Haven Studios now officially joins the expanding number of studios operating under the PlayStation name after the acquisition is finalized. On July 11, Sony made the formal announcement that it had added a new game development company to the lineup of PlayStation Studios.
Jade Raymond established the firm as a whole in 2021 with the intention of creating “a contemporary multiplayer experience” of a certain form. This acquisition was made as a result of PlayStation’s apparent admiration for the idea. It appears like PlayStation is getting ready to enter the expanding live-service gaming industry. Haven Studios is apparently developing a live-service game for the PS5, but details are still lacking.
Hermen Hulst, the head of the PlayStation studios, first revealed the acquisition earlier in March 2022, although the two parties had already confirmed their collaboration. Moreover, in an effort to strengthen the Xbox services, Microsoft took some fairly unexpected steps by purchasing Activision Blizzard and Bethesda, whilst Sony has been attempting to strengthen a number of various parts of their offering.
Considering that this acquisition has been in the works for a while, it’s significant to know that studio chief Jade Raymond was the driving force behind the deal. Jade earlier stated, “It’s not simply related to the cloud, but also to some additional cutting-edge R&D. I can’t say too much right now, but that’s undoubtedly another aspect of PlayStation that has drawn a lot of interest and excites our team. Working with Mark Cerny is quite thrilling since he is obviously somewhat of a rock star as well.”
Although Raymond had a solid track record, others doubted the decision to buy a company before they had even released a title and pondered what it was about Haven that had PlayStation wanting to be involved so fast. It is possible that PlayStation made these significant acquisitions in an effort to stake out a position in Montreal’s thriving development community.
