In big acquisition news this week, PlayStation has now fully acquired Jade Raymond’s Haven Studios after completing the takeover on Monday. The deal has caught the attention of some big names in the gaming industry, but particularly that of Mark Cerny, the lead systems architect for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
It’s perhaps of little wonder why Cerny is interested in working with Raymond and her team. Haven Studios has seen some impressive growth since its formation only last year, with 106 employees now on its books. Speaking to GI.biz, Raymond shared some of the ways that her team managed to thrive amidst the backdrop of the pandemic, shedding some light on perhaps the motivation for the studio’s focus on cloud-based technology going forward.
We had a cloud team initially that was about six people working on new ways to work. Now, we’ve just welcomed another 21 engineers to focus on long-term cloud innovation, because we really believe it’s going to be a game changer in terms of how games are made.
Jade Raymond, Haven Studios
On top of focusing on cloud-based technology, Raymond explains that the team’s focus on R&D is a priority and will involve working with Cerny, which sounds like it’s been something of a driving factor behind the studio’s move to merge with PlayStation.
So [Mark Cerny] is one of the main reasons we’re investing so much in R&D, and in this very senior engineering team,” Raymond teases. “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. Of course Mark Cerny is kind of like a rockstar, too, so being able to collaborate with him is really exciting.
Jade Raymond, Haven Studios
While there’s no word yet on what Haven Studios’ first title will be, we know that their first game will be a new AAA multiplayer project for PlayStation. It’s also been previously confirmed by Sony that the project will have a live service focus. We’ll just have to wait and see what comes next from this exciting partnership.
