Over the past few years, Sony has been investing in a number of new large-scale “indie” studios led by industry veterans, including Haven from Jade Raymond, Deviation Games from Call of Duty vets, and Firewalk Studios from Destiny vets. They’ve also shown a willingness to usher these studios into their first-party stable – they’ve already purchased Haven, and now they’ve announced they’re purchasing Firewalk.
Based in Bellevue, Washington, Firewalk Studios is led by CEO Harold Ryan, creative director Ryan Ellis, and producer Elena Siegman, all of whom worked on Destiny. Speaking of Destiny, Sony also owns Bungie now, and their press release hints they’re planning to create a live-service ecosystem of sorts, stating “Firewalk will collaborate alongside world-class development teams, including Bungie and Haven Interactive Studios, to define a new generation of live service experiences for PlayStation gamers.”
PlayStation boss Jim Ryan also brought up live services in his official statement regarding the Firewalk purchase…
“Firewalk Studios is led by a world-class team that is highly experienced and deeply passionate about creating exceptional multiplayer games that foster memorable shared experiences. I’m confident the studio’s upcoming project will be a robust addition to PlayStation Studios’ portfolio, and its live service and technology expertise will be instrumental in helping grow PlayStation’s reach.”
While Firewalk’s live-service expertise seems to be a major reason they’re being acquired, it’s not the only one, as they’re still working on a new AAA multiplayer game based on a new IP. Unfortunately, few hints about what that game may entail have been provided.
It’s interesting to see Sony’s approach here, as they’re essentially creating a new squad of multiplayer, live-service studios with Bungie at their core, rather than trying to reassign existing studios to the purpose. It certainly seems like a smart approach, although I guess we’ll have to wait and see what new studios like Firewalk and Haven actually produce.
A release window for Firewalk Studios’ first game has yet to be announced. The game will presumably be coming to PC and PS5. What do you think? Interested to see what they’re cooking up, particularly now that they’re a PlayStation first party?
