Former Deviation Games devs form new Sony studio
"Hope you can create a top-class new IP and not have to deal with red tape from previous projects."
PlayStation has reportedly formed a new studio consisting of former Deviation Games devs.
Deviation Games' co-founder, Jason Blundell, is also rumoured to be part of the new studio.
As posted to the Gaming Leaks and Rumours subreddit, former Deviation dev Michael Anthony wrote on LinkedIn: "Hey, I hear that a lot of previous Deviation Games employees have setup their own studio at Sony working on an undisclosed new IP.
"All the people I see working there that have signed up are top class developers and hope that you can create a top class new IP with your studio that hopefully gives you all the time you need to create a quality product and not have to deal with red tape from previous projects."
Ex-Deviation Games Technical Director says that former colleagues have set up a new internal Sony studio (Led by Jason Blundel, new IP)
byu/Careless_Main3 inGamingLeaksAndRumours
As for Blundell's involvement? Whilst the details are unclear and still very much just speculation at this point, fans have cross-checked recent announcements and found this one from Deviation's former community manager, who said back in December that they were now working as a junior game designer for a PlayStation studio under Blundell.
As yet, there's been no official word from Sony about the rumoured new studio, but we'll let you know if and when that changes.
Deviation Games was formed in 2022 by ex-Treyarch and Call of Duty developers and led by Jason Blundell and Dave Anthony. Eighteen months later, however, Blundell departed Deviation, and the studio then laid off around 90 employees back in May 2023, citing a "difficult situation" that "forced" the layoffs. In March 2024, the studio was shuttered completely.
The number of layoffs in 2024 across the whole games industry is estimated to be over 9500 so far. The total number of layoffs in 2023 is thought to be around 10,500, and 8,500 jobs were lost in 2022. Chris Dring, head of GamesIndustry.biz, recently explored why there are so many layoffs in the video games industry right now.