By 2026, Sony, which plans to bring ten multiplayer-based games to users, has made a critical acquisition move. So what can we expect afterwards?
Since last year, the gaming industry has been under the influence of big acquisitions. First we saw Take Two, which owns series such as Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, acquire Zynga for 12.7 billion $. Then came Microsoft‘s huge, still unfinished, $68.7 billion $ Activision Blizzard move. And then Sony made the seemingly small but critical acquisition of Bungie for over 3.5 billion $.
Firewalk Studios may not be a well-known company, but it is another important step towards the same goal. We don’t have any information about the price tag of the acquisition, but according to the statement from PlayStation, Firewalk Studios will develop a AAA-caliber multiplayer game for PlayStation 5 and PC platforms within PlayStation Studios.
Firewalk was founded in 2018 as a sub-division of ProbablyMonsters, an independent game company focused on AAA games founded by former Bungie CEO and Chairman Harold Ryan. Firewalk’s team, led by industry veterans Tony Hsu (Studio Head, formerly GM of Destiny at Activision) and Ryan Ellis (Game Director, formerly Creative Director at Bungie), team now exceeds 150 people and is likely to grow further in the coming year. ProbablyMonsters and Firewalk announced an exclusive publishing partnership with SIE in April 2021, making Firewalk the 20th studio to join PlayStation Studios following the acquisition.
Firewalk Studios’ leader Tony Hsu and Game Director Ryan Ellis also made a joint statement on the PlayStation Blog.
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.
There is no leaked information about the details of Firewalk’s upcoming game for now, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that we’ll hear something about it at one of the State of Play events later this year.
