PlayStation has announced its first major acquisition of the year. Firewalk Studios will join the PlayStation family to create “a triple-A multiplayer game” that will “help grow our live service operations.“Firewalk Studios was founded back in 2018 by former Activision and Bungie devs Tony Hsu and Ryan Ellis. Hsu was in charge of the Destiny Business unit back when Bungie was still an Activision Studio, while Ellis was the technical art director and later creative director for Destiny at Bungie. The studio is full of ex-Bungie and Activision devs with experience working on the Destiny and Call of Duty franchises, but also veterans from Apex Legends, Mass Effect, and Halo.Related:The Problem With Live-Service SequelsIn 2021, Firewalk announced a publishing partnership with PlayStation to develop a platform-exclusive multiplayer title. Given the experience of the developers, one could easily imagine it to be a live-service multiplayer shooter of some sort, but Firewalk has yet to reveal any details of just what they’re working on.
“Over five years ago, we jumped at the chance to set up a new studio and build a new IP from the ground up. Recalling our own favorite times with games, we founded Firewalk Studios around the idea of delivering memorable moments – those amazing, had-to-be-there times shared with other people,” wrote Hsu and Ellisin a joint statement. “Our goal is to deliver those shared moments of joy to players around the world.”
They continued, “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.”
Assuming Firewalk is trying to build a looter shooter along the lines of Destiny, they’ve got a tough road ahead. Many games have tried and failed to take down Destiny 2 over the years, although lately, Destiny has been showing some cracks in its seemingly invincible facade. Players have complained of the latest expansion and the accompanying seasonhas been the buggiest ever, withthe mid-season patch doing nothingto address the overall level of glitches fans have been dealing with. There’s also beencriticism levied at Destiny’s story, although Bungie has promised that later seasons will bring back the narrative quality Guardians have come to expect.
Next:Season Of The Deep Will Be Destiny’s Most Important Season This Year
