From the looks of it, Sony’s ‘not-so-secret’ San Diego first-party studio is working on existing franchises.
Sony’s former San Diego support Studio, Visual Arts, appears to be working to “expand upon” Sony’s existing IPs. At least, that’s what can be discerned from the LinkedIn profile of former studio head and senior director of visual arts, Michael Mumbauer.
According to his profile, Mumbauer has been building a brand-new AAA action-adventure team, which seems to directly link to the Uncharted franchise, although this is speculation at this point.
“His latest achievement is having built a brand new, all-star, AAA Action/Adventure development team for Playstation”, Mumbauer’s profile reads. “Based in San Diego and utilizing proprietary engine technology, this team was assembled to expand upon existing franchises and craft all-new stories for the next generation of gamers.”
Sony hasn’t officially mentioned the existence of the studio as a first-party developer and its work on the company’s existing IPs, but back in 2018, Sony’s former Talent Acquisition Lead, Fiona Cherbak, confirmed that Visual Arts was looking for a gameplay animator.
“Are you an experienced, technical gameplay animator with a penchant for high-quality 3rd person action/adventure games?”, she tweeted. “PlayStation Visual Arts has a new game development team in partnership with a major Sony studio.”
Lead Gameplay Animator wanted! Are you an experienced, technical gameplay animator with a penchant for high-quality 3rd person action/adventure games? PlayStation Visual Arts has a new game development team in partnership with a major Sony studio. Want to learn more? DM, please. pic.twitter.com/1pXJN6Hj8H
— Fiona Cherbak (@fcherbak) September 12, 2018
Based on the information that’s available, and the things we’ve heard, it does seem plausible that Sony’s ‘secret’ San Diego studio is expanding upon the Uncharted franchise, but as with all rumors, please take this information with a fair pinch of salt for now.
Would you like to see an Uncharted prequel or spin-off? Which Sony IP would you like to see being continued on PlayStation 5? Hit the comments down below.
