing that really worked good with the roguelite mechanics.

That to me was the point.

The narrative required a rogue-lite structure, it wasn't just superimposed on top.

Putting that story inside a standard linear TPS-framework and it just wouldn't work the same.

People do not give Housemarque nearly enough credit for managing to successfully synthesize two really disparate styles of game without it feeling like a lumpy mess. Fast, agile shooting action and psychological/existential horror really have no business coexisting.

 

[Xtib81]

As long as it's roguelike, I'm out.

 

[EN250]

Housemarque carrying PS5 for the whole generation

 

[Luipadre]

Make a normal tps instead of a roguelite, returnal was a great tps but kinda of a shit roguelite.

That is what i hope they will address in this game. Gimme the same greatness as returnal but with much better replayability

 

[bender]

That to me was the point.

The narrative required a rogue-lite structure, it wasn't just superimposed on top.

Putting that story inside a standard linear TPS-framework and it just wouldn't work the same.

People do not give Housemarque nearly enough credit for managing to successfully synthesize two really disparate styles of game without it feeling like a lumpy mess. Fast, agile shooting action and psychological/existential horror really have no business coexisting.

The narrative also works against the roguelite design with the reset in the middle and there are other lacing elements (itemization, small variety in rooms, upgrade caps, etc.) that made for a weaker roguelite and showed some of the budgetary/time constraints to get the product out the door. Some of that can come down to a matter of preference and design decisions around the difficulty curve. It's certainly not a bad game and not a bad first effort for the genre, but it's easy to see why some can be critical of the roguelite implementations. It was also a little content poor at launch. Hats off for the post-launch support, but $70 is a lot more expensive than most other roguelites. I don't really blame Housemarque for that decision though.

 

[Roman Empire]

I liked Returnal a lot but I'm curious about how they will evolve the formula, meaning Saros will be a want and see for me.

I do hope it comes to PC in less than one year.

 

[rofif]

I am getting mine next week.
Quite expensive this thing. Hope it is ps5 pro enhanced
(seriously getting this. it seems cool af)

 

[Fafalada]

Because you risk of having another great tps chained down by non well-tuned roguelite mechanics, you have no idea if they actually learned something from the first game, it was a lot of people first roguelite because it is mostly a cheap looking pc genre, so it was praised a lot by people who don't know how a good roguelite should work.

I've played a lot of rogulites before Returnal, and while I understand there's a (somewhat rabid) following of giant item trees and systems that you can spend a few decades unlocking possibilities of - I personally always found those games incredibly tedious and... work-like...
Now - where exactly do 'mainstream' roguelite audiences consensus lie I don't know - it's entirely possible your view is that of the majority and the rest of us just aren't supposed to play the genre.
But for the time being I'm glad there's a few games like Returnal out there that I can still enjoy and not feel like I've been through a torture chamber like with certain others (Rogue Legacy I'm particularly looking at you here).

But wherever the consensus lies - I think it's pretty apparent that this isn't a genre that will accept full-priced AAA anytime soon (if ever) - so if they're sticking with the genre well...
(And no - the time-loop thing does not automatically equate a Roguelite - lots of other genres employed this before and since).

An Alan Wake 2 sized budget is small

70M is a stupidly large amount of money for a potential roguelite. Basically no 3rd party publisher would ever sign on it - so if this is one, it's only happening because it's a 1st party.

Then go full AAA production, biggest, most varied rogue like ever made. Like how From Soft did it with Elden Ring.

From had several very large hits in the same genre before ER. I love HM games - but they've yet to produce 'any' mainstream success on that scale, so this isn't a very realistic comparison.

 

[a'la mode]

Because you risk of having another great tps chained down by non well-tuned roguelite mechanics, you have no idea if they actually learned something from the first game, it was a lot of people first roguelite because it is mostly a cheap looking pc genre, so it was praised a lot by people who don't know how a good roguelite should work.

I'm replaying the game during these days and you can straight up ignore half of the mechanics because they are useless or straight up bad for your run.

Roguelite should be all about engaging with all the systems to find synergies.

And sometimes it happen in returnal aswell, but it is few and far inbetween occasions.

Most of the objects you unlock kinda suck or are anything vut exciting and everytime you unlock one you just make the pool of objects larger but not necessarily more useful

The afflction system was way too severe, too many crippling malus for very small bonuses, why risking?

Same for parasytes, a few good, most unasable

And the sense of progression between one run and the other was nowhere near as good as the best roguelites, 90% of it was just unlocking new weapon traits, no health upgrade or dash upgrade or other stuff that you can improve between runs and make you feel good even when you lose.
If during a run you happen to use a weapon with no new traits you basically make zero progress between runs except when you beat a new biome and get a new traversing skill or weapon, but that happen only the first time you beat a biome.

I forget some shit but this is the bulk of my critics, basically any guide for the game is gonna tell you the same, avoid to pick afflicted stuff and parasystes for the most part and just focus on unlocking good weapon traits.


The plot was the only thing that really worked good with the roguelite mechanics.

I think it's a little arrogant to start making a bullet point list of what a whole genre/subgenre like roguelite should be like, or trying to tell others they liked a game just because they don't know how a good roguelite should work. It's just your own, very specific and narrow preference, while the games come in all shapes and sizes.

For me a lot of driving force came from the world and intrigue, wanting to know more about what's going on. I didn't need to sustain myself with some counter getting a permanent +1 to it or morsels of powerups.

The sense of progression for me came from getting more confident in navigating biomes and getting better at the game in general, and so being learn more about the mystery. On my first runs, I couldn't do anything about Phrike and the boss felt intimidating. Some hours later, I was 360 noscoping zero damage dunking on Phrike with spawn weapon without a sweat. Is that not a sense of progression as well, even if it can't be tied to a numeric power value on an UI?

I've played all kinds of roguelikes, and even the original Nethacks and Adoms back in the day, and I can enjoy Returnal as well as I can enjoy Rogue Legacy or Dead Cells, and they're all still good roguelikes to me for different reasons. I'm not saying this to convince you otherwise, because it doesn't really matter to me that much what you think about it, I'm just providing another point of view.