It looks like Housemarque isn’t going to be resting on their laurels anytime soon. The Sony developer recently spoke with numerous journalists last week at the DICE Awards to answer questions and give comments. One of those publications, Venturebeat, asked about their foreseeable future, their identity with older arcade-style games, and what they could be working on next. The answer was fairly open-ended, but it did reveal something interesting. “We had our stint working on multiplayer games, because a few years back it seemed like you needed to have some kind of multiplayer experience. We tried that, and we really didn’t do it as well. But it’s early days with us starting a new game, a new IP, concepting it out. We’ll see what comes with that.”
As you can see in the quote, and the tweet above, this can be immediately interpreted as Housemarque essentially stating that they are currently working on an unannounced IP. On top of that, it also appears that this will not be a sequel, nor will it have anything to do with Returnal, making this an entirely new experience. In other words, don’t expect a sequel to Returnal, as the studio is dead set on staying out of a comfort zone and venturing out into the unknown.
While this may upset some fans who were looking forward to another entry, this also speaks to the developer’s strengths and imagination to not stay within the confines of an established IP. As for this unannounced project, it sounds like it’s still very early in the development process. Either way, we’re very excited to see what Housemarque has in store for the foreseeable future, and with the full backing of their parent company Sony, the sky’s the limit for this fearless developer.