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PlayStation has bought Wwise firm Audiokinetic but tech will still be available for all platforms

Date Type Companies involved Size
January 8th, 2019 acquisition Audiokinetic
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Not disclosed
PlayStation has bought Wwise firm Audiokinetic but tech will still be available for all platforms

Sony Interactive Entertainment has bought sound tool developer Audiokinetic.

The company is best known for its Wave Works Interactive Sound Engine (Wwise), a widely used audio design tool behind the sound of hundreds of games across platforms, genres and budgets.

Sony will complete its Audiokinetic acquisition by the end of the month. The audio firm will continue to operate as an independent company beyond that point.

"A rich and all-encompassing audio experience is increasingly critical to the overall gameplay experience, further enhancing immersion and emotion for the player," said Sony Interactive president and CEO John Kodera in a statement announcing the acquisition.

Sony also reassured developers by insisting that its purchase of Audiokinetic won’t suddenly cut non-Playstation developers out of using the developer’s technology. Tools like Wwise will remain platform agnostic.

Kodera continued: "We are confident that this acquisition will allow us to further grow the PlayStation platform and contribute to the broader gaming industry. It's our goal to support Audiokinetic's efforts to advance its audio technology while maintaining independence and platform neutrality."

Audiokinetic founder and CEO Martin Klein added: “We will remain independent and continue to deliver our suite of audio solutions to developers and platform holders, with even greater resources to continue innovating, expanding our market and enhancing our technology.”

“We are also excited about the opportunity to contribute to SIE at a platform level.”

This news comes as the PlayStation 4 is coming to the end of its lifecycle and as Sony will be ramping up towards the announcement and launch of its successor. 


Staff Writer

Natalie Clayton is an Edinburgh-based freelance writer and game developer. Besides PCGamesInsider and Pocketgamer.biz, she's written across the games media landscape and was named in the 2018 GamesIndustry.biz 100 Rising Star list.