Shuhei Yoshida, the President of Worldwide Studios at Sony, hints at the return of the WipEout racing franchise.
For the unfamiliar, WipEout was a futuristic racing game published and developed by Psygnosis (now defunct), later known as SCE Studio Liverpool. The game was first released in 1995 for PlayStation and PC.
During an interview at EGX in London, Yoshida was asked about the possibility of getting back WipEout and he replied "never say never." While Yoshida's comment about WipEout does not confirm the return of the game, it does give a glimmer of hope that it might make its way to the latest gaming console.
Yoshida says that his team needs to find the balance regarding sequels and franchises.
"From my standpoint I try to balance the number of games in a franchise. In the future there might be a chance to come back to a game like WipEout," says Yoshida.
Studio Liverpool was closed in 2012 and Sony said that the reason for the closure was the increasing competition in the market. When the studio closed, it was working on a number of titles for the Sony PlayStation 4, which also included a new version of WipEout. The game was said to be in development for about 12 to 18 months and rumored to be very different in comparison to the original game.
During the interview, Yoshida also gave some updates about the Sony Bend Studio. The head of Worldwide Studios said that Bend Studio was working on an awesome game, which has not been announced.
Putting everything together, it seems highly probable that WipEout may in fact make a comeback.
WipEout 2048 was the last installment of the series, which was exclusive for Sony PlayStation Vita. The game hit the shelves in early 2012 but it received lukewarm sales at release. However, a new installment of the WipEout game may still excite many gamers.
