Loot Interactive, LLC is a group of developers best known for creating experiences and products for
PlayStation Home. Previously part of
Sony Pictures and later
Sony DADC New Media Solutions, Loot has been an independent company since 2015.
Before Home's closure in March 2015, their products included premium personal spaces and different ornaments and costumes for the users' personal spaces and avatars. Their most significant contribution for Home was giving users tools to make
machinima
Machinima () is the use of Real-time computing, real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. The word "Machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''machine'' and ''Film, cinema''. According to Guinness World Records, ma ...
s. In 2012, Loot released their first standalone game, ''Forsaken Planet'' for
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
. They have also released four games for
Android and
iOS. Since 2014, Loot Interactive has released ports of games for
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
,
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
, and
PlayStation Vita
The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...
, such as ''
The Last Tinker: City of Colors'' (2014), ''
Q*bert Rebooted'' (2015), and ''
Whispering Willows'' (2015).
PlayStation Home products
Stage Sets
''Stage Sets'' were premium personal spaces where users, if they had a
video capture system, could make their own
machinima
Machinima () is the use of Real-time computing, real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. The word "Machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''machine'' and ''Film, cinema''. According to Guinness World Records, ma ...
s in Home. The Stage Sets were available from the Home Estates store in Home's shopping complex.
The first Stage Set, the Living Room Stage Set from Loot, was made available on May 7, 2009. With the space included interactive lights, cameras, backdrops and film-related equipment to simulate a real-life studio production environment. The lighting and camera systems allowed for a wide range of desired angles, movements, transitions, and cuts and lens set-ups that allowed users to take control of the technical and artistic aspects.
The second Stage Set to be released from Loot in joint with
Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...
and
Terminal Reality
Terminal Reality is an American video game development and Video game producer, production company based in Lewisville, Texas. Founded in October 1994 by ex-Microsoft employee Mark Randel and former Mallard Software general manager Brett Combs, ...
was the Ghostbusters Firehouse (originally named the Ghostbusters Firehouse: On Location). This space was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of ''
Ghostbusters'' and its worldwide release on
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
on June 18, 2009. The Firehouse personal space was a detailed replica of the three floor ''Ghostbusters'' headquarters from the original film.
The third Stage Set to be released from Loot was the Modular Stage Set 3. This Stage Set let users control over three enormous retractable backdrops, which could be set to different chroma key colors with motion track markers. The stage light system offered two additional flood lights for defining the right mood of each take and the floor could also be set to different materials and colors. This Stage Set was available in the "Ultimate Machinima" bundle (along with the "Talk Show" bundle – a collection of props that allowed users to dress their personal space like a talk show) as well as separate. This Stage Set was released on November 25, 2010, in both Europe and North America.
The fourth Stage Set to be released from Loot was the LOOT Studio Stage Set. This Stage Set was modeled after actual
Sony Pictures Entertainment professional sound stages located on the Sony Pictures Lot in
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...
. The Studio Stage Set cameras could record video and audio to the PS3 hard drive or upload directly to
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. Together with PlayStation Home’s customizable avatars, clothing, furniture items and environments, users could create a variety of machinimas. This Stage Set was released on June 27, 2012, in North America.
Personal spaces
In addition to the "Stage Sets", Loot released three other Personal Spaces for users to purchase. These included the "Sunset Yacht", the "Hollywood Hills House", and the "Space Apartment". Each one of these Personal Spaces included an "Entertainment On Demand" (EOD) screen that featured a variety of content from Loot. Users could also watch a variety of movies for free with their friends on all EOD screens thanks to
Crackle. In addition to the standard features of PlayStation Home's Personal Spaces, Loot's "Space Apartment" also allowed users to view up to five
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
feeds from a ticker, search for photos from their
Flickr
Flickr ( ) is an image hosting service, image and Online video platform, video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a co ...
account and display them on the fifteen photo screens available (as well as setting up a slideshow for each screen), eight EOD screens, and they could control their Space Apartment’s retractable ceiling, automated blinds, and dynamic lighting options.
Other products
In addition to the personal spaces, Loot released one public space, the "Loot Space Station", which was a public space devoted to videos and special events. The Loot Space Station also featured an EOD Theater that had access to all of the EOD content from Loot as well as Crackle. The Loot Space Station was released on April 7, 2011.
Other products from Loot included decorative ornaments for users personal spaces and clothes and costumes for users avatars, and products to help users make their own machinimas, such as the Live Active Camera that could be placed in any Personal Space to record videos.
On May 28, 2009, Loot released two ''Ghostbusters'' Fan Packs and a ''Ghostbusters'' costume for users avatars which could be purchased in the Threads store in the shopping complex. The first Fan Pack, called the ''Ghostbusters'' Fan Pack: Shirts, included one ''Ghostbusters'' themed hat and five ''Ghostbusters'' themed T-shirts for the users avatars. The second Fan Pack, called the ''Ghostbusters'' Fan Pack: Ornaments, included five ''Ghostbuster'' themed ornaments for the users personal spaces and three ''Ghostbuster'' themed T-shirts for the users avatars. The ''Ghostbusters'' costume is a replica of the costume used in the original film. On June 18, 2009, Loot released a ''Ghostbusters'' 25th Anniversary T-shirt for free in celebration of the 25th anniversary of ''Ghostbusters''.
From May to June 2010, to celebrate a year with PlayStation Home, Loot featured a machinima contest for the Home users.
The theme of the contest was "Aliens vs Androids II: The Fight for Freedom". Users got to decide how this fight should end. Each user that was a part of the winning video also received special PlayStation Home rewards with second and third-place winners also receiving a reward. This was only open to North America. The top five videos could be viewed on Loot's EOD screens.
Games
External links
Official website
References
{{reflist, 30em
2009 establishments in California
Companies based in Culver City, California
Video game companies established in 2009
Privately held companies based in California
Video game companies based in California
Video game development companies