Taking 989 Studios back in-house, SCEA gear up for strong first-party PlayStation2 launch titles

Sony Computer Entertainment America today announced that they are converging their independent game house, 989 Studios, back into the fold of SCEA to prepare for the upcoming launch of PlayStation2.

989 Studios, formerly known as Sony Interactive Studios America, will now exist only in name under the umbrella of Sony. The daily business operations, including public relations, marketing and all executive business decisions at 989 Studios will also be made under Sony as of April 1.

The company will no longer be led by former President Kelly Flock, who will stay with 989 Studios through an interim transition period. In his stead, the current SCEA management team led by Kazuo Hirai, President and Chief Operating Officer for the entire North American operation, will take over. Hirai reports directly to Ken Kutaragi, who's responsible for direction and leadership of the global corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Shuhei Yoshida will join SCEA as Vice President, Product Development, Sony Computer Entertainment America. A 14-year Sony veteran and renowned software developer, Yoshida is one of the individuals responsible for the creation of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc's 170-person internal product development operations. He has many games under his belt, including the first Gran Turismo (as Executive Producer), Ape Escape andThe Legend of Dragoon.

While 989 Studios games may have been popular with gamers on a sheer numbers level, thanks to earlier successes, the company's level of quality drastically decreased in the last two years, with games such as Twisted Metal IV, Cool Boarders 4 and 3xtreme looking and playing far worse than their originators. In fact, 989 stopped innovating almost two years ago, and with the exceptions of their best franchises, Syphon Filter and the PC game Everquest, almost every game rested on name recognition alone.

Courtesy of IGN.com