Sony renews trademark for the shuttered studio behind Lemmings and Wipeout

Sony has renewed the trademark for Psygnosis, a studio which it shuttered in 2012.

Founded in 1984, the UK studio was best known as the publisher of Shadow of the Beast and Lemmings. It was eventually acquired by Sony in 1993, and began making PlayStation games - most notably the Wipeout and G-Police series - ahead of the console's arrival in the west in 1995.

In 2000, the company was incorporated fully into Sony, and rebranded as Studio Liverpool. From 2000 onwards, the studio helped produce a number of licensed Formula 1 games, as well as several more Wipeout games, before being shuttered in 2012. Several departing employees founded a new studio, Firesprite, which was itself acquired by Sony last year, and has been working on PSVR 2 title Horizon Call of the Mountain.

Now, as spotted by analyst Roberto Serrano, a trademark of the studio's original logo, a low-resolution image of an owl's face, was "registered and renewed" in the US in December.

This isn't the first time the logo has been re-registered - similar filings were made after Sony acquired Psygnosis, and when the company name was changed from Sony Computer Entertainment to Sony Interactive Entertainment. 

The move begs the question, however, as to what, if anything, Sony is planning to do with the trademark. While the company could simply be protecting its assets, Psygnosis' historical and geographical proximity to Firesprite seems relevant, and some speculation has suggested that a second team could be spun out from the existing Liverpool studio under the old name.

For projects we're a little more sure of, here's our list of upcoming PS5 games.