Edge-Online asks Raymond on whether PlayStation 4 really is easier to work with, if console platforms are losing their relevance and how Ubisoft’s approach to game development is changing.
Veteran producer Jade Raymond has left Haven Studios, the company she founded in 2021.
According to a new report by Bloomberg, Raymond – who rose to prominence after producing Assassin’s Creed and executive producing Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines and Watch Dogs – has left her studio, which is still in the process of developing online shooter Fairgames.
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Jesus Christ man...Unbelievable!
I can´t believe that Playstation Studios can´t manage to develop and deliver ONE single successful high quality first party LS game throughout the whole current generation!
Hermen Hulst needs to be fired ASAP! He´s Jimbo 2.0!
Can you stop the fanboying for 2 seconds? Seriously this deflecting and ignoring everything that's going on with Sony's first party the past few years is frustrating and ignorant. You know there's others who have a PS also and want Sony's best like we use to get right? Stop trying to ruin it for everyone else with side steps. Not this BS deflecting that you ppl constantly do.
Besides HD what other LS game thrived so far? Has Herman made good buissness choices and decisions when it comes to LS yes or no?
Start questioning PS Studios.
@Lightning
Fanboy? You talking about me, or yourself? We got alt guy over here with his brand new account burning up from rage, and you are asking me stop “fan boying”?
Sony have at least 3 first party heavy hitters coming up, that we know of, and its not like we are lacking in exclusives department.
As to LS, they had Helldivers, and GT7, both were resounding success. They had a complete flop in concord. Not sure why you think we need to be concerned. They are destroying the competition and that market share translates to games.
"Fanboy? You talking about me, or yourself?"
What's are you talking about how am I a fanboy? Those alt counts will be gone nobody will see them anyway.
I wouldn't call Marathon a heavy hitter and Yotei yes definitely. However they do have DS2 I just feel like there should be more. We all know why there isn't more.
They only have two LS HD as I mentioned and I totally forgot about Grand Turismo. Only 2 While canceling Twisted Metal and Spiderman LS. Who knows the quality at least those games sound compelling.
Btw MLB isn't a live service its a Yearly released sports game.
Only one LS flop? Were just going to ignore all the canceled LS games that were in development for years? Ok then.
@S2... does that mean you are thankful for XB games? Who'd of thought MS helping to keep PS [only] fans fed during these trying times.
@Lightning
you womt call it a heavyhitter? Really, interesting. There is also intergalactic. Sonyes there will be more.
@darth
Why would I complain about xbox exclusives being playable on PlayStation? I mean xbox really didnt have a lot throughout the years but that doesnt mean they didn’t have anything at all. I normally dont like bro-dude games with bulky dudes, but I may actually play gears of war if just to try it. (Assuming the games arent too outdated at this point)
Listen,
I am as Sony bred as they come, never owned an Xbox of any kind, Playstation first and foremost even over Nintendo, and a PS+ Premium member. I have put 90% of my gaming time into the past 4 generations of Playstation since the PS2.
Sitting here presently, I find myself asking why I bought a PS5 instead of going PC. I can't think of one single game put out exclusively for PS5 by Sony that has made me glad to have the console.
There have been third party games, like FF7 Rebirth and Expedition 33 that have given me the "hell yeah" feeling about the purchase, but nothing Sony has done. It's been either remasters, the Last of Us again, or attempted Live Service slop that nobody asked for and either couldn't even make it to the table or died out as soon as it did.
There's no true "it" game. Returnal, GoW Ragnorok, and Horizon are all good games, terrific even. But are they truly system seller worthy?
If this direction continues onwards as blaring as it has been, I can't see myself getting a PS6. Ps+ is extremely expensive for no real reason, at $230 + tax for tier that pumps out classics that are more hit than miss. Remasters outnumber exclusives 10 to 1, and we have another Concord game that will likely fair exactly the same and just have been several years of improperly guided directions away from what put Sony on the map in the first place. Buying Bluepoint and sticking them on a live service God of War game? How can you defend that kind of decision making?
We don't have "anything you have" and more. It sucks just as much on PS as Xbox because WTF are we paying all this money for? I haven't seen the monthly offerings surge in quality since the last two psn price hikes and I already brought up Premiums current state. To get games nobody asked for or wants? To be PC port playtesters?
None of us are eating good except PC users, and for them it actually pays to be patient.
Sony helped finance Jade Raymond to set up her own studio, then bought it. So even though Haven has yet to release a single game, whatever happened she's made millions. Not bad!
I don't really care about LS, but the overall output for the last 1.5 years has dropped dramatically, along with the transparency on what teams have teed up. Sounds like a mess over there.
That's rich coming from you. An xbox lover but yet support a console that havent develop and deliver ONE single successful High quality first party game throughout its entire two generations of consoles.
"An xbox lover but yet support a console that havent develop and deliver ONE single successful High quality first party game throughout its entire two generations of consoles."
Hmm... Not from what I been seeing and hearing from actual Playstation players and Playstation Store sales stats.
Helldivers 2 is a massive success, and you’re ignoring it.
And, when the competition doesn’t bring anything to the table themselves, a handful of games like Helldivers 2 and Returnal are enough to win the competition.
You can’t win a console war if you don’t compete with games. Xbox lowered the bar for Sony, and I blame Xbox for that.
She leaves every studio she goes to before a single game is released. Do some research
Yeah hate to break it to you Sony but I think they need to shelve their LS efforts almost all together. They formed LFG ex Bungie guys and making another LS but I don't have much hope for it anymore. Marathon is quickly getting overshadowed by Arch Raiders, We all know what happened to Concord.
Only solution I can think of is have 3rd party like a Arrowhead make them a LS game. Speaking of AH their next project is completely funded by them so it won't be from them. I just think it's a good idea that they seek a 3rd party for LS. They'll save time, money and won't take time away their SP efforts. Which is suffering immensely this gen due to all this LS.
It might come out it might not. Sony said they're still pushing the project. That's a good thing. Even if it does come out will it be any good? There's too many questions and hurdles surrounding the LS.
Bigger question when are we gonna see it? Will they have a PS showcase or State Of Play? Grubb said Sony was debating whether to have a showcase, SOP or anything.
I sure hope they have a showcase or something in the coming weeks. I want Sony first party and their teams not just Xbox events and shows basically saving the damn day at this point.
Of all the companies it's freakin Xbox that's doing it. Who'd a thought.
All those games were already on PC anyway. They're only so easy to port because PlayStation has literally copied Sonys architecture for multiple generations, just worse / corners cut (XBSX still doesnt have the fill rate of a base PS5 due to clocks, and it shows)
Live services games are hard to make & and even harder to make if you trying to create an original game.
Just copy and past succesful gaas or gacha games with their anime license they can easy make a overwatch or geshin impact clone.
This is actually good advice.
Not that I condone live service games, but if they're trying to succeed, this is sound.
I think they should use some of their Ips to test the waters instead of creating something from the ground up , I think something LittBigPlanet would be I good contender but instead of DLC they just put out new Pass ever few months with new costumes,building materials and developer created content . Warhawk could be a good contender for a battle royal . The reason HD2 2 succeeded was because it wasn't directly competing with anything else.
Not necessarily… MiHoYo have quite consistently successfully hit it out of the park.
Fate Grand order is a LS game is even owned by Sony.
Sony needs to stop with the arena shooters and get creative
Its funny how the excuse is always "games are hard to make". Sure on a technical level they take weeks/months/years, but ideas aren't all that hard to come up with, nor hard to figure out that they might not work well as a games concept. That's why they prototype these ideas. What's weird to me is how so many service games go into development for years and no one seems to come to the conclusion that it's turning out bad. That and how slow devs are these days. You watch docs on game development on older games and devs talk about figurine out mechanics in just a few days. Now it takes a dev a year to texture something.
There's something a little different about PlayStation's plan to acquire Haven Studios. Historically, Sony likes to have a little dating period with a developer, where they might release a few games together before they get married. It's what happened with Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, Media Molecule, Insomniac and Housemarque. Yet Sony announced its partnership with Haven a little over a year ago. The developer may be full of established faces who are responsible for hit games such as Assassin's Creed, but it's still a new studio. It's still growing. It's not even announced the PS5 game it's working on, let alone released it. So why do the deal now?
"Obviously we will always carry on making these single-player narrative-based games such as Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us, and Horizon Forbidden West," Hulst emphasises.
That's good.
I think Sony slept on FromSoftware (after demon souls success)!
I wonder if Sony is looking to purchase a Japanese dev that would be cool. I expected them to buy Level-5 in PS3 days but now they are publisher. I love and prefer Single player games :)
@Terry
It is my understanding that Japanese companies doesn't usually buy each other and that mergers are far more common. Like Square-Enix or Bandai-Namco.
FromSoftware isn’t an independent studio though, so Sony would’ve needed to purchase them from their parent company. It’s owned by a Japanese media/entertainment company, or something along the lines of that, and they’ve owned FromSoftware since before Demons Souls if my memory serves correct.
But also:
“ The Haven acquisition will continue Sony's investment in live service and multiplayer games. ”
This is all part of money already spent which is being announced now. There is still a 10+ billion dollar question that will be answered
solideagle
Sony actually recently invested in the parent company that owns from software who btw made the request to Sony to invest
Terry_B
Sony usually invests like they did with square enix when they were going through a rough patch. They asked Sony to buy the shares and once things stabilized Sony sold back the shares
Japanese publishers are every different. Sony or Nintendo could buy anyone but that's a different culture over there and it makes it next to impossible for an outsider to buy a Japanese publisher
https://www.videogameschron...
Sony is looking to buy big. My guess is they will target Capcom and square enix. But just like Ms Sony won't make all games exclusives. I think times are changing and we will see more cross platform support from both which is great
There will still be must have exclusives but some games are too big to keep away from others
I think spreading out the acquisition portoflio between established and growing is not a bad idea.
A company with confidence in their values can acquire noobs and instill those values.
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Well I’m sure all the acquisition going on in the industry motivated Sony to pull the trigger. But funny how quick Jade was willing to sell. Not even one game under the new studio. I think they must of been angling for this from the get go.
Sony must be betting big on this game to buy this studio so quickly.
Makes me even more curious to see what exactly it is.
I think this is the supposed first 'terobyte' game whatever that means. As long as it doesn't require 1000 gigs of space on the SDD lets do it lol. In all seriousness, It SOUNDS like some kind of MMO.
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If they make money from these games it’s fine with me if it’s helping find the single player stuff . I do t like live service as I do t have the time to play these never ending games and usually the quality is lesser than you desire . When I was younger I loved Everquest and FF11 but those are MMOs they are slightly different but are still live service imo. If they make a great hardcore VRMMO or MMO like EQ when I retire im in !
Jade Raymond’s new studio is reportedly set to work closely with PlayStation 5 lead system architect Mark Cerny on its debut game.
One of the ten games as a service games PlayStation mentioned?
I’m bored of how much online is playing into games now. Offline games still should exist in equal measure.
PlayStation has plenty of offline single player IPs out and in the pipeline, they're not dissappearing.
It seems likely to me that some those online games they speak of will be split among PS5, PC and mobile. People seem to forget how much money those phone games make.
Anything with Mark Cerny's technical eye cast over it has my attention though, so I look forward to finding out more about this one from him and Haven Studios.
Thank you. People act like they can have online games as a law or somehow it prevents them from making single player games which it clearly doesn't. Just in the pipeline we have Horizen FW, God of War, Spiderman 2 and Wolverine. They already released Reternal, Demon Soluls, Spideman MM, Rachet and Clank and probably more that I'm missing. These things exist, we don't have to speculate or let ourselves be trapped into some group thought. The idea that they ababdoned SP games suddenly is a fantasy from a blog that is trying to generate drama.
Third party studios would be best served if they made multiplayer games open to all platforms for the sake of the longevity of the game. I understand first party doing pc + one console because they own the studio. Still interested in what they are making but it’s going to be a looong while.
I agree. Offline games or offline modes should always be available. This online only obsession with every dev lately is going to ruin gaming as a whole imo.
I agree %110 , but Destiny changed my perspective on seamless online gameplay , but it's still considered one of its kind , nothings like it and that's far from enough to prove itself as a solid argument.
I have my online games, but the never ending progress in them means that you can’t really swap between games as often as we would like.
I would cite influence advertising as part of the problem. With even single player games being affected by the way gaming “engagement” is perceived.
I’m playing Sifu at the moment on PS5 and Max Payne 3 on Series X. Even the quality of how the games are produced is lessening because of how much studios are trying to appeal to influencers more than customers. Max Payne 3 is a game. It can be hard, it can be easy. Regardless, it’s polished to a mirror shine.
Sifu has great combat and is satisfying to play, but the roguelite stuff within (solely designed to appeal to Twitch players, like the genre as a whole) is a major bummer. People are currently arguing vision. Whether or not the game should be made easier due to how the difficulty doesn’t mesh with some people. Difficult games are fine, but they’ve got to be designed well. Sifu isn’t really. It’s a victim of the roguelite dragon the studio has been chasing. This is a game that deserves to be easier to play, something tells me that they’ve only kept the difficulty high to advertise it on the fact that people will be repeating levels a lot in their time spent playing the game.
The ironic thing about difficulty is the sense of identity people both feel for themselves and feel of the devs, when the devs are arguably going against their own identities by chasing trends.
The issues I have with Sifu starts with multiplayer games. The game itself is arguable an MP game due to how many people watch it on Twitch.
Just because people watch a game on Twitch doesn't mean it's a multi-player game. This whole post is just some projected nonsense.
Roguelites created for streamers? What?
Sounds like you just don't understand what roguelike and roguelite games are all about.
@SenorFartCushion
Budget is king , the sad truth about generational leap is being overrated and easily overshadowed by its budget, a triple a game from the last decade or two still holds itself and get liked the way it looked more than its technicality behind it.
Offline is the core of the significant majority of PS exclusives on the PS4. It's time for them to build online communities that fans can play and enjoy in-between the waits for these big AAA releases.
I'm all for all 10 of them.
1. Bungies New IP
2. Faction 2 (The Last of Us)
3. Twisted Metal Online (rumored)
4. Guerrilla Games other IP (rumored SOCOM)
5. Deviant Games New IP (former Black Ops COD devs)
6. Haven Studios New IP (Jade Raymond and former Ubisoft devs)
7. Firewalk Studios New IP (former Bungie, Take-2, Activision, EA devs)
8.
9.
10.
So by all means bring them on.
Obviously that’s good. But can you not follow the patterns that literally every other company has been making these last few years? Games as a service multiplayer games are made mostly to rid ones catalogue of any single player only games
@Senor
That's a baseless point. There are significantly more companies that continue to produce single-player experiences, than there are companies that have dropped single-player completely to rid their catalogue of any single player only games. This is fear mongering.
Someone said this best a while ago in a PS Group. Sony is the AAA Blockbuster Film / HBO of gaming. They create premium high quality content. That has allowed them to make a huge comeback during the PS360Wii era, dominate the home console market during the PS4XBOWiiU era, and is what will continue to carry them into the PS5 generation and beyond. How many single player games have they released for the PS5 compared to Live Service games. How many single player games got cancelled for a live service game?
4 of the 7 known Live Service games are from 2nd party developers, so where is this concern from single player games coming from. Naughty Dog is making Factions.....And they've made several multiplayers before without it affecting their single player narrative driven games. Firesprite is a brand new developer under PlayStation, so there shouldn't be any AAA single player expectation on them to begin with, people were just talking about how this is a VR studio and okay with it, but have a potential issue with them working on service games. Guerrilla is releasing Forbidden West this month A single player game, with a Horizon VR exclusive later this year (also likely single player), so why is it a problem that they have a team working on something else multiplayer / GaaS based.
This fear mongering needs to stop.
PS Gamers praise Sony for their first party and the amazing narratives they play and create with their IPs. Why are they so fixated on holding them back from attempting to do the same in a multiplayer space. If you don't like playing online then don't. Destiny is an example of one you don't really have to, and that's a 5 year old experience now. Let them learn and grow in the Online space, just like they did in the Single Player Space.
People say all the time, I want Bloodborne for PS5 or Bloodborne 2. Well in a Ongoing world, they could still be getting new content from Bloodborne to this day, have new content launch each year, have an option where you and friends can take on a Raid Boss, and so much more. What is the fear in this?
Stop the fear mongering and just say you don't like multiplayer / online games, and these games aren't for you and move on. But there are millions of PS gamers who want to enjoy games like these and want to see Sony's first party blend narrative and world building into AAA online experiences. The PS3 had significantly more multiplayer experiences than the PS4 from Sony studios and the PS4 was a significantly more successful and online focused console. That has to change, because gamers are going online more.
I welcome both, for single players, just from from first party alone we have Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok, Spidermen 2, Wolverine, I am sure naughty dog is working on a single player game on top of the fiction MP game too.
If some good online games can help keep PlayStation's cash flow more healthy, then so be it, whatever keeps the ship afloat for my single player experiences.
Agreed! The only way I see online is okay for me is something like Dark Souls where it's a part of the gameplay and lore system. I'm an offline games person.
Example: I was playing the other day Shadow Hearts 2 on PS3 Phat (using bilinear filtering and upscaled image + TVs black insertion frame and upscaler + sharpening etc.) and me and my wife were blown away by the writing, animation, graphics, and music. Can't believe some games on PS1-PS2 era are better than the ones today when you have all the technology in the world, and everything is online and connected. We are rapidly collecting old games to play, particularly the gems we didn't have time or a chance to play. These games take our weekends away more so than the modern ones. Maybe we are old, but they just suck us right in vs the new games which feel like a polished turd of a product.
could not agree more. I'm sick of online games, MMOBA and anything in that vein. gaming is getting way too big and as a result is making way too much trend chasing trash
Offline games DO still exist in more than equal measure. I don't think that is going away.
I agree with everyone who wants a slew of offline traditional games...
But.... Online games persistent ones and those with dreaded micro transactions battle passes etc make more money it as simple as that
It's a shame but those days of of purchasing a game with all content on her etc are now gone. Ironicly Nintendo are closest to old school style games
What about Demon's Souls? Returnal? Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart? Horizon Zero Dawn? God of War?
And up next Horizon Forbidden West?
Those are the rare exceptions made only by Sony. Let’s hope they continue to make those unique experiences for much longer and not change to these online only type games.
Moriarty
His point is that Sony studios are also keeping the hope alive not only Nintendo.
They might sell more copies but they don’t always make as much profit. But I agree that they need multiple ways to fill the funnel. Live service games and single player type games
@moriart1889
Mario, Zelda, Doom, Ori, Resident Evil, Souls Games, Devil may Cry, Far Cry, Doom, and hundreds of others.
What about Starfield, Avowed, Hellblade II, ES6, Fable, As Dusk Falls, Everwild...
Many Switch games have paid DLC, like Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Animal Crossing New Horizons.
Not only that but certain Nintendo Digital only games get limited releases on purpose to inflate the price.
Surely you have something to share by now, concept art at the very least.
I find it really hard to get excited about a game where all I know is that it will be an online game which is not even a great selling point to me, actually makes me less excited.
Love Jade & love the quote from her about Mark Cerny.
"I’ve known Mark Cerny from being in the industry a long time so it was cool to see him turn up in this new role. He came to the studio was chatting with everyone, gave a talk about what they were thinking and was open to discussing changes where he got feedback on things, so I think that’s a new approach, something we’ve never seen before – first-parties taking that much feedback from the developers."
Just shows u how close sony is with developers. They really are open to them & not just throwing money down their throats. Good read.
Shinra Tensei
nothing that we dont know already
gonna get the ps4 this new gen like i got the ps3 this gen. gonna keep my ps3 for blueray playback and older games ps4 will be for the new stuff and blueray ftw. also jade is awesome i will buy her game. i love to play her games.
I always liked Jade Raymond...very attractive....mmmm
..Oh and she is probably very good at her Job too lol :)
Well, give us Beyond Good and Evil 2!