It has been confirmed today that Sony’s takeover of Haven Studios has been completed after the initial news was brought to us all back in March. Sony confirmed earlier in the year that it would be acquiring the Canadian games studio for an undisclosed fee, with this just being another cog in its ever-expanding plan.
Haven Studio was first created in 2021 by Jade Raymond, one of the masterminds behind the Assassin’s Creed and Watchdog series. Raymond recently spoke about the acquisition in an interview with GamesIndustry, offering an update on proceedings, and any new project that is being lined up.
One of the new projects being talked about is an original AAA multiplayer title for PlayStation 5, and one that Sony has described as “a new live service experience for PlayStation that is built upon a systematic and evolving world that focuses on delivering freedom, thrill, and playfulness.”
In the interview, Raymond mentioned how the Haven workforce has doubled since last October due to Sony’s recent involvement. To be precise about the numbers; 21 engineers have recently joined the studio to focus on some cloud innovation aspects. The technical architect of Rainbow Six: Siege has been hired by the studio as an architect and the head of R&D as well.
Although Raymond didn’t give too much away regarding the new AA multiplayer game, she mentioned that “the company is heavily invested in R&D and long-term cloud innovation because we believe it’s going to be a game-changer in terms of how games are made.”
Raymond wasn’t finished there though because she teased about an exciting collaboration with Mark Cerny, one of the PlayStation 5 architects:
“So [Mark Cerny] is one of the main reasons we’re investing so much in R&D, and in this very senior engineering team. It’s not just tied to cloud but also some more forward-thinking R&D. I’m not able to say too much now, but that’s obviously one of the other things that’s been a big attractor and is exciting to our team with PlayStation.”
Big things are to be expected from Sony’s takeover now, so let’s see how it develops in the future.
