The team behind Helsinki and Berlin based Savage is working on an unannounced mobile live service action game that Sony has its eyes on.
Sony is acquiring Savage Game Studios, a European game development start-up, and adding it to a newly created PlayStation Studios Mobile Division to explore platforms beyond just consoles.
Savage Game Studios was founded in 2020 by gaming veterans Michail Katkoff, Nadjim Adjir and Michael McManus, who have all various worked at well-known developers including Rovio, Zynga and Wargaming.
Although the company has no titles made public yet, Sony said the team is working on an unannounced mobile live service action game. According to its website, Savage makes “action games with epic stories to foster lasting connections with players around the world”.
Sony is acquiring the studio to “expand and diversify our offering beyond console, bringing incredible new games to more people than ever before,” said Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios.
“Our move into mobile, like our expansion into PC and live service games, strengthens our capabilities and our community, and complements PlayStation Studios’ purpose to make the best games that we can.”
With offices in Helsinki and Berlin, Savage was founded with the idea that being a small and independent studio could be a chance to experiment, take risks and “call our own shots”. However, it defended its decision to be acquired by Sony, the world’s largest video game maker.
“We made this deal because we believe that PlayStation Studios’ leadership respects our vision for how we can best operate and succeed, and because they too are not afraid to take chances,” Savage CEO Katkoff said.
“All of that, plus the ability to potentially tap into PlayStation’s amazing catalogue of IP and the fact that we will benefit from the kind of support that only they can provide… The harder question to answer would be ‘why not?’”
The latest acquisition, the value of which was undisclosed, comes just months after Sony acquired Halo and Destiny creator Bungie for $3.6bn.
This, in turn, came less than two weeks after Microsoft announced the biggest gaming acquisition in history, snapping up Activision Blizzard in a deal worth nearly $70bn that would make it the world’s third-largest video game company.
“Savage Game Studios is joining a newly created PlayStation Studios Mobile Division, which will operate independently from our console development and focus on innovative, on-the-go experiences based on new and existing PlayStation IP,” Sony added.
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