2021 has been very important for Sony in terms of acquisitions. In fact, there is no other year in which the Japanese company has opened the portfolio in so many acquisitions. However, if you thought that the purchase of Bluepoint Games was the last of the year, you were very wrong. PlayStation surprised us this week by announcing that Valkyrie Entertainment, the Seattle-based studio, is now part of PlayStation Studios.
Perhaps for the vast majority Valkyrie Entertainment is not well known, but its participation has been key in multiple games. Not only from PlayStation, but also from other companies. Valkyrie Entertainment specializes in being a support study, that is, they provide support during the development stage.
Be very careful with your briefcase, because Valkyrie Entertainment has participated in titles such as God of War (2018), Valuing, Forza Motorsport 7, Ark Extinction, Middle Earth: Shadow of War, League of Legends and more recently Halo Infinite. In fact, they are currently involved in the development of God of War: Ragnarok, one of the great exclusives that PlayStation intends to launch in 2022.
For now, and according to the statements of Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, Valkyrie Entertainment will continue to support development. Of course, from now on it will only do so with Sony’s internal studios. “Valkyrie’s diverse capabilities will be welcomed by all teams at PlayStation Studios as we continue to focus on delivering extraordinary gaming experiences,” said the manager.
Will Valkyrie Entertainment have their own project in the near future? Only time will tell. What is certain is that PlayStation is throwing the house out of the window to strengthen its workforce. A week ago, Bloomberg announced that Sony will launch its “answer” to Xbox Game Pass in mid-2021. We do not yet know in detail their strategy with this service, but if they intend to offer exclusive games, the contribution of their studies will be key.
Thus, Valkyrie Entertainment joins the list of acquisitions that PlayStation made throughout 2021. It is made up of Housemarque (Returnal), Nixxes Software, Firesprite Y Bluepoint Games (remake of Demon’s Souls). It will be interesting to see if in 2022 they will keep up the shopping spree.
