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PlayStation acquires Haven, the new studio led by Jade Raymond

GHound

Member
Holy shit I love Jim Ryan now.
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No she's talented, i mean she's a bit overrated by some horny crowd but saying she is nothing is so wrong, she is not Kojima or Cory Barlog but she has some high level, she contributed into the beginning of iconic franchises that defined Ubisot.
Apples to oranges comparison no. You've mentioned game designers/directors but Raymond has a history of producing games, which means she isn't really directly involved in game development.
 
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kyliethicc

Member
Apples to oranges comparison no. You've mentioned game designers/directors but Raymond has a history of producing games, which means she isn't really directly involved in game development.
Producers are important.

They often allow the creatives to just focus on the creative side of the project.

Schedules, budgets, deadlines, hiring, etc.. its boring work but it's necessary.

Useful to keep those tasks off the shoulders of the game's directors and leads, too.
 
Producers are important.

They often allow the creatives to just focus on the creative side of the project.

Schedules, budgets, deadlines, hiring, etc.. its boring work but it's necessary.

Useful to keep those tasks off the shoulders of the game's directors and leads, too.
Definitely. But I get the sense a lot of people who've been posting in here haven't realised a producer is very different from being a designer or coder. And a producer's performance is measured in different ways.
 
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Like or dislike Raymond’s past work. It is the fact that the project has Sony confidence which is worth paying attention to.

Sony has been buying a ton of no name studios recently.

Nothing to see here unless they release something half decent. Both Haven and Sony have no experience with GAAS.

Both are expecting Bungie to do some miracle and help them out cause they paid so much.
 

AmuroChan

Member
It's great that Sony has confidence in the studio and what they're working on, but it's probably best to keep your expectations in check until we at least see the game in action. it's not like Sony doesn't swing and miss once in a while. They had a lot of confidence in Dreams too, and gave MM 6 years to make that game. That game came and went and nobody cared. They also greenlit TWO Knack games. I hope Haven's game is amazing, but I'll reserve judgement on it until I see some gameplay.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
The vague descriptions they used were "community", "inclusion" and "player expression" which had me a little worried. But this concept art looks dangerous/mysterious open world to me. Probably looking at a 92 - 96 Metascore for this one.

Concept_01_RGB_1920x1080.jpeg


HavenStudiosArtwork.jpg



Concept_05_RGB_Meta.jpeg
 
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tmlDan

Member
Sony has been buying a ton of no name studios recently.

Nothing to see here unless they release something half decent. Both Haven and Sony have no experience with GAAS.

Both are expecting Bungie to do some miracle and help them out cause they paid so much.
no name studios? wtf are you talking about.

Haven is the only one.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Apples to oranges comparison no. You've mentioned game designers/directors but Raymond has a history of producing games, which means she isn't really directly involved in game development.
And she is an excellent producer.

"It is testament to the fact we've been very impressed with the progress that Haven has made. They're actually exceeding a lot of the plans, including in terms of time, which very rarely happens in game development, let me tell you." -- Hermen Hulst

Your comment implies that producers have no worth in game development sides. I'd say they're more important than ever, considering the ever-growing cost and time duration of AAA game development. You can see how many XGS has been struggling putting out high-quality games at a consistent clip. Most of it comes down to poor production pipeline.
 

FukuDaruma

Member
The fuck are you talking about? How and why would that be an equal thing? Maybe one is more active on social media or something. As in Anita Sarkeesian literally has over 468,000 results....she also didn't spend decades making games bud.
And we all know WHY Anita Sarkeesian has that many results, right? :messenger_tears_of_joy:

I don't know what to tell you but, popularity isn't some fucking moral right or based on feelings or based on how long someone was in an industry etc, lots of things determine that. So Raymond has worked on some of the biggest properties in all of gaming on top of remaining active on social media, more folks mentioning her simply means more current events are happening around her.
Nobody said it is, you are the only one weirdly talking about "moral rights" or "feelings" out of nothing.

I'll say it again: Jade Raymond has been enjoying a disproportionate amount of media coverage for the career she has.
She's been labeled as a "CREATOR" by the media when she was a Producer and Managing Director, a managerial profile that isn't a CREATIVE at all. She's been part of some hits as a Producer/Managing Director, but some hits that were also infamous release disasters, which WAS her responsibility as Producer/Managing Director. Her work was to make sure the games were done (ok), on time according to set milestones (were delayed) and were released in a proper state (some of the most important were not).
NONE other pure Producer/Managing Director with a similar track record had this amount of media coverage. In the vast majority of cases ** we don't even know who they are at all **, because the media don't give a fuck about them. And just wanting to give "a fuck" seems to be a very important 'reason' to do many articles about/around her.

Google hits may not be the only metric, but it is one that shows a broad picture, and more important than just a pure personal opinion.
 
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LYou spent your reacting to a bunch of pro-Sony posts in this thread and now you want your time back. Get out of here.
Pro Sony posts? Most of the posts i reacted to are the ones thats support this studio/ her on her merits from past accomplishments and have detached those accomplishments from the fact she has a pair of tits and a nice smile.
 

Same ol G

Member
Exactly. Imagine looking at current day Jade and thinking she's "past her expiration date". Most women her age don't look that good. And even if she wasn't good looking (which is subjective) she still has the same right at a career as her male peers (which btw, plenty of them look one pound away of having a heart attack)
My reaction was only about her looks, some people in the tread are acting like she is a model or something.
Seeing a picture clearly showing her age is just funny to react to.
I never once mentioned something about her not being capable or not deserving her position, she probably worked hard for that and i'm not gonna comment on that.
 

SSfox

Member
I'm not a Jade Stan, but some people are seriously putting her at the level of the crazy woman? Now that's some high level of ignorance lmao.
 

yurinka

Member
Well duh. You spend hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing every year on something and keep making it better - you’re bound to make a successful franchise, even if the first game is poor. Look at Far Cry. And you forget that AC2 is what made the AC franchise. It’s fine if you want to revise history about how those original games were received though. Watch Dogs lived off that stunning demo for years. And you keep talking about my tastes as if consensus out there isn’t a thing.
I'm not revising history, I'm just saying it's a fact that these games and many other ones where her team worked have been huge hits in sales and kept a huge fanbase even if the games had their flaws.

AC2? Yes, she and her team not only worked in the original (she took it as a failed project that was a Prince of Persia sequel), but also in this one and in many AC sequels more. And Haven has some of the key people who worked on these games.

Watchdogs? She and her team took a mess of a failed project that was a Driver sequel and turned it into a super seller new IP and also made the sequel. And Haven has some of the key people who worked on these games.

Far Cry? Her team worked on FC3, FC3 Blood Dragon, FC4, FC Primal and FC4. And Haven has some of the key people who worked on these games.

You may not like these games but all sold over a dozen million units.

New IP? After her success turning a failed Prince of Persia sequel into a super successful new IP Jade Raymond was promoted to be executive producer responsible for the Ubisot new IPs for the period they published (or at least greenlighted and started to work on): Scott Pilgrim, Child of Eden, Outland, Rocksmith, ZombiU, Valiant Hearts, Child of Light, Grow Home, Just Dance, Watchdogs, South Park: The Stick of Truth, The Crew, The Division, For Honor to name some of them. These last half a dozen also sold a shit ton of copies too.

Regarding marketing, they are a AAA company and like any other AAA company they spend a lot in marketing. But the marketing budget isn't proportional to sales. A big marketing makes more people see the game, but if doesn't appeal enought the players they won't buy it. And if a player buys a game of a series and doesn't like it enough, won't buy the next entry. If the player repeats it's because liked the previous one enough to repeat and also found the next one appealing enough (even if like any game has its flaws).
 
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EDMIX

Member
Nobody said it is, you are the only one weirdly talking about "moral rights" or "feelings" out of nothing.
also you
Jade Raymond has been enjoying a disproportionate amount of media covera

yea...that is a feelings argument bud.

What amount is right? Oh so it needs to be equal and fair and just? foh

Stop crying over this shit. No one owes you some equal amount of popularity, evenly spread out based on how hard you cry.

Easy ignore buddy.
 

yurinka

Member
Apples to oranges comparison no. You've mentioned game designers/directors but Raymond has a history of producing games, which means she isn't really directly involved in game development.
Yes, and not only as producer. She also has been very successful building, growing and leading very productive and successful studios and helping to create/curate new IP like the ones I mentioned in this post.
 
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FukuDaruma

Member
also you

yea...that is a feelings argument bud.

I put numbers of google results compared to others. Most other Producer/Managing Director pure managerial profiles are not even known at all. "Feelings" is pulling mere opinions out of your ass because you like her.

What amount is right? Oh so it needs to be equal and fair and just? foh
Oh, so you are acknowledging it is not in fact, but you just don't care. :messenger_tears_of_joy:
I don't care that much, I'm just tired of all the drooling around her, a non-creative profile with such a meh career.

Stop crying over this shit. No one owes you some equal amount of popularity, evenly spread out based on how hard you cry.

Easy ignore buddy.
"crying"... you gonna use "little girl" too, you big mouth tough guy?
No one owes you shit either, and what is being said and discussed *** does not have anything to do with "being owed" anything to anybody ***, but it says a lot that you end up having to resort to that kind of 'arguments', tough guy.
 
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FukuDaruma

Member
You're crying out of your own belief (with no evidence) that she did no creative work behind the scenes. Fact is she started as a creator, not managerial whether you like it or not.
Fact is she started as a programmer, which is NOT a CREATIVE either, "wether you like it or not". Fact also is she didn't do anything of relevance as a programmer, to the point of not even being mentioned in most of her bios, let alone being anything at all that defined her career or the media interest in her.
Dude, her entire career but that irrelevant first job as a programmer has been pure managerial roles. "No evidence"? :messenger_tears_of_joy: A guy that worked at UBI (and talked good about her) already told you what a Producer/Managing Director does in this very same thread. Her main job was to make sure the teams worked well, the games were made, on budget/time and got well released. She didn't design or direct any of those games. She helped getting them made, from a managerial stand point as a Producer/Managing Director, which is a very different thing than being a creative. But she gets labeled as a "CREATOR" in the media anyway.

Get a grip you wierd ass degenerate

Another great 'argument', very defining of your personal limitations.
 
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FukuDaruma

Member
If only you were aware of your own stupidity too.

Programmers aren't creatives? How fucking ignorant can you be?

A programmer is not part of the CREATIVE team in game development, genius, but part of the DEVELOPMENT team.

Jade Raymond had a first job as a programmer, nobody knows what she did, hasn't been of any relevance in her career or to the media covering her and defined exactly ZERO of her career, which from that TOTALLY IRRELEVANT first job has been entirely in managerial Producer/MANAGING Director positions.
 

EDMIX

Member
I put numbers of google results

and proceeded to cry about those results as if it NEEDS to be some exact number.

This is a feelings argument. Get over it.

You are crying cause you are MAD that someone likes someone else more, thats it. No one fucking needs make some even level of popularity to make you stop crying bud.
 

FukuDaruma

Member
and proceeded to cry about those results as if it NEEDS to be some exact number.

This is a feelings argument. Get over it.

You are crying cause you are MAD that someone likes someone else more, thats it. No one fucking needs make some even level of popularity to make you stop crying bud.
"You crying!" :messenger_tears_of_joy: 🤦‍♂️ So that is your 'argument'. A childish rant from kindergarten level.
Nobody said it "needs to be some exact number", the numbers give a broad picture on how big the coverage for Raymond has been, compared to other much more importante profiles, either creative or managerial. The point being: because she is a pretty face. The media knows that sells, wankers love it and she profits from it. We just don't see that many articles about pure producers and managers for anybody else.

I'm sure you are just projecting and this is a "feelings" argument for you. Sorry if she's your waifu or something, dude. I'm sure you'll grow up out of it eventually.
 
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midnightAI

Member
These are weird. Is it supposed to look cartoony or realistic? I find it hard to look at, perhaps the colors and lighting are especially vibrant?
Never seen concept art before huh? Many are done by the use of photobashing (like these) to speed up the process. But anyway, just concept art not in game graphics, and these are certainly on the more realistic side.
 
You know what? I fucking hope this game does well. Not because I like GaaS, but to spite all these hot takes about how she's a woman, Sony buying Haven cos of her boobs, her receiving more attention than the PD for AC etc.

Walk Away Big Brother GIF by Big Brother After Dark
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
"These environments are not just games, they are also social platforms for many players," said Haven Studios co-founder Paola Jouyaux in the same interview. "It has to stay that way. To last, a game must remain pleasant to visit."

She gets it.
 

Draugoth

Gold Member



The ink has now dried. The team at Haven Studios -- the Canadian game developer led by industry veteran Jade Raymond -- are now officially PlayStation employees.

The two companies announced the planned acquisition in March. And when we spoke back then, it was clear why Sony was interested in buying a team that had only been founded in 2021.

For starters, it's a company filled with established talent, not just Raymond but a whole number of experienced names who were behind major hits such as Assassin's Creed and Rainbow Six: Siege. The developer is also making a live service title, which fits neatly with Sony's stated ambition to push further into online service-based games. And it also sees PlayStation gain a presence in Canada, one of the world's most successful games development countries.

Today, as the deal is finally confirmed, we've caught up with Haven again. And a lot has changed in just a short amount of time. The developer now has 106 employees -- a rise over more than 50 since October last year -- so it's certainly no small indie team anymore.
 
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Varteras

Gold Member
Buying a studio with zero output and no track record whatsoever, pretty wild.
From what I remember, when Haven began its partnership with Sony they were asked to pitch three games and then they'd choose one to run with. Apparently, Sony loved all three of them and wanted Haven to work on all of them. Meaning they would be willing to pay for the rapid and huge studio expansion that would require. Haven turned down that proposal and opted to focus on one game for now. But clearly Sony is confident on at least whatever their visions are.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Reading this just makes me sad. No where do they talk about pushing gameplay innovation. Just cloud and services. No talk of physics, AI, level design thats been stagnant since 2005. Just GaaS, GaaS, GaaS. I would expect this from Ubisoft and Activision trash, but not Sony.

To drive this cloud vision even further, Haven has hired Jalal El Mansouri, who was the technical architect on Ubisoft's hit live service game Rainbow Six: Siege before also joining Google in a similar role.

"Jalal joined us two weeks ago now to be principle architect for the studio, and also head of R&D. He's really going to be working with Leon [O'Reilly], our CTO, on shaping this vision. Both things that are going to be short term critical to operate our first game in a more efficient way, and then also some more forward-thinking stuff that we think will pay off, which is worth investing in now."
Haven is aiming to be a studio built for the modern world of games development. It was formed during a pandemic, with staff working remotely, and by people who know a thing or two about cloud technology.

And the company's R&D work has also caught the attention of Mark Cerny, the lead system architect behind PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, although this isn't necessarily related to the cloud.
"So [Mark Cerny] is one of the main reasons we're investing so much in R&D, and in this very senior engineering team," Raymond teases. "It's not just tied to cloud but also some more forward-thinking R&D. I'm not able to say too much now, but that's obviously one of the other things that's been a big attractor and is exciting to our team with PlayStation. Of course Mark Cerny is kind of like a rockstar, too, so being able to collaborate with him is really exciting.
"And the fact that Jalal is joining... there are a lot of bold ideas that we're looking forward to exploring."
 

Chronicle

Member
Buying a studio with zero output and no track record whatsoever, pretty wild.
True but look at the Sony family of studios. I think Sony knows what it's doing. I believe they give good artistic freedom and support they're studios. I'm sure they see something of value.

Yes. There have been some historical disappointments ie Evolution for me. Driveclub was amazing but poorly launched and I believe a failure.
 
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