By acquiring Firewalk Studios, another development studio, PlayStation Studios is taking a significant step towards expanding its already impressive library of first-party content. Although the studio hasn’t yet made its debut game available, PlayStation seems interested in whatever advancements are being made.
Former Activision CFO Tony Hsu and seasoned game director Ryan Ellis founded Firewalk Studios a little more than five years ago. Other than being praised as a “AAA multiplayer game for PlayStation,” not much is known about its debut title. Although Hsu and Ellis claim that Sony has supported them since 2021, this most recent acquisition by PlayStation Studios demonstrates a higher level of investment, which might be advantageous for the game the studio is currently working on.
Herman Hulst, the head of the PlayStation Studios, made the announcement.
Sadly, the official statement still doesn’t reveal anything about what Firewalk is currently working on, other than the fact that the company is “creating inspiring worlds grounded in exceptional gameplay.” The fact that Firewalk’s founders have a history of working on the Destiny series is undoubtedly a positive sign that a vast world with outstanding multiplayer gameplay is possible.
Formerly employed by Bungie as the Technical Art Director for Destiny and the Creative Director for Destiny 2, Ryan Ellis is one of the founding members of Firewalk Studios. He has also worked on several Oddworld games as well as Halo Reach, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and other projects. Along with Ellis, Tony Hsu was a co-founder of Firewalk and spent more than 7 years working in Activision’s finance department.
As of right now, everything involving Firewalk Studios and its new PlayStation partnership is pure conjecture. Sony has made it abundantly clear that it is committed to developing its multiplayer content in the future by announcing last year that it would release at least 10 live service games by 2026. With franchises like God of War, Horizon, and Spider-Man, its single-player library is currently one of the most formidable in the business.
Not to mention the The Last of Us series’ rising popularity. But in the past, PlayStation’s first-party games haven’t placed much emphasis on multiplayer, and it appears that this upcoming game from Firewalk is one of the company’s attempts to change that.
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