Jade Raymond's studio making "persistent and evolving online" title for PlayStation

Last March, Assassin's Creed co-creator Jade Raymond unveiled Haven Entertainment Studios, a new independent developer that would be creating a brand-new IP for PlayStation - and now, just under a year later, early details on the project have emerged, calling it a "persistent and evolving online" game for PlayStation 5 and PC.

That's according to Montreal-based French-language publication Le Devoir (via Google Translate), which sheds a little more light on Haven's ambitions - with accompanying quotes from Raymond and fellow co-founders - as part of a short profile piece on the studio.

Speaking to Le Devoir, Raymond explains Sony had initially asked the studio to present three large-scale projects, with the intention of funding the idea it liked best. Ultimately, Sony showed interest in all three, but the one Haven opted to focus on to begin with is described as a "persistent and evolving online environment" that will seek to differentiate itself from other popular online games by promoting "inclusion and caring".

Although the remainder of Le Devoir's article is light on revelations, Raymond does tell the publication that Haven - which has apparently "tripled in size" since its founding last March - intends to "push the technical capabilities of the [PS5] further", and, as such, will be collaborating with PS5 architect Mark Cerny to better exploit the console's tech.

Sony, of course, recently announced it would be launching 10 new live service games over the next four years, leveraging the expertise of Bungie, which it acquired for $3.6bn, to realise its ambitions. One of these live service games is almost certainly Bungie's new franchise, code-named Matter, and other likely candidates include Naughty Dog's new multiplayer-focused Last of Us title, a heavily rumoured new Twisted Metal, plus online projects from Deviation Games and Sony's London Studio. And it appears we can now add Haven's first project to that list.

With just a year of development under its belt, it seems likely Haven will want to keep the specifics of its debut offering out of the spotlight for while longer, but if nothing else, it's certainly intriguing watching PlayStation's future ambitions slowly take shape.

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