I’m excited to announce that we’ve expanded our relationship with Firewalk Studios and are thrilled to welcome them to PlayStation Studios. Firewalk is home to a remarkably talented team of creatives who have launched some of gaming’s most celebrated experiences, and they’re already hard at work on their first original AAA multiplayer game for PlayStation.

Since announcing our publishing partnership with ProbablyMonsters and Firewalk in 2021, we continue to be impressed by the team’s ambitions to build a modern multiplayer game that connects players in new and innovative ways. The studio shares our passion for creating inspiring worlds grounded in exceptional gameplay, and we want to continue to invest in their mission. We’re excited for Firewalk to bring their technical and creative expertise to PlayStation Studios to help grow our live service operations and deliver something truly special for gamers. 

Please join me in welcoming Firewalk! 

Every once in a while, you get to have an adventure.

Over five years ago, we jumped at the chance to set up a new studio and build a new IP from the ground up. Recalling our own favorite times with games, we founded Firewalk Studios around the idea of delivering memorable moments – those amazing, had-to-be-there times shared with other people. Our goal is to deliver those shared moments of joy to players around the world.

Building a new studio at scale has been an incredibly exhilarating and relentlessly daunting task. Fortunately, we’ve been supported by great partners throughout – ProbablyMonsters helped turbocharge us in setting up the studio, and Sony has been supporting our project and our creative vision from the beginning.

We’ve assembled some of the most inspired talent in the industry to deliver awe-inspiring new worlds and experiences filled with great core gameplay. The excitement of building something new for players has thoroughly energized the team and our partners, and we’ve been playtesting every day.

Today we’re taking the next natural step and joining PlayStation Studios. We’ve worked closely with Hermen and the very talented team at PlayStation for years, helping to make our new game even better. To join PlayStation Studios is to formally become part of a family that has produced many of the most storied games of our age, and we are honored.

We want to thank everyone who’s supported us along the way and those looking forward to our future. It’s been an incredible journey so far, and we can’t wait for the next chapter in this adventure.

– Tony Hsu and Ryan Ellis
Studio Head and Game Director, Firewalk Studios

The key to victory in this 4v4 competitive platformer is strategy. There are strategic advantages throughout the game from gameplay, to hero roles, powers, and more. 

To celebrate the start of Crash Team Rumble’s Closed Beta – here are some tips and tricks that can give you a leg up on the competition to lead your team victory:

Boosts are stackable depending on what map you’re on

• Gem pads boost your score, but there is huge boost potential by capturing all of the gem pad clusters on one map. 
• Pro Tip: Be sure you and your team collects and banks as much Wumpa as possible while the boost is active, to fully benefit from the boost. 

Fighting is only a means to an end: scoring is what counts

• The name of the game is scoring – so defense is just as important as offense.
• Victory is a much harder task without a blocker. The blocker’s main goal is to prevent the other team from scoring at their Wumpa bank. How can a team win if they can’t bank their Wumpa?!
• Pro Tip: The Gasmoxian Guard is a blocker’s best friend. Blocker’s should have their Gasmoxian Guard set up camp at the other team’s Wumpa bank, making it extremely difficult for the other team to score. 

Relic Stations can swing the match

• If a game is close, the Relic Station can make all the difference – rolling over enemies, catapulting around a map, and more. 
• Pro Tip: Collect as many relics as possible early to use on epic stations for game changing results later in the match when it becomes more crucial.

Use the whole map

• Don’t be afraid to explore and see what’s available in all of the corners of the map.
• Pro Tip: Don’t forget to explore the map vertically. Check out the views from a higher point, you never know, you may find a new way to help your team from a bird’s eye perspective.

Your hero’s powers matter

• Specific powers can take roles to the next level, choose wisely. Some powers are meant to compliment a hero – ie. golden Wumpa for a scorer, Gasmoxian Guard for a blocker, etc.
• Pro Tip: Placement of a power can make all the difference, be strategic.

Move over “International Pickle Day,” May 16 has a new number one claim to fame: it’s the launch day for Humanity! Better yet, it’ll be available on Day 1 as part of the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog’s May lineup, available at no additional cost to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium members. Whether you own a PS5 or PS4, are a PS VR2 or PS VR or TV-only gamer, want to craft your own levels or just sit back and enjoy some action-platforming and puzzle-strategizing, this year May 16 is going to mean more than just “National Piercing Day.”

So…any questions?

Play Video

What did I just watch?

We wanted to announce Humanity’s launch date with a trailer that truly reflects the game: fun, a bit weird (in a good way) and starring an adorable lil’ shiba inu. Oh, and importantly: clearly, undeniably Japanese.

What better way to do that than to recreate the wild – and brilliant – Japanese PlayStation ad campaigns of the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 era? (If you haven’t seen them, it’s worth a search on YouTube, I promise)

We’ve been incredibly flattered to hear Humanity compared to classics of this era like Intelligent Cube, Echochrome, and Devil Dice (among others), even Katamari Damacy and Parappa the Rapper – all fresh and unique designer-led games out of Japan that broke new ground and did it with style. And whether you’ve played those titles or not, or were even gaming back then, we hope you’ll enjoy that same spirit in Humanity: stylish and different, but with a deeply satisfying experience at the core.

Ok, but what type of game is it?

In Humanity, you control that glowing shiba inu, placing commands on the ground for a giant marching horde of people to follow. Make them turn, jump, float through the air, swim, climb, etc., all to reach the goal (or goals) in each stage. The game gradually introduces these mechanics and more, combining them with each other and new elements to ramp up the challenge the further you go. Curious to know more? Be sure to check out the gameplay trailer we shared during February’s St

Hi, I’m Bryant Cannon, the game director for Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, and we’re so excited to finally share that the game will launch on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on July 12, 2023.

If you’re not familiar with Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, then allow me to paint a picture for you. Welcome to Camena: a small coastal town that is currently experiencing unnaturally occurring electromagnetic waves that are interfering with electrical and radio equipment. TVs turn on and off. Planes lose radar. Radio stations can’t broadcast through the static. You know, problems that every quaint town in the Pacific Northwest has to deal with.

Enter Riley Poverly, an environmental researcher who begrudgingly returns to her hometown to investigate these frequency signals and ends up taking on more than she bargained for. You, as Riley, will brave rigorous terrain, encounter mysterious cults, and discover strange supernatural phenomena that threaten to alter the world as we know it. How you confront these challenges is up to you, and your choices will shape Riley’s future – as well as the very fate of Camena. 

To take on the tasks at hand, you’ll need the right gear. Riley’s backpack is filled with just that: a radio, which tunes into supernatural frequencies; transmitters, which Riley will need to plant throughout Camena in order to understand more about these radio frequencies; a climbing kit to traverse some of the more treacherous terrain in Camena; and a walkie talkie, which will allow Riley to communicate with a few new characters along the way.

Let’s dive more into the walkie-talkie.

Hello, do you copy? 

Those who played Oxenfree are familiar with its dialogue system and the unique radio mechanic that allowed Alex – the main character of the first game – to communicate with mysterious specters and manipulate her world. ​In Oxenfree II, we wanted to evolve that idea. This new walkie-talkie feature puts the player in charge of when and how Riley will engage in conversations with off-screen characters.

So how does it work? Let’s say you’re trekking back from planting a transmitter up at Tootega Falls, and your old high school acquaintance and work partner, Jacob, isn’t feeling too chatty. You can use the left trigger at just about any time to open your walkie-talkie. Browse through the channels until you find who you want to talk to, and voilà!

To answer or not to answer, that is the question

In Oxenfree II, players will shape the story through Riley’s actions and dialogue choices, similar to how they did with Alex and the characters in the first game. Each decision impacts who Riley becomes, her relationships with other characters, and the story options available at every turn.

Radio and walkie talkie concept art

The walkie talkie expands on this and opens up a layer of player agency;