Sony buys Haven Studios to add it to the PlayStation Studios family

Jade Raymond of Haven Studios is now joining PlayStation Studios to work on a brand new intellectual property, AAA multiplayer game. Haven Studios is led by Jade Raymond, co-creator of the Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs franchises and head of Stadia Games and Entertainment.

Haven Studios is an independent Raymond development team based in Canada. Their affiliation with PlayStation Studios means they will be joining the likes of Guerilla Games, Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games.

In a blog announcement, PlayStation confirmed that they were working with Raymond and her team in early 2021 to announce the formation of Haven Studios. The Canadian team will be working on a modern multiplayer game that appears to be the focus of Sony’s focus on this generation of consoles.

Haven Studios is working on AAA multiplayer for PlayStation

“Today, the Haven team begins a new chapter in our journey as part of the PlayStation Studios family. Working with Hermen, Connie Booth and the PlayStation team over the past year has been a career highlight,” said Jade Raymond, CEO and Founder of Haven Studios. “SIE is a trusted partner who truly understands the creative process and what it takes to create a blockbuster AAA game.”

Haven Studios is one of the most promising independent studios from Canada, and joining PlayStation Studios is a big deal.

While the last generation of consoles has been dominated by many high-quality single-player narrative games from the PlayStation, it looks like the focus has shifted to live multiplayer games.

Even studios like Naughty Dog, who are primarily known for their solid, narrative-focused games, seem to be working on a multiplayer game at the moment. It will be interesting to see how Sony succeeds in this new direction and whether it can attract new audiences in this way.

This move in a new direction is also aided by the acquisition of Bungie, the studio behind the original Halo trilogy, as well as Destiny, one of the hottest live-service games of the moment.