sony and game station has announced its latest acquisition in the form of haven studio: A new development studio led by Jade Raymond – perhaps best known as the co-creator of Assassin’s Creed.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst noted that “Haven has created something that’s very exciting for us and just wanted to deepen that relationship”.Apparently, PlayStation’s response to “what [Haven has created]’ for publishers and ‘how it came together’.
Haven was ahead of schedule — a rarity in the industry — and the team’s progress prompted Sony to “invest deeply and get it right,” Per Hulst said.
Raymond, who has held key roles at Google Stadia, EA and Ubisoft, is launching a new studio in Montreal as early as 2021. Even so, Haven has been confirmed to be working under PlayStation to develop a PS5-exclusive online service game.
“Today, the Haven team begins a new phase of our journey as part of the PlayStation Studios family,” Raymond said in a statement on the PlayStation Blog. Despite her stellar career so far, Raymond noted that her time at Sony has been “a career highlight” so far.
“As a you [Sony Interactive Entertainment] As a first-party studio, we’ll have the opportunity to work with some of the world’s most famous development teams, including studios like Guerrilla, Naughty Dog, Media Molecule, and Insomniac Games, the creators of the games that inspire us as players and developers year. We’re excited to learn from these world-class studios and the exceptional central creative, technical and marketing teams whose expertise will allow us to deliver better games to our players.
nice to formally welcome @HavenStudiosinc To the PlayStation studio!super moved @ibjade and her talented team, and their vision for a PlayStation original multiplayer game. Congrats to everyone at Haven! pic.twitter.com/EjWFbh1HEc
— Herman Hulst (@hermenhulst) March 21, 2022
So, along with other notable PlayStation first-party talent, what is Haven doing?Well, it’s no secret that Raymond and her team are working on a “persistent, scalable online game” for PS5 and PC that’s specifically focused on “push [PS5] Further comfort,” per Raymond.
But given the notes about the partnership, it also makes sense that Raymond would partner with other studios to help support PlayStation’s weakest sector at the time of writing: service games.
On its earnings call in February, Sony confirmed plans to have “at least 10 live service games by March 2026” – something we expect Raymond’s studio to play a big role in, along with Bungie, in making that happen ( Sony also acquired Bungie earlier this year).
There’s no word yet on what the acquisition will cost Sony, or when Haven’s first game is expected to launch. I would bet dollars on doughnuts until March 2026, though.
