Sucker Punch Productions

Sucker Punch Productions
Subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment
Industry Computer and video games
Interactive entertainment
Founded 1997
Founder Brian Fleming
Headquarters Bellevue, Washington, United States
Products Sly Cooper series (2002–2005)
Infamous series (2009–)
Services Video game development
Owner Sony
Number of employees
 ~110+
Parent SIE Worldwide Studios
Website Official website

Sucker Punch Productions is an American first-party video game developer founded in 1997 and based in Bellevue, Washington. It was an independent company until August 2011, but has worked exclusively with Sony Interactive Entertainment since 2000. Sony acquired Sucker Punch on August 2, 2011.[1]

History

The company was founded in 1997 and according to the company's website it "started at the roots of Microsoft, where the co-founders all worked in a variety of productivity and software development applications. All shared a love for video games, yet only one had game development experience." The group decided to leave Microsoft in 1997. The company name came as one of several proposed by the company that they would not have been able to use at Microsoft due to that company's policies.

Co-founder Chris Zimmerman showed the list to his wife for her opinion, and she responded that she did not care "as long as it isn't 'Sucker Punch'". Considering the opinion of a middle-aged woman would be completely contrary to the demographics of their target audience, they selected that name for the company.[2]

In late 1999, Sucker Punch released its first game, Rocket: Robot on Wheels, for the Nintendo 64. After signing a deal with Sony in 2000, the company went on to create the Sly Cooper series for the PlayStation 2 using their proprietary engine SPACKLE (Sucker Punch Animation and Character Kinematics Life Engine).

The company's most recent series, Infamous for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, heralded a move from level-based games portraying cel-shaded, anthropomorphic animals to a fully streaming sandbox game depicting more realistic-looking humans and protagonists with acrobatic abilities.

Former logo used from 1999 to 2013

Sucker Punch is considered one of Sony's "platformer trio", which includes Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games. Although the three companies have started to venture into more mature outings, they have recently started to continue their series, such as Naughty Dog handing over production of their latest Jak and Daxter title to High Impact Games and Insomniac games continuing their Ratchet and Clank series. In addition, Sucker Punch has handed over their Sly Cooper series to Sanzaru Games and they have produced Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. This game was released in February 2013 in North America and March 2013 in Europe and Australia.

Sanzaru Games also released The Sly Collection, a remastered port of the PlayStation 2 Sly Cooper games for the PlayStation 3, in November 2010. In addition, Nihilistic Software developed PlayStation Move Heroes, a cross-over PS3 title featuring Sly Cooper and two other popular characters, Ratchet and Jak. A sequel to Infamous was officially announced when the cover of Game Informer's July 2010 issue was a picture of Infamous 2, along with the magazine containing a ten-page preview of the game.

Sucker Punch teamed up with Capcom to include their Infamous protagonist, Cole MacGrath, as a special guest character for Street Fighter X Tekken. He is a playable character on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions, and with SuperBot Entertainment to include both the good and evil versions Cole MacGrath and Sly Cooper in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.

Games developed

Year Game Platform(s) GameRankings Metacritic
1999 Rocket: Robot on Wheels Nintendo 64 81.32%[3] N/A
2002 Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus PlayStation 2 85.23%[4] 86/100[5]
2004 Sly 2: Band of Thieves 87.92%[6] 88/100[7]
2005 Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves 84.18%[8] 83/100[9]
2009 Infamous PlayStation 3 86.31%[10] 85/100[11]
2011 Infamous 2 84.44%[12] 83/100[13]
Infamous: Festival of Blood 79.89%[14] 78/100[15]
2014 Infamous Second Son PlayStation 4 80.57%[16] 80/100[17]
Infamous First Light 74.89%[18] 73/100[19]

References

  1. ↑ Eaton, Nick (August 2, 2011). "Sony buys Bellevue's Sucker Punch video-game studio Share". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2011-08-02.
  2. ↑ McElroy, Justin (2009-09-08). "What's In A Name: Sucker Punch". Joystiq. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
  3. ↑ "Rocket: Robot on Wheels Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Sly 2: Band of Thieves Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Sly 2: Band of Thieves Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  10. ↑ "Infamous Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Infamous Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Infamous 2 Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Infamous 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Infamous: Festival of Blood Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Infamous: Festival of Blood Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Infamous Second Son Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Infamous Second Son Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  18. ↑ "Infamous First Light Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Infamous First Light Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
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