PlayStation Studio Spotlight: Valkyrie Entertainment

Based in Seattle, Valkyrie Entertainment is a bit of an enigmatic presence in the industry despite being around since 2002. Primarily operating as an asset and art specialist, Valkyrie has predominantly been contributing to games in a supporting role — getting paid to take the workload off of the core development team. Joakim Wejdemar, president and founder of the roughly 50-person team, has made it very clear that that time has never been wasted. In the 2021 announcement of the Sony acquisition, Wejdemar stated: "We have contributed to well over 100 titles, including great PlayStation franchises, such as God of War, inFAMOUS, and Twisted Metal." In addition to those, the team has helped work on Injustice 2 (2017), Middle-Earth: Shadow of War (2017), State of Decay 2 (2018), New World (2021), and Aliens: Fireteam Elite (2021) — though it is likely the team has worked on many more than it is officially credited for.

In terms of actual game development, the team has only made one game: Guns Up! in 2015. Developed with help from Sony's own Santa Monica Studios, Guns Up! was a free-to-play tower defence game that used a card system to mix up each session. However, it has been reported that since then, the team has had a strategy game and two other secret projects in development, though it seems likely that all of those projects will close, given Sony's aquisition of the studio for PlayStation Studios in 2021.

Guns Up! (2015) was Valkyrie Entertainment's first and last major game development, though it has worked on many other games in a support role since. Made with the support of Santa Monica Studios, this strategy game was all about building unconquerable defences for opponents to try and break, with a card system to help mix up play. As a free-to-play title on PS4, there were plenty of eyes on the title but it ultimately never quite made the splash it wanted to, despite having over four million players. On Metacritic, the game holds a poor 57 rating from critics with some of the RTS elements praised, but the lack of innovation and crushingly slow progression ultimately dragged the game down.

Before Sony had even snapped up Valkyrie Entertainment, it had been announced that the team would be working on God of War: Ragnarök as a support team for its first-party studio Santa Monica. However, it seems like prior to the purchase, there were a few projects in development. According to job listings, there are "in-house projects for both mobile and console platforms" as well as "an unannounced strategy title." It seems highly unlikely that these will see the light of day, but it would be very good if they did!

Valkyrie is an exceptionally quiet studio, so all that is ever heard from it is either an announcement of a game that it is working on or a job listing. This year, with Sony's aquisition, we at least have a bit of 2021 news to talk about. Herman Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, stated that "Valkyrie Entertainment is a highly adaptable and respected studio which has produced high-quality work on a range of platforms from console to PC; and a variety of styles from action to games-as-a-service titles." Interestingly, Hulst also wanted to highlight the support role of the 17th first-party team, saying that its "diverse capabilities will be welcomed by every team at PlayStation Studios as we continue to focus on delivering extraordinary gaming experiences.”

Joakim Wejdemar, the president and founder of Valkyrie Entertainment, stated that "in our next chapter, we are excited to continue our relationship with some of the most talented teams in the world, expanding and contributing to the portfolio of amazing games available for PlayStation fans.”

We are confident Valkyrie Entertainment might never leave the Hidden Trophy ranking unless it puts out another game, but that is no bad thing. The team works with art assets and development assistance and has done so in the shadows for a long time. Looking at all those AAA games it has assisted on, we can't help but think this team loves to graft. Now, under the PlayStation Studios label, we hope it finds satisfaction in helping with a small, collected group of talents on a variety of projects. While that might mean that we never understand the hard work of this studio as its name gets sidelined for others to shine, the Hidden Trophy reflects that there is a mysterious talent at Valkyrie!