Another day, another acquisition. Hermen Hulst, the head of PlayStation Studios has announced that the PlayStation brand is acquiring Haven Studios. The Montreal based developer actually entered into an agreement with PlayStation Studios a little more than a year ago when they initially formed to develop a new IP for the PlayStation 5. It seems Sony was impressed enough that they instead decided to make them a proprietary developer and fully bring them into the PlayStation Studio umbrella. This also makes Haven the very first PlayStation studio to be based out of Canada.
As stated in the tweet above, Haven is currently working on a brand new AAA multiplayer game which will act as a live service title. The head of Haven Studios, Jade Raymond, stated in the post that the projects focus is to create a “systemic and evolving world focused on freedom, thrill, and playfulness that will keep players entertained and engaged for years.” While not clearly stated, it’s fairly apparent that this title will be made for the PlayStation 5 and will more than likely be an exclusive. Neither Hulst nor Raymond stated what the the acquisition price was.
This is Sony’s second major acquisition of the year. They shocked the video game community this past January when they purchased Bungie for $3.6 billion, which itself was only couple of weeks after the earth shattering news of Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard for a staggering $68.7 billion. Haven’s live service title is more than likely still in the early stages of development, but hopefully they’ll have something to show us in the foreseeable future. Either way, we’re very excited to see what they’re working on.