Sony has said its longstanding strategy of developing a high amount of exclusive PS3 content led to this morning's buyout of InFamous 2 developer Sucker Punch Productions.

The acquisition, which makes the Sly Cooper dev the 16th internally-owned studio at SCE's Worldwide Studios, was largely motivated by its track record of developing brand new IP, the firm said.

"Worldwide Studios puts a really high value on groups like Sucker Punch that can successfully develop new intellectual property," Scott Rohde, senior vice president at SCE's Worldwide Studios America, told MSNBC.

"It's something that's been the strategy of Worldwide Studios from the get go - making sure that we're able to build a high volume of exclusive first-party content.

"Sucker Punch is a group we're excited to acquire because they have proven with both Sly Cooper and most recently with the inFamous franchise that they can develop that new IP and they are very adept at doing so."

Despite being independent, Sucker Punch has traditionally been a PlayStation-only developer, though Rohde suggests "other groups" may have been sniffing around the studio.

"I'd be lying if I said other groups weren't interested in a group like Sucker Punch," Rohde said. "The bottom line is, when you've got a group that's been as successful as Sucker Punch, we want to ensure that we keep them in the fold. It's that simple. It's hard to find high quality developers like these guys."

Sony released Sucker Punch's inFamous 2 for PS3 in May - a game we very much enjoyed. It's currently hard at work on a fresh franchise for the console.

Assmung you ever get one that is.

Eeek