Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Haven Entertainment Studios, the company founded by Jade Raymond, which will be the 18th studio to join the PlayStation Studios family. Ahead of the acquisition of Montreal-based Haven Studios, Sony’s big announcement of them looking to acquire Destiny maker Bungie, both of which signaled Sony’s intention to get heavily into live-service gaming.
Previously, Jade Raymonds Haven Studios announced that Haven Studios had created an “ongoing and evolving online game” for the PlayStation. Over the past twelve months, Jade Raymonds of Haven Studios has been working on a new IP platform for the PlayStation 5.
Sony CEO Jim Ryan describes the Jade Raymonds development team as “a young studio with an exceptionally talented team” and says it’s the company’s first Canadian studio. Just a year after announcing that Sony was partnering with fledgling Haven Entertainment Jade Raymond, PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst confirms that PlayStation Studios has acquired the developer. The acquisition will be PlayStation Studios’ first foray into the Canadian game development scene, which is, of course, huge.
This is a dream come true for me and the team @HavenStudiosInc ! https://t.co/ewfc3uv9YV
— Jade Raymond (@ibjade) March 21, 2022
Sony also announced the acquisition of Destiny 2 developer Bungie in late January. In February, Ryan said he expected more acquisitions from Sony following news of the company that acquired Destiny developer Bungie. In January, Sony Entertainment bought developer Bungie Inc., the American game developer behind the popular Destiny and Halo franchises, for $3.6 billion.
In their earnings announcements in February, Sony and PlayStation confirmed plans to release at least 10 live-service games by March 2026—and we expect Raymonds, along with Bungie, to play a major role in making that happen. While the PlayStation exclusives are still under wraps, the team’s goal appears to be to deliver a “AAA multiplayer experience” in healthy contrast to the robust single-player titles offered by many other PlayStation Studios teams.
Financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed, but Sony said that Haven’s day-to-day operations will continue to be managed by the existing Haven management team when the deal closes, with PlayStation executives working in “close cooperation” with Haven. According to the head of PlayStation Studios, Haven is ahead of its time, a rarity in this area, and the team’s progress has encouraged Sony and PlayStation to “invest heavily and get it right.” In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst notes that “what created Haven is so exciting for us that it was just a desire to deepen this relationship.”
