New PlayStation studio Haven teases ‘exciting collaboration with rockstar Mark Cerny’

Sony Interactive Entertainment has completed its acquisition of Haven Studios, the company announced on Monday.

It originally confirmed plans to fund an original IP from the studio, which was co-founded by Assassin’s Creed co-creator Jade Raymond, in March 2021.

And in March of this year, Sony said it planned to acquire the Canadian game studio for an undisclosed sum.

To coincide with the completion of the deal, Raymond provided GamesIndustry.biz with an update on the studio, which is making an original AAA multiplayer title for PS5.

Sony previously described the game as “a new live service experience for PlayStation built upon a systemic and evolving world focused on delivering freedom, thrill, and playfulness”.

While Raymond didn’t reveal much more about the game in the new GI interview, she said Haven’s workforce has grown from around 50 employees last October to over 100.

She said the company is investing heavily in R&D and “long-term cloud innovation, because we really believe it’s going to be a game changer in terms of how games are made”.

21 engineers have recently joined the studio to focus on cloud innovation, and Haven has hired Jalal El Mansouri, who was the technical architect on Ubisoft‘s Rainbow Six: Siege, as principle architect for the studio and also its head of R&D.

Raymond also teased an exciting collaboration with PS5 architect Mark Cerny, who she said is having a big impact on the evolution of the studio.

“So [Mark Cerny] is one of the main reasons we’re investing so much in R&D, and in this very senior engineering team,” she said.

“It’s not just tied to cloud but also some more forward-thinking R&D. I’m not able to say too much now, but that’s obviously one of the other things that’s been a big attractor and is exciting to our team with PlayStation.

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“Of course Mark Cerny is kind of like a rockstar, too, so being able to collaborate with him is really exciting.

“And the fact that Jalal is joining… there are a lot of bold ideas that we’re looking forward to exploring.”