It’s been a rollercoaster couple of months for games industry veteran Jade Raymond. At the beginning of February, Raymond announced her departure from Google after Stadia announced that it would be halting its first-party gaming efforts to instead focus on the streaming side of its business. Raymond had been working at Google since March 2019, heading up projects that ultimately never saw the light of day.
Following her departure from Google, it appears that she’s been pretty busy. Today, Raymond announced that she has started a new independent game studio called Haven Studios Entertainment. The first game Haven will be working on is apparently a big one, as Sony has tapped the studio to work on a new IP for PlayStation.
For now, we have no idea what that IP is or when we can expect to hear more. Raymond does say that Haven is comprised of developers she’s worked with throughout the years, so the studio should be able to hit the ground running with a team that has at least some familiarity with one another.
“It’s time for us to refocus on GAMES in a place where we can practice our crafts without any barriers or impediments,” Raymond wrote in her announcement today on the PlayStation Blog. “We want to create worlds where players can escape, have fun, express themselves, and find community. We want to pour our passion into a project. We want to make something wondrous for people to experience. Because we believe in the power of games to bring joy to people’s lives. And Sony does, too. Their commitment to excellence is unmatched. It’s why I couldn’t be happier for their backing and support.”
So, there you have it: not only is Jade Raymond heading up a new indie studio now, but the first project Haven Studios is working on has the backing of Sony and will one day exist on PlayStation. Since it’s only been a month-and-a-half since Raymond left Google, we’re assuming this project is still in the very early stages, so it’s probably going to be quite some time before we hear more about it. We’ll let you know whenever that information happens to come down the pipeline, so stay tuned.
Keyword: Burned by Stadia screwups, Jade Raymond finds PlayStation far more welcoming