PlayStation acquires a studio with veteran Destiny devs working on an "original AAA multiplayer" game

gamesradar.com:

Sony has announced that it's acquired Firewalk Studios, a team which includes some Destiny veterans working on an "original AAA multiplayer game for PlayStation."

If that sounds familiar, you might recall that Sony announced way back in 2021 that it would publish Firewalk Studios' big multiplayer game. This will be the studio's first project, but the team has plenty of game development experience. Perhaps the most notable name at the studio is game director Ryan Ellis, formerly the creative director on Destiny.

"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," PlayStation Studios head Herman Hulst says in the announcement (opens in new tab). "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 for Firewalk 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 acquisition comes a year after Sony's purchase of Destiny developer Bungie, which seems like some kind of strange kismet. Sony's been talking about big plans to expand its offering of live-service games on PlayStation for some time, and besides Bungie and Firewalk has also picked up Haven, another studio working on a new multiplayer game with an original IP.

Despite all these live-service plans, Sony insists single-player narrative games will "always" be big on PlayStation consoles on top of expanded multiplayer offerings.