Sony officially acquires Haven Studios

[Steelmaker]

Ummm, ok. They haven't produced game 1 yet but...sure, what the hell!

https://www.psu.com/news/haven-studi...ation-studios/

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...s-buying-haven

[Zivouhr]

Thanks for the info.

Sony says about Haven, "From their first pitch, we were inspired by Haven’s vision for creating a modern multiplayer experience that brings gamers together in positive and meaningful ways." In other words, Sony is inspired by GTAV Online's cash flow. I understand Sony wanting to earn more profits by investing in online gaming developers.

[Havok83]

Sony keeps acquiring these studios I'm unfamiliar with or have had little experience with. Sony had a clear identity in the PS3 era and I have no idea what their identity is now

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Havok83

Sony keeps acquiring these studios I'm unfamiliar with or have had little experience with. Sony had a clear identity in the PS3 era and I have no idea what their identity is now

You never heard of Bungie?

Seriously though, the identity is quite clear. They want to build a stable of studios that specialize in developing games that generate repeat monetization.

[dyne]

Interested to see what they churn out. Jade seems to be an industry gypsy thats always changing jobs. Not sure why she has the attention she does besides being the original face of the Assassins Creed series.

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by dyne

Interested to see what they churn out. Jade seems to be an industry gypsy thats always changing jobs. Not sure why she has the attention she does besides being the original face of the Assassins Creed series.

I still maintain it's because she's a relatively hot looking female executive in the videogame business, which is something of a "unicorn" in this industry and she generates clicks from the neck-bearded basement dwellers. If she looked like Gabe Newell I guarantee you we wouldn't hear about her nearly as much.

[Havok83]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

You never heard of Bungie?

Seriously though, the identity is quite clear. They want to build a stable of studios that specialize in developing games that generate repeat monetization.

Nixxes
Firesprite
Fabrik Games
Vaklyrie
Haven

No, Ive never heard of those studios before their acquisition headlines

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Havok83

Nixxes
Firesprite
Fabrik Games
Vaklyrie
Haven

No, Ive never heard of those studios before their acquisition headlines

I knew what you meant, I was just being funny.

[dyne]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

I still maintain it's because she's a relatively hot looking female executive in the videogame business, which is something of a "unicorn" in this industry and she generates clicks from the neck-bearded basement dwellers. If she looked like Gabe Newell I guarantee you we wouldn't hear about her nearly as much.

Oh no doubt. I just kept that out because I figured there'd be a deluge of "she's not attractive" follow up posts. If you look at her resume she always seems to be a face that's there for the media but doesn't actually do much else and I'd have to assume SONY actually likes what they've seen as opposed to basically buying her, which is why I'm always aggravated by the "Jade Raymonds studio" headlines instead of just Haven Studios. So thanks for your title

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by dyne

Oh no doubt. I just kept that out because I figured there'd be a deluge of "she's not attractive" follow up posts. If you look at her resume she always seems to be a face that's there for the media but doesn't actually do much else and I'd have to assume SONY actually likes what they've seen as opposed to basically buying her, which is why I'm always aggravated by the "Jade Raymonds studio" headlines instead of just Haven Studios. So thanks for your title

It always cracks me up because any time there's an article about whatever studio she's currently associated with, it's always accompanied by a picture of her that looks like it was taken from a glamor photoshoot, LOL.

[NARMAK]

Buying a studio without any previous outings but based on their pitch and talent alone sounds like they've gone on a bit of a whim, but time will tell when we finally see the reveal.

If i had to take a stab in the dark, they are going to have a MP game looking at a long term life cycle possibly using an MTX model. Free to Play or Paid is the other question i guess.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

Buying a studio without any previous outings but based on their pitch and talent alone sounds like they've gone on a bit of a whim, but time will tell when we finally see the reveal.

If i had to take a stab in the dark, they are going to have a MP game looking at a long term life cycle possibly using an MTX model. Free to Play or Paid is the other question i guess.

Plus they can have studios just focus on the maintenance of the multiplayer, microsales aspects of online gaming already established without having to develop any game.

Under Sony with 10+ new Multiplayer focused studios:
Developers of new online games.
Maintenance teams of existing online games.
-Force all offline games on PS5 to require a daily 24/7 check in to be able to play.
-Require a micro sale of 25 cents per game to be playable on the PS5, to bring back the old style of arcades but online now.
-Watch many consumers toss their PS5 consoles into the garbage.

I'm half kidding, but I can imagine that will happen with PS6.

[bradnoyes]

The PS6 is going to be an NFT.

[heyadol]

No official announcement, but maybe Michael Pachter knows something we don't (or simply came to the same conclusion as everyone else when Jade Raymond left Haven Studios). At about 4 minutes into this video, Pachter mentions "Jade Raymond being let go and her game getting canceled." Was anyone here even interested in Fairgame$?

Are PlayStation's "prestige games" now a poor strategy? - Pachter Factor S10E25 - YouTube

[Bubbles-11]

Originally Posted by heyadol

Are PlayStation's "prestige games" now a poor strategy? - Pachter Factor S10E25 - YouTube

Could they have at least hired an artist or photoshopped the thumbnail instead of resorting to AI slop garbage?

[Nunab18]

Originally Posted by heyadol

No official announcement, but maybe Michael Pachter knows something we don't (or simply came to the same conclusion as everyone else when Jade Raymond left Haven Studios). At about 4 minutes into this video, Pachter mentions "Jade Raymond being let go and her game getting canceled." Was anyone here even interested in Fairgame$?

Are PlayStation's "prestige games" now a poor strategy? - Pachter Factor S10E25 - YouTube

Zero interest in Fairgame$, or Marathon for that matter. I love PlayStation, been on the platform since PS1, but this live service push has been an unmitigated failure (outside of Helldivers 2). I know Sony is chasing the unicorn of having an evergreen GAAS, but it rarely works and they're squandering so much talent and I'm guessing over a billion dollars into canceled or failed projects.

PlayStation built an expectation for unique and well-produced single player experiences on the platform. I think that's what most of us want? Let the third party developers take the risk of making those GAAS and profit from them being on your platform.

[VinceVirtua]

I've always thought of MLB The Show and GT7 as live service as well. Others may disagree, but those as well as Hell Divers 2 proves there's something there in on-going live service games.

They absolutely need to be in that live service space imo, they just need to be making a few better bets or just one good bet instead of 10 mid-ones and hopefully they're learning what people respond to that uh, certain other artistic or content choices don't allow for let's say.

[the-pi-guy]

Originally Posted by heyadol

No official announcement, but maybe Michael Pachter knows something we don't (or simply came to the same conclusion as everyone else when Jade Raymond left Haven Studios). At about 4 minutes into this video, Pachter mentions "Jade Raymond being let go and her game getting canceled." Was anyone here even interested in Fairgame$?

Are PlayStation's "prestige games" now a poor strategy? - Pachter Factor S10E25 - YouTube

He throws it out there like it was common knowledge, so I think he's just conflating the news that Jade Raymond left, and assumed that the game was cancelled.

Originally Posted by Nunab18

Zero interest in Fairgame$, or Marathon for that matter. I love PlayStation, been on the platform since PS1, but this live service push has been an unmitigated failure (outside of Helldivers 2). I know Sony is chasing the unicorn of having an evergreen GAAS, but it rarely works and they're squandering so much talent and I'm guessing over a billion dollars into canceled or failed projects.

PlayStation built an expectation for unique and well-produced single player experiences on the platform. I think that's what most of us want? Let the third party developers take the risk of making those GAAS and profit from them being on your platform.

I disagree with the rarely works part.

Vocally a lot of gamers are insistent that live service games aren't all that, yet they dominate top 10 lists of most played games.
GTA Online, COD, Destiny, Warframe, Final Fantasy XIV, Sea of Thieves, League of Legends, Genshin Impact, World of Warcraft, Fortnite.

Live service games are massive, and most big gaming companies are doing well in large part due to a live service game or multiple.

Sony bought Destiny, and they kind of have MLB, GT, but Helldivers is pretty much their first live service game that they've built with widespread success. Before that, they were one of only a few big companies that didn't really have any.

[Nunab18]

Originally Posted by the-pi-guy

He throws it out there like it was common knowledge, so I think he's just conflating the news that Jade Raymond left, and assumed that the game was cancelled.



I disagree with the rarely works part.

Vocally a lot of gamers are insistent that live service games aren't all that, yet they dominate top 10 lists of most played games.
GTA Online, COD, Destiny, Warframe, Final Fantasy XIV, Sea of Thieves, League of Legends, Genshin Impact, World of Warcraft, Fortnite.

Live service games are massive, and most big gaming companies are doing well in large part due to a live service game or multiple.

Sony bought Destiny, and they kind of have MLB, GT, but Helldivers is pretty much their first live service game that they've built with widespread success. Before that, they were one of only a few big companies that didn't really have any.

The number of GAAS that try to break into the market vs the number that have any sort of viable long term success is small in comparison, that's what I meant. PlayStation, so far, is probably having a worse run of it than the average even. I'm not sure I'd qualify MLB as GAAS, maybe GT7? HD2 is definitely though, and it is their only real success so far (and unfortunately that team isn't owned by Sony and plans to move onto something else after HD2 runs its course).

It just seems to be a super risky move by Sony to keep investing in GAAS this way. Sure, it could definitely pay off, but I feel like they've lost more than they've gained so far.

[Zivouhr]

There's also an Activision Raven Studio with 350 employees as of 2025 unless this is the same studio somehow owned or bought by Sony?

General lesson for the studio developers is don't sell your private owned company to be acquired by a larger publisher/studio if you want it to last. Unless they don't really care and just want the big paycheck even though many small studios get absorbed and dissolved.