Sony aims to maintain ‘platform neutrality’ following acquisition of audio design software Wwise

Sony Interactive Entertainment has acquired Audiokinect, the company behind video game audio design software Wave Works Interactive Sound Engine (Wwise).

Sony Interactive president and CEO John Kodera has stated Audiokinect will be able to continue as it has to date, "maintaining independence and platform neutrality". The takeover is expected to complete by the end of the month.

"A rich and all-encompassing audio experience is increasingly critical to the overall gameplay experience, further enhancing immersion and emotion for the player," said Sony Interactive president and CEO John Kodera (thanks, GameSpot). "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," Kodera added.

Wwise is used by a wide variety of AAA and indie developers across most current- and last-gen platforms, including Nintendo Wii, Wii U, and Switch, PC, PlayStation 3 and 4, Xbox 360 and One, plus mobile devices, too.

Sony’s had a strong start to 2019. A recent press release confirmed PlayStation 4 hardware sales have now passed 91.6 million globally, with more than 5.6 million units sold during the 2018 festive period, pushing overall global sales to almost 92 million as of December 31st, 2018.

The statement also stated that PS4-exclusive, Marvel’s Spider-Man, has cumulatively sold more than 9 million copies between its launch in September 2018 and November 25th, 2018.

It’ll be interesting to see if Sony’s platform neutrality will extend to Slightly Mad Studios’ recently announced console, The Mad Box. Stating "it’s the most powerful console ever built", CEO Ian Bell said it will be 4K and VR compliant.

"We’re not playing around here. This is beyond next gen," Bell said. "For too long have subtle iterations been accepted. Time to raise the bar, substantially."