Sony Interactive Entertainment announced today that they are wrapping up an acquisition deal with Audiokinetic, one of the leading providers of cross-platform audio solutions. This is particularly noteworthy, because it means SIE can add significant value to the PlayStation ecosystem, while still allowing Audiokinetic to work independently, licensing its multi-platform audio tools and middleware to developers.
One of Audiokinetic’s award-winning middleware tools, Wwise (Wave Works Interactive Sound Engine), allows for developers of all walks of life to do many things, such as
- managing sound integration,
- applying audio plug-in effects,
- mixing in real-time,
- defining game states,
- simulating audio environments, and
- importing audio files for use in video games.
Since so many developers use Wwise, this could be a big deal for SIE, especially when you consider the 500+ titles that launch each year using the middleware solution.
John Kodera, president and CEO of SIE had this to say about the acquisition of the audio company:
A rich and all-encompassing audio experience is increasingly critical to the overall gameplay experience, further enhancing immersion and emotion for the player. Audiokinetic is a preeminent provider of audio solutions for the gaming industry, and we are confident that this acquisition will allow us to further grow the PlayStation platform and contribute to the broader gaming industry. It’s our goal to support Audiokinetic’s efforts to advance its audio technology while maintaining independence and platform neutrality.
The acquisition is set to finalize on January 31, 2019 with Audiokinetic set to be a subsidiary of SIE.
[Source: SIE Corporate Release]
