"Never Say Never" to a New Wipeout Game, Says Sony Exec

Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony's worldwide studios, has discussed the possibility of bringing back futuristic racing series Wipeout,

Speaking at a Q&A session during EGX in London, as reported by VG247, Yoshida was asked whether the series, which was developed by now defunct Studio Liverpool, could return and replied "never say never."

"There are many IPs that we kind of stopped iterating with new games," he continued. "One of the reasons is we always love to work on new IP.

“From my standpoint I try to balance the number of games in a franchise. In the future there might be a chance to come back to a game like Wipeout."

Sony closed studio Liverpool in 2012 and, in a statement made at the time, Sony explained the change was deemed necessary due to an "increasingly competitive marketplace."

It said: "Liverpool Studio has been an important part of SCE Worldwide Studios since the outset of PlayStation, and have contributed greatly to PlayStation over the years. Everyone connected with Liverpool Studio, past and present, can be very proud of their achievements.

"However, it was felt that by focusing our investment plans on other Studios that are currently working on exciting new projects, we would be in a stronger position to offer the best possible content for our consumers."

At the time of its closure Studio Liverpool was reportedly working on multiple titles for the PlayStation 4, including a new Wipeout entry which had been in development for 12-18 months, and was to be "dramatically different," as well as a Splinter Cell-style action game.

Later during the Q&A session, Yoshida provided an update on Sony Bend Studio, famed for the Syphon Filter series.

“Sony Bend exists," he said. "They are making [an] awesome cool game that we have not announced. I’m not allowed to say."

In January 2015, Sony Bend technical director Christopher Reese said the studio's unannounced PlayStation 4 game is going to "push the PS4 somewhere it's never been before."

He said: "I think the thing I'm most excited about is the fact we're doing a PS4 game, and it's next-gen, and to me that means we face the challenges of reaching a quality bar that's going to make for an awesome experience for the player.

"Being able to do that, as a small studio in central Oregon [US], but as a fully-owned studio with PlayStation's full support, means we can reach a quality bar that's really really high. We're looking for badass coders to help us push the PS4 somewhere it's never been before."