Raymond’s studio initially received funding from Sony last year, and has been hard at work on an exclusive new multiplayer PlayStation IP. Today’s news marks a significant further step in that relationship - and is a positive sign for what the studio has built so far. In an interview which has gone live alongside the news, GamesIndustry.biz quotes PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst as saying Sony was “very impressed with how Haven is coming together”, and exceeding plans for progress made. “So we thought: Let’s invest deeply and do this properly.” “Today, the Haven team begins a new phase of our journey, as part of the PlayStation Studios family,” Raymond said in a statement posted to the PlayStation blog, calling her work at Haven so far “a career highlight”. “As a SIE [Sony Interactive Entertainment] first-party studio, we will have the opportunity to collaborate with some of the world’s most renowned development teams, including studios like Guerrilla, Naughty Dog, Media Molecule, and Insomniac Games, the creators of games that have inspired us as players and developers for years. We’re excited to learn from these world-class studios, as well as the exceptional central creative, technology and marketing teams whose expertise will enable us to deliver even better games to players. “To our Haven team - a huge thank you. It’s been one of the most rewarding years of my career - and to the players out there, we can’t wait to share more. We’re just at the beginning of what is sure to be a wondrous adventure that will span generations.” Back in February, it was reported that Haven was making a “persistent and evolving online” title for PlayStation that was also headed to PC. Haven’s game is one of 10 new live service titles which PlayStation plans to launch in the next four years. One of these live service games is almost certainly Bungie’s new franchise, code-named Matter, and other likely candidates include Naughty Dog’s new multiplayer-focused Last of Us title, a heavily rumoured new Twisted Metal, plus online projects from Deviation Games and Sony’s London Studio. PlayStation has recently gone on a spending spree, acquiring studios such as Housemarque, Bluepoint, Firesprite, Nixxes, Valkyrie, and of course Destiny maker Bungie. There’s no word on how much this latest acquisition will cost.
