It’s been announced that Sony Interactive Entertainment will integrate wholly owned subsidiary SN Systems, which is a developer company of programming tools for game creators on PlayStation consoles. They will then become one unified company on April 1.
To provide a bit of context about SN Systems and what they do, the company was first founded in 1990 and acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Then, in 2005, Sony Computer Entertainment acquired SN Systems. Since then, the companies have been working closely together to help create software development kits and game creation tools for the Sony consoles. This includes PlayStation 3, PS Vita, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
SN Systems originally began as a two-person operation and has since expanded across the globe, becoming an international company with more than 100 employees. The company’s headquarters are based in Bristol in the UK, with other satellite offices in Dublin and California. Due to the nature of the company, they also work closely with the Sony Interactive Entertainment office in Japan and some of their other SIE offices in the US and Europe.
“The exceptionally talented team at SN Systems has been an integral part of Sony Interactive Entertainment by driving innovation in tools development, which has been central to our success across multiple PlayStation generations. This next step in our partnership will strengthen our shared sense of unity. together, we look forward to continuing to empower developers to create compelling gaming experiences for PlayStation players,” said Sony Interactive Entertainment Platform Business Group CEO Hideaki Nishino.
SN Systems has developed technologies such as debuggers, toolchains, and performance analyzers to help aid the developers in their creative processes and to try and provide a more efficient way of working and creating the games for Sony consoles.
Considering how closely linked these companies are with each other, it makes total sense as a business move to finally integrate the two companies, and it’s interesting that it hasn’t happened sooner, especially since they’ve been working together since the PlayStation 1.
Not only did they provide tools for Sony, though, but they also helped provide tools for the Sega Genesis, Super NES, Nintendo 64, GameCube, and the Nintendo DS.
Sony Interactive Entertainment goes on to say that the integration of SN Systems will “drive further innovation and creativity for PlayStation products and services.” While the development process was already considered to be efficient thanks to the tools of SN Systems, by having the companies integrate wholly, it will reportedly enhance operational efficiencies.
