Sony’s WipEout Series Showing Signs of Life

Late last month, Sony passed along the sad news that SCE Studio Liverpool, the team responsible for the WipEout franchise, had been shut down due to corporate “restructuring.”

The news put into question the future of the WipEout franchise. Sony did retain the rights to the franchise upon closing its Liverpool studio, but the company didn’t initially mention whether or not it plans to continue to support the series moving forward.

According to recent posts on the offical Facebook and Twitter pages for WipEout 2048, however, there may be hope for the series yet. Yesterday, someone posted a cryptic message on the account reading: “We. Are. Alive.” Along with the message, an image of WipEout 2048 was posted.

Some speculated that the message meant that Sony had a change of heart about the Liverpool studio, but a follow-up message clarified:

“As you may be aware; Studio Liverpool shut its doors on the 22nd of August 2012. It was a very sad day- the end of an era and will never be forgotten. While we wait for news on the future of WipEout, Online play will continue to be supported and there will be plenty of WipEout community events, giveaways and goodies to look forward to!”

Last month, Eurogamer reported that Sony’s Liverpool studio was working on a new WipEout game for the PlayStation 4 before it was shut down. Whether or not that project is still on is unknown, as Sony declined to comment.

What these posts mean is anyone’s guess at this point, but it at least serves to give fans of the series hope for future iterations.