Housemarque co-founder Ilari Kuittinen exits after 31 years as PlayStation Studios loses another studio head

Ilari Kuittinen, co-founder and managing director of Housemarque, announced on X that August 31 is his last day at the Finnish studio he helped build over 31 years. The transition was planned well in advance — Sami "Haxu" Hakala officially took over as managing director on July 1. Kuittinen says he's stepping back after 33 years in the games industry and plans to stay loosely connected through trade shows and consulting.

In his farewell post, Kuittinen highlighted the studio's journey from pioneering Finnish game development to breaking into AAA with Returnal and this year's Saros. Housemarque started as an arcade-action specialist — Supreme Snowboarding sold over a million copies in 1999, and Super Stardust HD, Dead Nation, and Resogun built a loyal following through Sony's publishing partnership. The studio's direction shifted after Kuittinen's 2017 open letter declaring "Arcade is dead," citing poor commercial returns on its signature style. That pivot eventually produced Returnal in 2021, the roguelike action game that earned critical acclaim and led Sony to acquire Housemarque and fold it into PlayStation Studios. The studio's latest game, Saros, launched earlier in 2026 but got off to a slow start — analytics firm Alinea Analytics tracked roughly 300,000 units sold in its first two weeks. Housemarque pushed back on that framing, noting Returnal also had a slow launch before finding its audience.

Kuittinen's exit is the latest in a string of departures from the upper ranks of PlayStation-owned studios. Insomniac Games co-founder Ted Price retired in January 2025, and Sucker Punch co-founder Brian Fleming also left around the same period. Whether these exits reflect broader structural changes inside PlayStation Studios or are simply long-tenured founders moving on after decades of work is an open question — but the pattern is hard to ignore. Housemarque itself has been through significant change, growing from a small Finnish arcade developer into a full AAA studio under Sony's umbrella.

Kuittinen didn't signal any specific next move beyond taking a well-earned break. Hakala is now running the studio day-to-day, and all eyes will be on how Housemarque navigates the post-Saros period under new leadership.