PlayStation’s MO when it comes to acquisitions has often been to pick up studios that it has previously worked with as exclusive second-party developers, from Guerrilla and Insomniac to, more recently, the likes of Housemarque and Bluepoint Games. Independent team Arrowhead Game Studios has, of course, recently joined the ranks of external teams that have had successful partnerships with Sony, thanks to the unexpected success of Helldivers 2, and recent rumours had begun claiming that, in keeping with its strategy, Sony had agreed an acquisition of Arrowhead as well.
That, as it turns out, is false. Before the rumour could gather too much pace, Arrowhead Game Studios CEO and Helldivers 2 creative director Johan Pilestedt took to Twitter and immediately squashed those rumours, calling them “fake” in multiple tweets.
Given the fact that PlayStation recently announced that it’s laying off about 900 of its employees, it’s fair to say that any news of the company having acquired new studio would have come with a fair bit of whiplash, especially given the fact that across the company, in addition to the layoffs, projects have been cancelled and studios have been shuttered.
Arrowhead and Sony’s partnership has obviously been a very fruitful one, and long may it continue- but perhaps it’s best, for now at least, that the former retains its independence.