Jade Raymond has announced the formation of an independent studio called Haven, and it already has its first project booked: a new, original IP for PlayStation platforms. The new studio is based in Montreal, and its project is backed by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Raymond published the announcement on the PlayStation Blog. While it’s mostly devoted to her new studio’s outlook and philosophy, she does mention that Sony’s “commitment to excellence is unmatched” and that the game has “their backing and support.” The blog was also addressed specifically at the PlayStation community, suggesting the new IP will be some form of exclusive.
“We want to create worlds where players can escape, have fun, express themselves, and find community,” Raymond said. “We want to pour our passion into a project. We want to make something wondrous for people to experience. Because we believe in the power of games to bring joy to people’s lives.” She also said the studio is named after her outlook that games are a haven for players.
The blog also noted that it’s been a “strange and difficult” year, due to the pandemic, social injustice, and job elimination. That sparked self-reflection and questions of whether she wanted to be involved in game development, and she concluded that this is still important for her.
The point about job elimination may hit close to home, because Raymond was recently impacted herself. She had been attached to Google’s ambitious Stadia studios initiative, but the company recently shut that down entirely. It wished her the best of luck, but we never saw what her team was planning for Stadia-exclusive games.
Raymond has been involved in some big franchises like Assassin’s Creed, and for a while was attached to EA for a Star Wars game. This is the latest in her big moves, though this time it’s her own independent studio instead of being within an existing major publisher.
