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PlayStation Studios acquires mobile developer Savage Game Studios

PlayStation Studios lead Hermen Hulst said the acquisition is meant to 'expand our audience and bring PlayStation to more people than ever before.'

TJ Denzer

August 29, 2022 8:35 AM

Image via PlayStation Studios

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PlayStation Studios has picked up another acquisition today in a year full of them. This isn’t an Activision Blizzard or Bungie-type of deal, but rather something a little more lowkey. The pickup this time is Savage Game Studios, a developer composed of a number of veterans in the mobile game development space. While it would seem to be a move to further expand into mobile territory by PlayStation, Hermen Hulst of PlayStation Studios said it would not disrupt the company’s efforts in console or PC gaming.

PlayStation Studios announced the acquisition of Savage Game Studios via a PlayStation Blog post on August 29, 2022. Savage Game Studios was formed in 2020 and founded by veteran mobile game developers Michail Katkoff (Rovio, Zynga), Nadjim Adjir (Wargaming, Rovio) and Michael McManus (Wargaming, Insomniac). The group has combined experience developing on some of the most popular mobile games in the world, including Angry Birds and Clash of Clans. Savage Game Studios has no released projects of its own under its belt yet, but the combination of talent leading it was enough to convince PlayStation Studios to pick it up.

Despite picking up a studio with a clear expertise in mobile gaming, PlayStation Studios lead Hermen Hulst claimed it wouldn’t pull away from the company’s focus on PC and console games.

“As we assured you before with our plans to bring select titles to PC, our efforts beyond console in no way diminish our commitment to the PlayStation community, nor our passion to keep making amazing single-player, narrative-driven experiences,” Hulst explained. “Our mobile gaming efforts will be similarly additive, providing more ways for more people to engage with our content, and striving to reach new audiences unfamiliar with PlayStation and our games. Savage Game Studios is joining a newly created PlayStation Studios Mobile Division, which will operate independently from our console development and focus on innovative, on-the-go experiences based on new and existing PlayStation IP.”

Hulst and Savage Game Studios went on to confirm that the latter is working on an unannounced AAA game for PlayStation Studios. As we await details of said game, stay tuned for reveals and updates here at Shacknews.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.