In today’s news from the corporate acquisition frontlines, Sony has bought out Infamous and Sly Cooper dev Sucker Punch Productions for an undisclosed sum of cash monies, according to a report over on MSNBC.

This makes Sucker Punch Sony’s sixteenth acquisition, alongside others like Naughty Dog (Uncharted series), Guerrilla Games (Killzone series), Zipper Interactive (SOCOM series), and Media Molecule (LittleBigPlanet series).

“Worldwide Studios puts a really high value on groups like Sucker Punch that can successfully develop new intellectual property,” says Scott Rohde, senior vice president at Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios America.

“It’s something that’s been the strategy of Worldwide Studios from the get go – making sure that we’re able to build a high volume of exclusive first-party content. Sucker Punch is a group we’re excited to acquire because they have proven with both Sly Cooper and most recently with the inFamous franchise that they can develop that new IP and they are very adept at doing so.”

He also reveals that the move – ostensibly somewhat odd, considering Sucker Punch has been developing Sony-exclusive titles for the past five years or so already – was prompted by concerns that somebody else might just do it first.

“I’d be lying if I said other groups weren’t interested in a group like Sucker Punch,” Rohde explains. “The bottom line is, when you’ve got a group that’s been as successful as Sucker Punch, we want to ensure that we keep them in the fold. It’s that simple. It’s hard to find high quality developers like these guys.”

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