Housemarque, the PS Studios team behind the excellent Returnal and many other arcade action games, has hired a former PlatinumGames programmer as lead designer.
Abebe Tinari has worked for just over 11 years at the Japanese studio known for Bayonetta, Vanquish and many other high-octane action titles.
On his LinkedIn profileTinari lists the authors of several games, including Granblue Fantasy: Relink, Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demonand unreleased Scaled.
He also claims to specialize in “enemy and boss design.”
It seems like a good match; The Housemarque experience is similar to the PlatinumGames expertise, with an emphasis on brisk, fluid action gameplay and arcade tendencies.
There’s currently no word on what the Finnish team’s next PS5 title will be, though other job postings require a “good understanding of action gameplay design,” so it looks like it’ll at least remain in their wheelhouse.
Returnal was released on PS5 in 2021, so let’s hope that doesn’t happen too much longer before we learn more about Housemarque’s fate.
Are you excited about what the studio is doing? Tell us in the comments section below.
