989 Studios |
989 Studios was a division of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEA) that developed games for the PlayStation consoles and Microsoft Windows personal computers. Their titles include Twisted Metal 3 and 4 , Syphon Filter and Syphon Filter 2 , Jet Moto , Bust a Groove , EverQuest and others. It now exists as the 989 Sports brand owned by SCEA that produces sports titles.
The 989 Sports title evolved from a long history of name changes and corporate shuffling within Sony centered around operations in Foster City, California. Around August 1995, Sony Imagesoft was merged with the product development branch of SCEA, becoming Sony Interactive Studios America (SISA). On April 1998, SISA was renamed to 989 Studios. The 989 name came from their street address, 989 E. Hillsdale Boulevard in Foster City. The part of 989 developing EverQuest (and other online and PC games) broke off to become an independent studio named Verant Interactive in early 1999. On April 1, 2000, 989 Studios was merged back into SCEA as a first party development group, in order to prepare for the then-upcoming PlayStation 2. SCEA continues to release sports games under the 989 Sports brand. Subsequent reissues and sequels to 989 s titles are published under the SCEA name instead of the 989 name.
=Reputation=
989 Studios had gained a reputation for releasing sequels to popular SCEA titles that were inferior to their predecessors (Example: Twisted Metal III/4 , Cool Boarders 3/4 , 3Xtreme , Jet Moto 3 ). Their Twisted Metal titles came under great critical and commercial fire for being completely inferior to the first two games. This was mostly due to the change in developers (989 developed TMIII and 4 instead of SingleTrac (Now Incognito Entertainment), who developed TM 1 and 2 ).
Their sports titles, while not inferior, mostly fell short of the quality that sports fans get from EA Sports titles.
=989 Studios=
=989 Sports=
==Published by 989 Sports==
==Published by SCEA under the 989 Sports brand==
=External link=
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