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[rickybooby87]

Browsing through LinkedIn on Haven Studios, inc. Seems like they've looted a lot of talent from Ubisoft, more so than I expected lol. I'd imagine they have a pretty decent project that prompted Sony to take the risk, personally, I don't like open-world Ubisoft games, so I hope whatever it is that they eventually release is able to break free of that mold.

Who's next? They don't seem to be scooping up Japanese developers, maybe Deviation Games?

 

[SLB1904]

But buying studios is bad! Or that's what NeoGAF taught me....

That ship has sailed

 

[AmuroChan]

Yes but let's not forget one small and important detail. The acquisitions started happening after Herman took the place of Shu, before that, Sony spent an entire generation without buying studios.. Missing on very good opportunities.
Also MM was adquired before Little big planet came out (if I am not mistaken) ... so not the first time Sony does this.

MM was acquired on March 2, 2010. LBP came out in 2008.

Sony acquires Media Molecule

Sony Computer Entertainment has announced the acquisition of Surrey, UK-based LittleBigPlanet developer, Media Molecule.

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[Forsythia]

So organic!

 

[Tripolygon]

Source?

Their website

 

[Zeroing]

MM was acquired on March 2, 2010. LBP came out in 2008.

Well then I apologize I was mistaken.

 

[TLZ]

looks different here

Was that live webcam with Jim right before the purchase?

 

[kingpotato]

they must like what they see with the game, it's unusual to buy them that quickly.

They must be really confident in what they're cooking to acquire them before they have released even a trailer of their game.

Whatever Haven have shown to Sony must have been amazing for Sony to acquire them before their first game.

My thoughts exactly.



And for all the people playing arm chair executive, it's hilarious that most of the takes you people have focus on buying more management structures than focusing on products.

With regards to the "organic" growth, Sony leadership has been very involved with this team since it's inception. We will see if this move was a mistake, but you have to imagine they are not only excited by the product (which they already owned), but the studio and its access to the local talent pool.

 

[NickFire]

So organic!

Isn't this at least kind of organic? I'm not invested enough to google it, but I thought they were a new company working on an exclusive. If they created and staffed the company intending to make an exclusive from day 1, how is that significantly different from first party anyway?

 

[Forsythia]

Isn't this at least kind of organic? I'm not invested enough to google it, but I thought they were a new company working on an exclusive. If they created and staffed the company intending to make an exclusive from day 1, how is that significantly different from first party anyway?

You're right, but relax, it's just a joke.

 

[AllBizness]

Sony is actively trying to develop more multiplayer games so snatching up multiplayer focused devs is a no brainier

 

[AmuroChan]

Isn't this at least kind of organic? I'm not invested enough to google it, but I thought they were a new company working on an exclusive. If they created and staffed the company intending to make an exclusive from day 1, how is that significantly different from first party anyway?

The major difference is that Haven (if they wanted) could work on a second project with another publisher. Similar to how Insomniac worked on Ratchet for PlayStation and Sunset Overdrive for XBox. Making them first party means they will only work on PlayStation/PC games moving forward.

 

[Esca]

Jade Raymond

 

[StreetsofBeige]

So for all the MS bashers saying they gobble up companies without any true long term partnership, how does Sony's acquisition of Haven have anything to do with how MM, Insomniac or ND have worked with Sony for years before being acquired?

 

[CrustyBritches]

Jim Ryan is so hot!

 

[fermcr]

Meh... more multiplayed games.
My dislike for multiplayer games has increased over the years. Filled with micro-transactions, DLC's, NFT's and other useless crap.

 

[LeftThumbstick]

looks different here

Whatever they paid, it was worth it.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

I thought Patrice Désilets was the creator of AC...

AFAIK Jade Raymond always had producing-related jobs at Ubisoft, though back in 2006 the company quickly put her in front of all the cameras and interviews because of her.. charisma.

That's not to say she isn't great at what she does, though. If Sony bought the studio then they certainly liked Haven's current execution.

 

[CosmicComet]

They've literally shipped nothing.

Jim Ryan keeps giving off small dick energy in his acquisitions.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

So for all the MS bashers saying they gobble up companies without any true long term partnership, how does Sony's acquisition of Haven have anything to do with how MM, Insomniac or ND have worked with Sony for years before being acquired?

The studio started as partnership. Don't see the equivalence here

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Meh... more multiplayed games.
My dislike for multiplayer games has increased over the years. Filled with micro-transactions, DLC's, NFT's and other useless crap.

Amazingly, PS has been on fire for years being giant growth and profits for Sony. And that's simply with their focus on first party games that skew heavy to SP. Aside from maybe Gran Tursimo and their baseball game which many gamers will go online gaming, most of their games are SP focus.

Yet Sony is putting a lot of emphasis lately for future games being MP/GAAS.

Big change in focus some reason at PS. I guess they just want much higher growth and have an urge for an in house Fortnite or PUBG hit game.

 

[bitbydeath]

Looks like one of the big draws was to setup shop in a new location, Canada.

That and they’re happy with how the project is coming together.

Jade Raymond and Hermen Hulst on why Sony is buying Haven Studios

There's something a little different about PlayStation's plan to acquire Haven Studios. Historically, Sony likes to hav…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[Adam_802]

lol this acquisition seems desperate.

 

[NickFire]

Amazingly, PS has been on fire for years being giant growth and profits for Sony. And that's simply with their focus on first party games that skew heavy to SP. Aside from maybe Gran Tursimo and their baseball game which many gamers will go online gaming, most of their games are SP focus.

Yet Sony is putting a lot of emphasis lately for future games being MP/GAAS.

Big change in focus some reason at PS. I guess they just want much higher growth and have an urge for an in house Fortnite or PUBG hit game.

That is not a guess. That is what we learned from the Bungie purchase. They even want to expand to Xbox to make as much Fortnite money as possible, which is why Bungie isn't becoming all exclusive. Win win for everyone.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

lol this acquisition seems desperate.

These posts seem desperate

 

[ChiefDada]

That Jade Redmond woman must be REALLY good at social relationships. Otherwise I don't understand how she gets away with important industry places everytime, despite not doing anything worth more than a failure in all her recent years of career.

EDIT: Also, ORGANIC™

Most acquisitions involve target companies with an established history of producing viable goods/services, and employee workforce, which is why they are considered inorganic in most instances. Haven Studios is a year old with zero games under it's belt. It doesn't get more organic than this.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Jade Raymond's studio making "persistent and evolving online" title for PlayStation

Last March, Assassin's Creed co-creator Jade Raymond unveiled Haven Entertainment Studios, a new independent developer …

www.eurogamer.net

a brand-new IP for PlayStation - and now, just under a year later, early details on the project have emerged, calling it a "persistent and evolving online" game for PlayStation 5 and PC.

That's according to Montreal-based French-language publication Le Devoir (via Google Translate), which sheds a little more light on Haven's ambitions - with accompanying quotes from Raymond and fellow co-founders - as part of a short profile piece on the studio.

Speaking to Le Devoir, Raymond explains Sony had initially asked the studio to present three large-scale projects, with the intention of funding the idea it liked best. Ultimately, Sony showed interest in all three, but the one Haven opted to focus on to begin with is described as a "persistent and evolving online environment" that will seek to differentiate itself from other popular online games by promoting "inclusion and caring".

I'm really curious what they mean by promoting "inclusion and caring" being a focus of the game.

 

[Snake29]

So for all the MS bashers saying they gobble up companies without any true long term partnership, how does Sony's acquisition of Haven have anything to do with how MM, Insomniac or ND have worked with Sony for years before being acquired?

When was the last game from Haven on Xbox? Ow wait…i’m just stupid and didn’t know this studio never existed before. It was a Sony studio from the start since they have pitched their project at Sony.

 

[kingfey]

Too much horny people down here.

 

[AmuroChan]

I'm really curious what they mean by promoting "inclusion and caring" being a focus of the game.

Maybe a game that's non-violent? Could also just be marketing buzzwords.

 

[Fbh]

They haven't released anything and don't own any IP, so in practice this feels more like Sony opening a new studio than them acquiring one. They just skipped over the step of having to secure offices, key talent and coming up with a game idea themselves.
Seem like a gamble which might pay off depending on what comes from this and how much they paid for it (I imagine a new studio with zero track record and existing IP must be "cheap" ).


Either way it's GaaS crap so I don't care. PC GPU's can't get cheaper soon enough

 

[Elios83]

As a side note they even got Mark Cerny into helping them to push PS5 hardware personally.
And this is a game that Google wanted to make as well before they realized that nothing was going to save Stadia.
Jade must have a really interesting concept

 

[xHunter]

So judging by the types of deals they made, Firewalk Studios (maybe ProbablyMonsters as a whole publisher?) and Deviation next?

 

[Tomeru]

This is mark cerny in a parallell universe. (Someone shop the two with crzaed looks pls).

 

[Efren is G.O.A.T.]

Is her last released game Splinter Cell: Blacklist?

 

[squidilix]

Me too Klobrille

 

[Louay]

This was panic buy, are they afraid of Tencent dipping their toes on the studio ? MS never care for studios that haven't release games

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Deviation will be next. I see them being their COD clone studio as they are formed with mostly ex COD devs.

I agree, Deviation has to be high on their list.

Noticing quite a few incels who are focused on her being female here and clearly don't like this for some reason.

Beyond that, however, this is a sensible move for Sony.

This is how you build internal studios these days. The landscape has changed. It's extremely difficult to start a studio from scratch internally without that studio being an expansion of an existing studio, which comes with its own risks attached to it. She got the chance to lead multiple studios at EA and took it. Obviously a good idea for her career that didn't work out. That happens in any industry. Blaming the failures of Stadia on her is laughable though.

If Haven Studios fails, it has no impact on the culture of Naughty Dog or Insomniac or Sucker Punch. Whereas when a studio expands too quickly and doesn't perform there tend to be layoffs. Look at Sony Santa Monica and their layoffs after their 2nd team's game was canceled.

I saw someone compare this to Bungie's acquisition and it makes no sense. These acquisitions are exactly so you don't have to drop bigger money. Haven Studios is now an arm of Sony Interactive Entertainment and recruitment in Canada. It's worth noting that they don't have any studios in Canada. Worst case scenario they close the studio down, best case scenario they get another studio they can grow and nurture within the SIE environment.

There is a coming talent shortage and SIE recognizes they need to shore up as much talent as they can as quickly as they can.

 

[manfestival]

What have they made or done that made them worthy of pursuit for acquisition? I can't think of a single title of theirs. I did a 2 second search and found nothing but this news.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Well, I consider this studio pretty much unproven so it really does nothing for me.

What is obvious is that Sony is on a shopping spree, something they’ve never done before. I guess they can’t let another potential From Software slip between their fingers.

I mean they had a pretty serious shopping spree in the early 2000s, maybe not this ferocious.

Had they bought FromSoftware, who knows if they become the company they are today, but yes it's easier to buy these companies small and help them grow than it is to have to buy them big. This probably didn't cost anything.

 

[Muddy]

Looks like another round of acquisitions will be announced like before.

Won't be surprised if Ember Lab and Deviation Games are acquired. Maybe Kojima games too.

 

[Lognor]

Another boring acquisition. And live service game? I don't have high hopes.

 

[blacktout]

Sony is actively trying to develop more multiplayer games so snatching up multiplayer focused devs is a no brainier

Yeah, it's interesting how clear patterns are starting to emerge from these acquisitions and what those patterns say about the goals of the major platform holders moving forward.

Sony clearly wants to build up teams that can help them create enduring GasS titles. And that makes sense! They have plenty of studios with experience developing successful singleplayer experiences but GasS revenue is, for better or worse, clearly going to be a big part of essentially all major publishers' business models moving forward.

MS is gobbling up as much IP as their budget and regulators will allow because Game Pass *is* their business model and everything else is supplemental.

Nintendo is being hyper conservative and focusing on securing existing support studios, because, well, they're a hyper conservative company and their existing business model is paying huge dividends at present, and their response to major changes in the industry has always been "do something wildly different than the competition, do it as cheaply as possible, and see what happens."

 

[BennyBlanco]

Everybody shits on sony for making a ton of similar 3rd person cinematic walk and chat games. I'm glad they are switching it up with some MP games. They're making 10 so at least some of them have to turn out good. Only thing giving me pause is them saying inclusion and diversity is a focus of their game. What does that even mean in the context of a multiplayer service game?

 

[ckaneo]

One thing ive noticed is that a lot of these celebrity developer driven hires appear to flop across the board. Whether it be from Microsoft, Amazon, Google, etc. Wnich is why Jade Raymonds name means nothing to me. Not trying to disrespect her work, but it seems like gamers disrespect how much work goes into making a game and always credit a single person. Even companies keep putting together these dream team of names and they keep flopping. Lets look at the biggest name in gaming now, Miyazaki. If Amazon dropped a billion to poach him from from software does anyone think he could just make a game himself? Well im sure they do and thats a mistake.

Amy gets credit for uncharted and she hasnt been able to do shit since. Why would I be excited about Jade? Sure she had a role in Watchdogs and Assassains Creed but then what? Helped with Battlefront 2? Am I suppose to have confidence in this multiplayer GAAS because of that? Maybe confidence sony plans to monetize it lol.

Like I said, no disrespect to Jade or any creator but people got to stop hyping these guys up. Making a game takes so many people.

 

[LeftThumbstick]

Too much horny people down here.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Jim Ryan is so hot!

 

[ParaSeoul]

Still would.

 

[Notabueno]

Lot of misnommers in Jade Raymond's biography when using the word "create": she's a producer, exec and manager, not a gd, cd or ld.

She led mostly great games, but then didn't do wonders at Stadia (which nobody can blame her for), sounds like she'll be a great ceo but that doesn't mean Haven studio games will translate great in terms of production.

She worked with Amy Hennig, one of the other great women in today's video games, so I feel like they'll be more in tune with video games that most other BS corporations or studios, but again how is Sony buying them when they don't have a single thing for show (and test with the public)?

 

[Louay]

MS is gobbling up as much IP as their budget and regulators will allow because Game Pass *is* their business model and everything else is supplemental.

MS will do both, they are funding GAAS Titles Contraband and MH Clone. they also have COD and blizzard which they are known for GAAS Models.