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The company logo, as shown throughout the franchise
Sucker Punch Productions is an American video game company founded in 1997 and based in Bellevue, Washington. They created Rocket: Robot on Wheels, the Sly Cooper series, and the Infamous series. They worked exclusively with Sony since 2000 as a third party-developer before being acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment shortly after the release of Infamous 2 in 2011.
History
Beginning
The company was founded in 1997 and according to the company's website, it "started at the roots of Microsoft, where the co-founders all worked in a variety of productivity and software development applications. All shared a love for video games, yet only one had game development experience." The group decided to leave Microsoft in 1997 and became an independent company. The company name came as one of several proposed by the company that they would not have been able to use at Microsoft due to that company's policies. Co-founder Chris Zimmerman showed the list to his wife for her opinion, and she responded that she didn't care "as long as it isn't "Sucker Punch." Considering the opinion of a middle-aged woman would be completely contrary to the demographics of their target audience, they selected that name for the company.
Rocket: Robot on Wheels
In 1999, Sucker Punch released their first game, Rocket: Robot on Wheels, for the Nintendo 64, a platformer featuring a robot named Rocket.
Sly Cooper
After signing a new deal with Sony in 2000, the company created Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus in 2002. After the success of the game, the company developed two sequels: Sly 2: Band of Thieves in 2004, and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves in 2005.
Infamous
A few months after releasing Sly 3, Sucker Punch started preparing ideas to the new game. They went to Sony with four different game ideas, and Sony decided to start the development of Infamous. In 2009 and 2011, Infamous and Infamous 2 were released, respectively. A few years later, they released Infamous: Second Son in 2014 for the PlayStation 4 console.
Relationships
Sucker Punch is considered one of Sony's three "platformer trio," which also includes Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games. All three companies, however, have moved onto more mature outings thanks to the more powerful technology on the PS3, which lets them create more realistic games. However, the three companies have recently started to continue their series, such as Naughty Dog handing over production of their Jak and Daxter franchise to High Impact Games, and Insomniac Games continuing their Ratchet and Clank series. In addition, Sucker Punch has gave their approval to Sanzaru Games to make a fourth PS3-exclusive addition to their Sly Cooper series.
Creation of Infamous
Sucker Punch created Infamous over the course of three years with a team of sixty people. They could have asked Sony for more people and completed the game in two years, but Sucker Punch preferred the small team size over a larger one.
Games
| Game Title | US Release Date | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Rocket: Robot on Wheels | October 31, 1999 | Nintendo 64 |
| Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus | September 23, 2002 | PlayStation 2 |
| Sly 2: Band of Thieves | September 14, 2004 | PlayStation 2 |
| Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves | September 26, 2005 | PlayStation 2 |
| Infamous | May 26, 2009 | PlayStation 3 |
| Infamous 2 | June 7, 2011 | PlayStation 3 |
| Infamous: Festival of Blood | October 25, 2011 | PlayStation 3 |
| Infamous: Second Son | March 21, 2014 | PlayStation 4 |
| Infamous: First Light | August 26, 2014 | PlayStation 4 |
| Ghost of Tsushima | July 17, 2020 | PlayStation 4 |
When coming to up Sony to start developing a game for the PS3, Sucker Punch came with four game ideas that they presented in the style of a book. Only three of these pitches were stated, being:
- Nasty Little Things
- Sucker Punch described it as, "a game where you collect these little creatures and have adventures with them ... and the creatures were summoned by the protagonist's tattoos."
- Uncharted
- Sucker Punch had coincidentally pitched a game called Uncharted. They stated that at the time, they frequently watched Lost and wanted to create a game with a similar feel. Since the story was to be set on an uncharted island, the company came up with the name. They stated that it was about, "a guy who wakes up on an island that is full of monsters."
- True Hero
- Sucker Punch described it as, "a game where you make choices." The game followed a comic-book-style, which Sucker Punch was a big fan of. The in-game style was inspired by the first Spider-Man game released back in 2000 and the Batman Begins game, along with X-Men Legends, which inspired the super-heroism and GTA: San Andreas for the free-roam, interactive style of environment. True Hero eventually evolved into InFamous.
Trivia
- Sucker Punch was responsible for some of the hardware choices of the PS4 console, as they were working very closely with lead PS4 architect Mark Cerny during the making of the PS4 and contributed some of their preferences about game-making experiences.
- Nate Fox makes a cameo appearance in the Infamous 2 mission "Exposing Bertrand" where he is being turned into a Corrupted. He is even referred to by his real name, and is also credited for this in the credits.
- Delsin Rowe is featured on the PlayStation 4 box.
Gallery
References
- Sucker Punch Productions [1]