PlayStation’s streak of studio acquisitions continues. In recent years, it’s scooped up the likes of Returnal developer Housemarque and Demon’s Souls remake developer Bluepoint Games. The latest one to come under the PlayStation banner is Savage Game Studios, a mobile developer with locations in Berlin, Germany and Helsinki, Finland.
Head of PlayStation Studios Herman Hulst made the announcement on Twitter, welcoming Savage and announcing the “new independent PlayStation Studios Mobile Division” that Sony is spinning up. The PlayStation Blog post about the same news includes a statement from Savage Game Studios CEO Michail Katkoff, who expresses equal excitement about this new partnership. “We made this deal because we believe that PlayStation Studios’ leadership respects our vision for how we can best operate and succeed,” Katkoff said. “All of that, plus the ability to potentially tap into PlayStation’s amazing catalog of IP.”
I’m thrilled to welcome Savage Game Studios. They join a new independent PlayStation Studios Mobile Division whose mission is to reach even more new players around the world. Michail and his team are already working on something great; I can’t wait until they can show you. https://t.co/61HpPOmFvs
— Hermen Hulst (@hermenhulst) August 29, 2022
That’s certainly an intriguing statement — Sony has plenty of series that could find a new home on mobile devices. As for what Savage is working on, we don’t have many details right now. “I can’t wait until they can show you,” Hulst teased in the announcement tweet. Lead game programmer Chris Rock’s LinkedIn profile mentions that Savage is “using Unreal Engine 4 to put AAA style shooter games onto mobile devices,” so there might be a clue there. Along the same lines, Savage is currently hiring for several roles on the current project.
These recent studios acquisitions are falling in line with PlayStation’s multiplatform plans. Specifically, it’s $3.6 billion bid to purchase Bungie was declared as a move that will “considerably accelerate” the company’s multiplatform strategy. On top of this, we’ve seen several once-exclusive PlayStation console games come to PC in recent months, including God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered. When you combine this new acquisition of Savage Game Studios and the mobile division with the Bungie move and PC game releases, Sony’s new multiplatform approach becomes quite clear.