PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst announced today that Sony Interactive Entertainment has acquired independent developer Valkyrie Entertainment — making this the 17th studio under the PlayStation Studios umbrella and the fifth acquisition the gaming giant has made in 2021 alone.
Founded in 2002, Valkyrie Entertainment is a Seattle-based game developer best known for offering co-development services for several development studios. Valkyrie Entertainment’s portfolio consists of assisting in the development of games such as Halo Infinite, Forza Motorsport 7, God of War (2018), and more. More recently in September, the studio announced it is helping Sony Santa Monica studio with the development of God fo War Ragnarok, which is slated for a 2022 release.
Today we announce @valkyrieent will be joining the PlayStation Studios family. The studio will be making invaluable contributions to key PlayStation Studios franchises pic.twitter.com/sNTugminD5
— Hermen Hulst (@hermenhulst) December 10, 2021
“Valkyrie Entertainment is a highly adaptable and respected studio which has produced high-quality work on a range of platforms from console to PC; and a variety of styles from action to games-as-a-service titles,” said Hermen Hulst notes in the press release. “Valkyrie’s diverse capabilities will be welcomed by every team at PlayStation Studios as we continue to focus on delivering extraordinary gaming experiences.”
Throughout the year, PlayStation has made several acquisitions beginning in June with the acquisition of Returnal developer Housemarque. In July, the company announced it had acquired Nixxes, a Dutch-based studio specializing in porting games to PC.
In September, Sony made two more acquisitions, the first being Firesprite, a developer best known for creating The Playroom and The Persistence. While the second was the long-awaited acquisition of Bluepoint Games, best known for remaking Shadow of the Colossus and more recently Demon Souls. Despite Bluepoint’s solid track record with remaking classic games, the studio confirmed its next project will be an original property.
Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster