What Ever Happened to Sony and Namco’s Cellius Group?

Back in January 2007, Sony Computer Entertainment and Namco Bandai came together to form a group of developers to make games for PlayStation 3. Former chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment and “father of PlayStation” Ken Kutagari was appointed as chairman of this new development group, known as Cellius. Namco Bandai owns 51% of the company, and Sony Computer Entertainment owns 49%.

The main focus at Cellius is to fully utilize PlayStation 3’s cell processor—thus its name. Sony hoped the new developer would regain the $1.65 billion lost developing the cell chip.

In March 2007, scans appeared of three games said to be in development at Cellius. Brave Arms: a third-person action game said to play similar to the Ninja Gaiden games; Chain Limit: a James Bond-esque adventure game; and Second Season 01: a first-person drama and sci-fi action game. However, none were officially confirmed by the actual company and they were eventually deemed bogus.

In January 2008, a glimmer of hope shined down upon the company as an official website for the developer appeared online, with a description reading “Cellius is a joint venture by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Namco Bandai Corporation for the purpose of creation of new Entertainment.” An address for the developer is even provided—they are located in Shibuya, Tokyo.

But now over a year has passed and we haven’t heard a peep. So what ever happened to Cellius, the group that was formed to fully utilize the cell engine?