Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced plans to acquire Cinemarsive Labs, a UK-based company specializing in machine learning and computer vision.
This is not a new game studio. This team joins the Visual Computing Group, the company’s research and development arm, primarily involved in things like neural networks and machine learning.
“At Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the PlayStation brand, we are continually exploring new ways to push the boundaries of visual computing and deliver richer, more immersive gameplay experiences,” a statement on the company’s website reads.
“Today, we are pleased to announce that SIE has entered into an agreement to acquire Cinemarsive Labs, a UK-based machine learning and computer vision company.”
Cinemarsive Labs was founded in 2022 and specializes in developing technology that turns two-dimensional photographs into “voluminous 3D immersive experiences,” according to its website.
“Following the acquisition, the Cinemarsive Labs team will join SIE’s Visual Computing Group (VCG) and contribute to our broader efforts to advance cutting-edge visual computing in games. This includes applying machine learning to enhance gameplay visuals, improve rendering techniques, and take player visual fidelity to new levels.”
In the quote above, the company appears to form part of an in-house group focused on how to use the latest technology to deliver cutting-edge visuals.
We don’t pretend to fully understand what this means, but PSSR may be an example of this group’s efforts coming to fruition in a consumer-facing way. PSSR is an upscaling technology that uses AI to reconstruct images at a higher resolution, improving overall image quality.
This is one of those acquisitions you don’t often see in the public eye, but I imagine some of Cinemarsive Labs’ work will end up in PS6 software in the future.
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