PlayStation has acquired Firewalk Studios.
The company announced this on a new PlayStation Blog, noting that it's been in a publishing partnership with Firewalk Studios and ProbablyMonsters since 2021 and that it's now happy to expand that relationship by bringing the studio under the PlayStation umbrella. The studio has been working on its "first original AAA multiplayer game" for PlayStation and it sounds like development on that will continue.
"Since announcing our publishing partnership with ProbablyMonsters and Firewalk in 2021, we continue to be impressed by the team's ambitions to build a modern multiplayer game that connects players in new and innovative ways," Head of PlayStation Hermen Hulst writes in the blog. "The studio shares our passion for creating inspiring worlds grounded in exceptional gameplay, and we want to continue to invest in their mission. We're excited to bring their technical and creative expertise to PlayStation Studios to help grow our live service operations and deliver something truly special for gamers."
The companies did not mention a price for the acquisition.
Here's what Firewalk Studios head Tony Hsu and game director Ryan Ellis have to say about the acquisition:
Every once in a while, you get to have an adventure.Over five years ago, we jumped at the chance to set up a new studio and build a new IP from the ground up. Recalling our own favorite times with games, we founded Firewalk Studios around the idea of delivering memorable moments – those amazing, had-to-be-there times shared with other people. Our goal is to deliver those shared moments of joy to players around the world.
Building a new studio at scale has been an incredibly exhilarating and relentlessly daunting task. Fortunately, we’ve been supported by great partners throughout – ProbablyMonsters helped turbocharge us in setting up the studio, and Sony has been supporting our project and our creative vision from the beginning.
We’ve assembled some of the most inspired talent in the industry to deliver awe-inspiring new worlds and experiences filled with great core gameplay. The excitement of building something new for players has thoroughly energized the team and our partners, and we’ve been playtesting every day.
Today we’re taking the next natural step and joining PlayStation Studios. We’ve worked closely with Hermen and the very talented team at PlayStation for years, helping to make our new game even better. To join PlayStation Studios is to formally become part of a family that has produced many of the most storied games of our age, and we are honored.
We want to thank everyone who’s supported us along the way and those looking forward to our future. It’s been an incredible journey so far, and we can’t wait for the next chapter in this adventure.
PlayStation’s acquisition of Firewalk Studios is the latest in a line of multiple that have happened across the industry in the past year. It started with Take-Two Interactive in 2022, the parent company behind the Grand Theft Auto series, announcing in January that it was acquiring mobile giant Zynga for nearly $13 billion. Then, a week later, Microsoft announced that it was acquiring Activision Blizzard, the company behind Overwatch and Call of Duty, for a colossal $68.7 billion. Two weeks later, Sony revealed it was buying Bungie for $3.6 billion. Following that, Sony acquired Jade Raymond’s new studio, Haven Studios.
PlayStation's acquisition of Firewalk Studios comes at an interesting moment for the company as it continues to publicly push back and fight against Microsoft's ongoing efforts to have its acquisition of Activision Blizzard approved by governmental bodies around the world.
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