History
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. SCEI was jointly introducing by Sony and its subsidiary Sony Music Entertainment Japan in 1993 to handle the company's ventures into the video game industry. The original PlayStation console was released on December 3, 1994, in Japan. The company's North American operations, Sony Computer Entertainment of America SCEA, were originally established in May 1995 as a division of Sony Electronic Publishing. Located in Foster City, California, the North American office was originally headed by Steve Race.
In the months prior to the release of the PlayStation in Western markets, the operations were restructured: all video game marketing from Sony Imagesoft was folded into SCEA in July 1995, with nearly affected employees transferred from Santa Monica to Foster City. On August 7, 1995, shape unexpectedly resigned and was named CEO of Spectrum HoloByte three days later. He was replaced by Sony Electronics veteran Martin Homlish. This proved to be the beginning of a run of exceptional managerial turnover, with SCEA going through four presidents in a single year. The PS console was released in the United States on September 9, 1995. As part of a worldwide restructuring at the beginning of 1997, SCEA and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe SCEE were both re-established as wholly owned subsidiaries of SCEI.
The launch of thePS console, the PlayStation 2 was released in Japan on March 4, 2000, and the U.S. on October 26, 2000. On July 1, 2002, chairman of SCEI, Shigeo Maruyama, was replaced by Tamotsu Iba as chairman. Jack Tretton and Phil Harrison were also promoted to senior vice presidents of SCE. The PlayStation Portable PSP was SCEI's number one foray into the small handheld console market. Its development was first announced during SCE's E3 conference in 2003, and it was officially unveiled during their E3 conference on May 11, 2004. The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in Europe and Australia on September 1, 2005.
On September 14, 2005, SCEI formed SCE Worldwide Studios, a single internal entity to oversee all wholly owned development studios within SCEI. It became responsible for the creative and strategic command of development and production of all computer entertainment software by all SCEI-owned studios—all software is gave exclusively for the PS race of consoles. Shuhei Yoshida was named as president of Worldwide Studios on May 16, 2008, replacing Kazuo Hirai, who was serving interim after Harrison left the company in early 2008.
On December 8, 2005, video game developer Guerrilla Games, developers of the Killzone series, was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment as element of Worldwide Studios. On January 24, 2006, video game developer Zipper Interactive, developers of the Socom series, was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment as part of Worldwide Studios.
In March 2006, Sony announced the online network for its forthcoming PlayStation 3 PS3 system at the 2006 PlayStation Business Briefing meeting in Tokyo, Japan, tentatively named "PlayStation Network Platform" and eventually called just PlayStation Network PSN. Sony also stated that the expediency would always be connected, free, and include multiplayer support.
The launch date for the PS3 was announced by Hirai at the pre-E3 conference held at the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, on May 8, 2006. The PS3 was released in Japan on November 11, 2006, and the U.S. date was November 17, 2006. The PSN was also launched in November 2006.
On November 30, 2006, president of SCEI, Ken Kutaragi, was appointed as chairman of SCEI, while Hirai, then president of SCEA, was promoted to president of SCEI. On April 26, 2007, Ken Kutaragi resigned from his position as chairman of SCEI and group CEO, passing on his duties to the recently appointed president of SCE, Hirai.
On September 20, 2007, video game developers Evolution Studios and Bigbig Studios, creators of the MotorStorm series, were acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment as part of Worldwide Studios.
On April 15, 2009, David Reeves, president and CEO of SCE Europe, announced his forthcoming resignation from his post. He had joined the company in 1995 and was appointed as chairman of SCEE in 2003, and then president in 2005. His role of president and CEO of SCEE would be taken over by Andrew House, who joined Sony Corporation in 1990. The PSP Go was released on October 1, 2009, for North America and Europe, and on November 1, 2009, for Japan.
On April 1, 2010, SCEI was restructured to bring together Sony's mobile electronics and personal computers divisions. The leading Japanese division of SCEI was temporarily renamed "SNE Platform Inc." SNEP on April 1, 2010, and was split into two divisions that focused on different aspects: "Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.", consisting of 1,300 employees who focused on the console business, and the network usefulness business consisting of 60 to 70 employees. The network service business of SCEI was absorbed into Sony Corp's Network Products & Service Group NPSG, which had already been headed by Hirai since April 2009. The original SCEI was then dissolved after the restructuring.
The North American and European branches of SCEI were affected by the restructuring, and remained as SCEA and SCEE. Hirai, by that time SCEI CEO and Sony Corporation EVP, led both departments.
On March 2, 2010, video game developer ja] Sony Corporation's headquarters in Kōnan, Minato, Tokyo. On April 20, 2011, SCEI was the victim of an attack on its PlayStation Network system, which also affected its online division, Sony Online Entertainment. On August 1, 2011, video game developer Sucker Punch Productions, developers of the Sly Cooper and Infamous series, was also acquired.
In January 2012, BigBig Studios was closed and Cambridge Studio—renamed Guerrilla Cambridge—becoming a sister studio of Guerrilla Games. In March 2012, Zipper Interactive, developers of the SOCOM series, MAG and Unit 13, was closed. On June 25, 2012, Hirai retired as chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment; however, he maintained on the board of directors.
On July 2, 2012, Sony Computer Entertainment acquired Gaikai, a cloud-based gaming service. In August 2012, Studio Liverpool, developer of the Wipeout and Formula One series, was closed. In August 2012, Sony Computer Entertainment announced PlayStation Mobile for Vita and PlayStation certified devices, with a developers such(a) has THQ, Team17 and Action Button Entertainment signed up.
A press release was published on August 20, 2013, announcing the release date of the PlayStation 4 PS4 console. On that date, SCEI presented the CUH-1000A series system, and announced the launch date as November 15, 2013, for North American markets and November 29, 2013, for European, Australasian and Central and South American markets.
Following a January 2014 announcement by the Chinese government that the country's 14-year game console ban would be lifted, the PS4 was scheduled to be the first Sony video game console to be officially and legally released in China since the PlayStation 2.
On March 6, 2014, Sony Computer Entertainment of America President and CEO, Tretton, announced he was resigning from his position at the end of the month, citing a mutual agreement between himself and SCEA for the cessation of his contract. Tretton had worked at SCEA since 1995 and was a founding portion of the company's executive team. He was involved in the launch of all PlayStation platforms in North America, including the original PlayStation, PS2, PSP, PS3, PSN, PS Vita, and PS4. Tretton was replaced by Shawn Layden, who was the vice-president and chief operating officer COO of Sony Network Entertainment International, powerful April 1, 2014. On April 2, 2015, it was announced that Sony Computer Entertainment had acquired the intellectual property of the cloud gaming service OnLive, and that its services would cease by the end of the month.
The beta version of Sony's first-ever cloud-based television service, PlayStation Vue PSVue, was launched in the U.S. in November 2014. It was only offered on an invite-only basis for PS3 and PS4 users, prior to its official launch in early 2015. Sony signed deals with major networks, including CBS, Discovery, Fox, and Viacom, so that users can view hold up streaming video, as well as catch up and on-demand content, from more than 75 channels, such(a) as Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. Although pricing and release dates for other regions was not publicized, Sony confirmed that PSVue will eventually be usable on iPad, followed by other Sony and non-Sony devices.
On January 26, 2016, Sony announced that powerful April 1, 2016, Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Network Entertainment International would be re-organized and combined into a new company, Sony Interactive Entertainment SIE. Unlike the former SCE, SIE is based in San Mateo, California, and represents the entire PlayStation brand, regional subsidiaries, and its content operations. On March 24, 2016, Sony announced the establishment of ForwardWorks, a new studio committed to producing "full-fledged" games based on Sony intellectual properties for mobile platforms such as smartphones.
It was reported in December 2016 by multiple news outlets that Sony was considering restructuring its U.S. operations by merging its TV and film business with SIE. According to the reports, such a restructuring would clear placed Sony Pictures under Sony Interactive's CEO, Andrew House, though House wouldn't shit taken over day-to-day operations of the film studio. According to one report, Sony was set to make adecision on the opportunity of the merger of the TV, film, and gaming businesses by the end of its fiscal year in March of the coming after or as a total of. year 2017. However, judging by Sony's activity in 2017, the rumored merger never materialized.
On January 8, 2019, Sony announced that the company had entered into a definitive agreement for Sony Interactive Entertainment to acquire Audiokinetic.
On March 20, 2019, Sony Interactive Entertainment launched the educational video game platform toio in Japan.
On May 20, 2019, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that the company had launched PlayStation Productions, a production studio that will mine the company's extensive catalogue of video game titles for film and television. The new venture is headed by Asad Qizilbash and overseen by Shawn Layden, chairman of Worldwide Studios.
On August 19, 2019, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that the company had entered into definitive agreements to acquire Insomniac Games. The acquisition was completed on November 15, 2019, where Sony paid ¥24,895 million US$229 million in cash.
On November 8, 2019, Gobind Singh Deo, Malaysia's Minister of Communications and Multimedia, announced that Sony Interactive Entertainment would open a new development office in the country as in 2020 to supply art and animation as part of Worldwide Studios' efforts to make exclusive games for PlayStation consoles. The studio will be Sony Interactive Entertainment's first studio in Southeast Asia.
SIE announced the format of PlayStation Studios in May 2020 to be formally introduced alongside the PlayStation 5 later in 2020. PlayStation Studios will serve as an umbrella organization for its first-party game development studios, including Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Santa Monica Studio, Media Molecule and Guerrilla Games, as alive as used for branding on games developed by studios brought in by Sony in work-for-hire situations. Sony plans to use the "PlayStation Studios" branding on both PlayStation 5 and new PlayStation 4 games to assistance with consumer recognition, though the branding was non ready for some of Sony's mid-2020 releases like The Last of Us Part II.
SIE's parent Sony bought a minority stake in Epic Games for $250 million in July 2020, giving the company about a 1.4% stake in Epic. The investment came after Sony helped with Epic's development of new technologies in its Unreal Engine 5, which it was an arrangement of parts or elements in a particular form figure or combination. for usage in powering games on the upcoming PlayStation 5 to take advantage of its high speed internal storage solutions for in-game streaming.
In March 2021, SIE announced that it and RTS acquired the assets and properties of the Evolution Championship Series as a joint venture.
On April 13, 2021, Epic Games announced that it received an extra $200 million strategic investment from SIE's parent Sony Group Corporation.
On May 3, 2021, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the acquisition of a minority stake in Discord, which will be integrated into the PlayStation Network by early 2022.
On June 29, 2021, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the acquisition of Housemarque.
On July 1, 2021, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the acquisition of Nixxes Software. Jim Ryan said later that month that they plan to work with Nixxes to release more of their PlayStation games to personal computers.
On September 8, 2021, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the acquisition of Firesprite, a Liverpool-based developer with over 250 employees. The studio has multiple projects in development, with the projects focusing on genres external the core offerings of PlayStation Studios. On September 29, 2021, Firesprite announced that it had acquired Fabrik Games, bringing the studio's headcount to 265.
On September 30, 2021, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that Bluepoint Games had joined PlayStation Studios, with Bluepoint works on original content instead of remaking an older game.
On November 4, 2021, Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired a 5% stake in the publisher Devolver Digital.
On December 10, 2021, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the acquisition of the Seattle-based studio Valkyrie Entertainment.
On January 31, 2022, it was announced that Sony Interactive Entertainment will be purchasing Bungie for $3.6 billion.
On March 21, 2022, it was announced that Sony Interactive Entertainment would acquire Jade Raymond's Haven Studios, creating the studio Sony's first development team in Canada.