Jade Raymond’s Haven Studios to work on cloud technology for live service games under PlayStation

Sony has officially closed the deal to acquire Haven Studios. Founded by Jade Raymond, the team will focus on finding innovative ways to use cloud technology in live service games.

Raymond opened up about her studio in a new interview with GamesIndustry.biz.

• Haven Studio currently employs 106 people, compared to the 50 people it had last October.
• The team was cloud-based from the start, meaning that it didn’t have offices from the start. The initial goal was to find new innovative ways to work.
• “Now, we’ve just welcomed another 21 engineers to focus on long-term cloud innovation, because we really believe it’s going to be a game changer in terms of how games are made,” Raymond said.
• Haven is now focused on cloud R&D, trying to figure out what advantages this technology can offer not only to players, but also to developers.
• Raymond said that the studio is now working on its debut title, which will be a PS5 exclusive. It will be a live service game, so the team needs the cloud to deliver a constantly updating experience with the “PlayStation-level graphics.”
• The project’s title or release date are yet to be disclosed.
• This is in line with Sony’s new strategy of investing more in live service games. The $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie should play a key role in it, as PlayStation expects to launch 10 new live service projects by March 2026.
• Haven has already got some help from Mark Cerny, the lead architect of PlayStation consoles. He will collaborate with the team’s R&D division.

“Our initial part of ‘studio in the cloud’ was really a focus on starting-up and building tools and the general things to get people working from home really quickly,” Raymond explains. “Now we’re looking at the next step: how do we innovate in terms of certain modules that the live service and engine needs, and how do we do those things in a more scalable way that will really enable us to have a more rapidly evolving game and more productive people? That’s the dream.”

Jade Raymond founded Haven Studios in 2021 after Google Stadia shut down its internal development studios. Earlier this year, PlayStation announced the company’s acquisition for an undisclosed sum.