The last couple of years has seen a considerable consolidation of game studio ownership, with Sony and Microsoft snapping up a host of high-profile independent studios.
So, it’s apt that Sony is rounding out the 2021 by officially acquiring Valkyrie Entertainment, which is currently working with Sony Santa Monica on the forthcoming God of War: Ragnarok. However, the studio also gave Microsoft a helping hand on the just-released Halo: Infinite game.
It’s unlikely the company will be crossing the aisle again any time soon after it joined Housemarque (Returtnal), Nixxes Software (for porting games to PC), Firesprite (The Persistence), Bluepoint Games (the Uncharted: The Nathan Drake collection remake) under Sony’s banner.
“Valkyrie’s diverse capabilities will be welcomed by every team at PlayStation Studios as we continue to focus on delivering extraordinary gaming experiences,” said PlayStation Studio chief Herman Hulst in a statement.
From now on we’re likely to see Valkyrie co-develop new first-party PS5 games, with Hulst saying all PlayStation Studios partners will be happy with the acquisition.
The terms of the agreement remain undisclosed, but follows a busy year or so of acquisitions for the big two console gaming giants. In September 2020, Microsoft snapped up ZeniMax Media, which gave the company ownership of Bethesda. Now franchises like Doom, Fallout, Wolfenstein and The Elder Scrolls are controlled by the Xbox-maker. It’s also gives Microsoft first dibs on the new IP Starfield. It’s not surprising that Sony is grabbing available, albeit smaller, studios in response.
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For gamers it means less new titles are likely to arrive on multiple platforms, making it difficult to play all of the best games around without grabbing a PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
