Producer Jade Raymond was supposed to be in charge of creating exclusive content for Google Stadia, but with Google giving up creating its own games for the service. While she was not among those let go as a result,Raymond did opt to leave Google, ending a tenure that didn’t even last two years. At the time, it wasn’t known what Raymond would do next, but today she has announced what her future plans are and they involve an entirely new studio and working withPlayStation.
Raymond shared her plans via thePlayStation Blogwebsite, where she briefly mentions how long she has been a part of the games industry, why she wishes to continue working within it (despite some setbacks), and a desire to get back into making games –something she was unable to do during her time at Google. Her new studio is called Haven (no relation to therecent indie RPG of the same name), as she wants to make games that are a haven for players and a studio that is a haven for developers.
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The studio is based in Montreal, Canada, where Raymond herself was born and raised and, although it’s described as an independent studio, it will be receiving backing and support from Sony. In fact, Haven’s already begun working on an exclusive title forPlayStation, but Raymond couldn’t share much detail beyond that. It will be an entirely new IP so best to rule out any theories or rumors that it’s a newJak and Daxter,Sly Cooper,Legacy of Kain, or any of the other beloved franchises that have seemingly been abandoned.
Raymond already has experience with founding studios as she was the one responsible for the creation of Motive Studios in 2015 back when she was working for EA. While she worked for EA until 2019, when she left to join Google, Motive wasn’t able to create any new projects, only collaborating onStar Wars Battlefront 2. Motive didn’t get to make a game of its own until 2020 withStar Wars: Squadrons.
Before EA, Raymond previously worked at Ubisoft, where she served as producer and led the creation of the firstAssassins Creed, which is now one of the company’s key franchises. She would go on to be the executive producer on the sequel andBloodlinesspin-off, as well asSplinter Cell: Blacklistand the firstWatch Dogs. With such a pedigree behind her, it will certainly be interesting to see what she and her new studio will create.
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