Sony buys co-development studio Valkyrie Entertainment

Sony has acquired Seattle-based developer Valkyrie Entertainment. Financial terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed. Founded in 2002, it’s best known for providing co-development services to other game studios. In the past, Valkyrie has worked with Sony, Microsoft and Riot to help on titles like God of War, Halo Infinite and Valorant. Before today’s announcement, it was working on God of War: Ragnarok with Sony’s Santa Monica Studio.

The acquisition was announced by Herman Hulst, the head of PlayStation Studios. “Valkyrie’s diverse capabilities will be welcomed by every team at PlayStation Studios as we continue to focus on delivering extraordinary gaming experiences,” he said in a statement.

For Sony, the deal caps off a year full of studio purchases. In the last 12 months, the company has added Housemarque, Nixxes Software, Firesprite, Bluepoint Games and now Valkyrie Entertainment to its first-party lineup for a total of 17 studios under its banner. Sony used to be a lot more methodical when it came to its talent acquisitions. Between 2010 and 2020, it only added two studios: Sucker Punch Productions and Insomniac Games. If there’s a reason for the change in pace, it likely has at least something to do with Microsoft’s $7.5 billion deal to buy Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media in 2020.