Sony has been bulking up its first-party lineup over the last few years by sucking up studios like Insomniac Games, Housemarque, and Nixxes Software, just to name a few. It has added yet another developer to the list by acquiring Firewalk Studios.
Firewalk Studios has not yet released a game, but is developing an original AAA multiplayer title for PlayStation 5 and PC. It is a fairly new studio that opened its doors in 2018 and was under ProbablyMonsters, a unique company that was designed not to publish games, but incubate multiple teams and provide stability and sustainability. The PlayStation Blog post gestures at that notion, too, by saying that ProbablyMonsters “helped turbocharge” the studio in the beginning.
Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst talked about the new team in that same post by saying that Sony “[continues] to be impressed by the team’s ambitions to build a modern multiplayer game that connects players in new and innovative ways” and that this will help grow Sony’s live service portfolio. However, it’s still not clear what kind of game this will be, but the studio is made up of veterans who have worked on Destiny, Call of Duty, Bioshock Infinite, Apex Legends, Mass Effect, and Guitar Hero.
Sony had previously revealed a partnership with ProbablyMonsters and Firewalk in 2021 when it announced the aforementioned multiplayer game. It’s just one of many multiplayer games Sony has in the works, as it sits alongside of The Last of Us‘ multiplayer entry, the online Horizon spin-off, the rumored Twisted Metal title, and Haven Studios’ mysterious first game, just to name a few. As of February 2022, Sony said it had plans to ship 10 live service games by 2026.
Sony’s acquisition spree has included multiple developers over the years. This kicked off when it bought Insomniac Games in 2019 before picking up Valkyrie Entertainment, Nixxes Software, Housemarque, Firesprite, Fabrik Games, Team Asobi, and Bluepoint Games in 2021, and Savage Game Studios, Bungie, and Haven Studios in 2022.