![]() It’s been seven years since Wipeout 2048 came out and SCE Studio Liverpool was shuttered, and we’ve received no new Wipeout sequel. It was, sadly, also the last game to be made by SCE Studio Liverpool, with Sony shutting it down in 2012. 2012 saw the release of Wipeout 2048, a launch title for the PlayStation Vita, and though the game by no means set the world on fire – its excessively long loading times attracted a lot of criticism, in fact – it was still a technically impressive and deeply enjoyable game with some excellent track design. That, incidentally, was also the last Wipeout game the development team made under its original name, with 2002’s Wipeout Fusion on the PS2 – and every subsequent Wipeout title afterwards, being developed under the SCE Studio Liverpool moniker. It was only with the fourth game in the series, which was Wipeout 3, that the franchise went all-in as a PlayStation exclusive property. Imagine that- a Sony-owned studio making an N64 exclusive title. Hell, before moving on to Wipeout 3, they even made a Wipeout game for the N64, with Wipeout 64, which was published by Midway Games. Its sequel, Wipeout 2097, released for the PS1 in September 1996, followed by a PC release in July 1997, and, once again, a Sega Saturn launch in September of that year. The very first Wipeout came out on the PS1, of course, but it also came out on PC and – just a few months after its PS1 launch – on the Sega Saturn. Before their restructuring in 2000, SCE Studio Liverpool were known as Psygnosis, the creators of Wipeout, and though they were acquired by Sony in 1993 – two years before the first Wipeout game came out – they actually retained a surprising amount of independence that would be unimaginable in today’s day and age- to the extent that many of their games were even multiplatform titles. Though this is a series that is closely associated with PlayStation and Sony, funnily enough, it didn’t start out that way. So why is it that even in the face of such remarkable consistency, this series finds itself on ice? What the hell happened to Wipeout? Even Wipeout Fusion, which often divides opinion among series fans, is at the very least a solid racer, while Wipeout 2048, though somewhat unremarkable, is never not fun. Most of them have been legitimately good, while many have been downright excellent. ![]() Sure, we got a remastered release not too long ago – and an excellent one at that – but how long has it been since we got a true sequel? Too long, I say.Īnd why exactly is that? It’s hard to think of a bad Wipeout game. ![]() In recent years though, Wipeout has slowly but surely all but faded away, to the point where it now seems like little more than a hazy memory. ![]() Here’s a franchise that has maintained a remarkable level of quality and consistency throughout its lifespan, and though it’s by no means a system seller, or one of the top billing games on any PlayStation platform, its still a series that millions of people hold very close to their hearts. ![]() One of those is Wipeout, the futuristic F-Zero inspired racer developed by SCE Studio Liverpool (formerly Psygnosis). New (and relatively newer) franchises have changed the face of Sony’s first party portfolio over the last decade and the half, with the likes of God of War, Horizon, Uncharted, and The Last of Us dominating headlines, but there are a few properties that have remained synonymous with PlayStation for as long as it has existed. ![]()
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