Cinemersive Labs, a UK-based machine learning and computer vision studio, is set to be acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Following the deal, its team will move into SIE’s Visual Computing Group (VCG).
Cinemersive Labs was established in 2022 and works with both computer vision and machine learning. SIE says the team will be directed toward raising the standard of visual computing in games, using machine learning as the primary means of producing sharper visuals and a higher overall quality of what players see on screen.
The VCG has been operating since 2024, when SIE brought together the iSIZE team it had previously acquired and portion of its Game Platform Artificial Intelligence group into a single unit. iSIZE, which SIE acquired in 2023, was a London-based studio that developed AI-powered tools for improving video quality and reducing the bitrate demands of video delivery. The VCG’s work spans a wide technical range, with game rendering, video coding, generative models, and neural networks all falling within its scope. Its work targets machine learning systems for SIE’s game and streaming pipeline that exceed what the industry currently delivers in speed, visual output, and response time.
The VCG’s research work includes a perceptual video compression method that gave existing codecs a roughly 20% gain in bitrate efficiency, generative research into photorealistic neural avatars designed to avoid uncanny valley problems, investigations into how neural rendering and streaming can be brought together in new ways, tools for evaluating image quality without a reference source, and approaches to rendering within virtual reality environments. The group has also built ongoing research relationships with universities and institutions across the world.
Cinemersive Labs adds further depth in machine learning and computer vision to that team. SIE frames the acquisition as part of its continued push to advance rendering and streaming technology for PlayStation, with the Cinemersive Labs team’s background positioned as a direct contribution to that goal.