After 31 years at Housemarque, co-founder Ilari Kuittinen is retiring

Housemarque is responsible for some of the most fun and frenetic shoot 'em ups of the last 30 years. Titles like Super Stardust, Dead Nation, Resogun, and Alienation all come to mind, as do their most recent AAA hits, Returnal and Saros. None of these games would exist without Housemarque, and beyond that, Housemarque wouldn't exist without the hard work of studio co-founder and 33-year game industry veteran Ilari Kuittinen, who announced his retirement from the studio after 31 years with the company.

Kuittinen first founded Terramarque with co-founder Stavros Fasoulas in 1993. The pair began working with Harri Tikkanen who also happened to found of Bloodhouse that same year. Both studios were Finland's first commercial video game development studios. The three founders, alongside Terramarque's first hire, Miha Rinne, started Housemarque on July 19th, 1995. The studio eventually went on to be acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2021 following the announcement of their most ambitious title yet, Returnal.

Housemarque is being left in the hands of new Managing Director, Sami "Haxu" Hakala, who has been in the role officially since July 1st of this year. Haxu has been quietly running the show since shortly after the release of this year's Saros, with Kuittinen "supporting him and the leadership team through the end of this month to ensure operational continuity and stability."

While Kuittinen didn't tell us exactly what it is he's planning on doing after taking a sabbatical to "see how good [he is] at doing nothing", Kuittinen said that his time in the industry is far from over. He'll continue to cheer everyone on from the sidelines and hopes to eventually pickup some consulting opportunities.