Founded in 2014, Fabrik Games were a Manchester-based studio that developed 2016's Filthy Lucre on PS4 and 2017's The Lost Bear on PSVR. Both titles failed to perform critically or commercially, and Fabrik wouldn't return to these IPs before they were acquired by Firesprite in 2021 to bolster their headcount. As Firesprite were purchased by Sony a few weeks prior, Fabrik became a de-facto PS Studio.
Fabrik's indirect path into PS Studios was unique, but not particularly surprising, as Fabrik and Firesprite were founded by Graeme Ankers. Fabrik had also already supported Firesprite during the development of their 2018 PSVR game The Persistence, so the transition to a support studio was relatively smooth. However, while it was initially thought that the Fabrik name would continue, this wasn't the case.
Fabrik are in a unique situation within PS Studios. While they're still legally active and maintain assets, in practice Fabrik are closed. That's because according to Fabrik's public filings, by March 2024, they had ceased production of games, have no employees, and are non-trading.
For all intents and purposes, then, Fabrik are an inactive shell within Sony and their employees have either moved on (e.g. former Studio Head Errol Ismail) or are now directly part of Firesprite. Fabrik will therefore never release a PS5 game, but much of their talent are working on Firesprite's next title, 2027's Until Dawn 2, which was announced to mostly positive reception.
