PlayStation acquires Firewalk Studios, currently working on a multiplayer game

Whenever the industry expands, it then consolidates, and so the cycle of life goes on. PlayStation is getting a little bit bigger with the news that Sony Interactive Entertainment is acquiring Firewalk Studios. 

As shared via PlayStation Blog, PlayStation was already working with the team at Firewalk Studios, with a game publishing partnership announced back in 2021. Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, noted that “The studio shares our passion for creating inspiring worlds grounded in exceptional gameplay, and we want to continue to invest in their mission.”

“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,” said Tony Hsu and Ryan Ellis, studio head and game director at Firewalk Studios, respectively.

“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.”

Firewalk Studios, formerly a part of the ProbablyMonsters family of studios, was established in 2018 by veterans of companies like Bungie and Activision, and now consists of around 150 developers. The team is currently working on a multiplayer game, though few other details are known. The price of the acquisition was not disclosed. 

Sony, like many other companies, has invested heavily in acquiring new game development studios over the last couple of years. In 2021, the company acquired U.K-based Firesprite, Returnal developer Housemarque, remake team Bluepoint Games, and PC porting team, Nixxes Software. The acquisition spree continued through 2022, with PlayStation bringing Haven Games and Savage Game Studios in-house, as well as spending $3.6 billion to acquire Destiny developer Bungie. 

These acquisitions have formed the basis of a new push into multiplayer gaming for PlayStation. While the company’s games are traditionally critically praised and often commercially successful, PlayStation has lacked a meaningful multiplayer presence for years now. In addition to Firewalk, Sony has a deal to publishing a games as a service (GAAS) title from Deviation Games, as well as working on internally developed multiplayer games at London Studio, Haven, and Naughty Dog, the latter of which is a spinoff set in the world of The Last of Us. 

PlayStation is not entirely new to multiplayer, having published games in the past with multiplayer modes. All of the company’s biggest games in the past few years however, have been primarily or entirely single-player focused, such as God of War 2018 and its follow-up, God of War Ragnarok, The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and many more.

Naturally, Sony has not been alone in its acquisition efforts. Microsoft spent $7.5 billion to acquire ZeniMax Media (parent company of Bethesda Softworks) in 2020. In 2022, the Xbox parent would go even further, announcing its plan to buy Activision Blizzard for almost $69 billion. The deal has been subject to much legal wrangling and scrutiny — Sony has opposed the purchase at every turn — and is currently expected to finalize at some point later in 2023.