Ever since the release of the original PlayStation, the Wipeout franchise has been key in Sony's gaming lineup. The first game in the futuristic racing series was a launch title for the PS1, and ever since Wipeout 3, the Wipeout franchise has been exclusive to Sony systems.

Unfortunately, Sony shutdown the Wipeout studio, SCE Liverpool, in 2012, not long after the release of Wipeout 2048 for the PS Vita. We haven't heard anything about Wipeout since then, but now Sony has broken their silence on the franchise, offering fans some small hope that a new game in the series could eventually see the light of day.

Speaking at the gaming event EGX in Birmingham, England, Sony president Shuhei Yoshida has said that while there's no new Wipeout game in development right now, there's a possibility that they will revisit the series in the future.

"Never say never. There are many IPs that we kind of stopped iterating with new games. One of the reasons is we always love to work on new IP. From my standpoint I try to balance the number of games in a franchise. In the future there might be a chance to come back to a game like Wipeout."

Before their closure, SCE Liverpool was working on two different projects for the PlayStation 4. This included a new Wipeout game, which was reportedly well over a year into development, as well as an action game that was in the vein of Splinter Cell. However, with the studio's closure, both projects were cancelled.

For fans of Sony's classic franchises, these past few days have been pretty rough. Not only are hopes of a new Wipeout dashed, but Naughty Dog recently put an end to rumors of a new Jak and Daxter game as well. It seems like Sony is focusing largely on new IP, which is certainly not a bad thing, but completely abandoning fan-favorite franchises may disappoint the more dedicated Sony troops.

In the meantime, during the same Q&A session at EGX, Yoshida revealed that SCE Bend Studio, known mostly for their Syphon Filter games, are working on a new title for the PlayStation 4. According to Yoshida, Sony Bend's new game is "awesome cool," but stopped short of explaining exactly what it is. Like Wipeout, we haven't heard a peep from Sony Bend since their 2012 Vita outing, so it's reassuring to hear that they're working on a new game. Perhaps fans of classic Sony franchises have a full-fledged PS4 Syphon Filter in their future, but we'll have to wait and see exactly what Sony Bend has in the pipeline.

While EGX is nowhere near as significant as other gaming events such as E3 or Gamescom, the Q&A sessions this year have divulged some interesting information. Besides the Q&A with Shuhei Yoshida, a recent  Valve Q&A revealed that if Half-Life 3 is ever released, it won't be as a virtual reality game as previously rumored.

Do you miss Wipeout? With SCE Liverpool defunct, which Sony studio would you like to see handle a future game in the series? Do you think Sony Bend is working on a new Syphon Filter for PS4?

The last Wipeout game was Wipeout 2048, which released in 2012 for the PlayStation Vita.

Source: GameSpot