Sony may be looking to expand its lineup of internal studios after recruiting several displaced developers from the now-defunct Deviation Games. A reliable insider noticed several key employees from the recently-closed studio, including its co-founder, joining Sony Interactive Entertainment, fueling speculations that a new development outfit is being formed.
Twitter user @Zuby_Tech reports that a handful of Deviation Games employees have updated their LinkedIn profiles to reflect their new posts within Sony. The profile for Fred Thomspon indicates that he is “leading the design for an unannounced project.” The tweet included the profiles of other key Deviation employees including animation director Adam Rosas, executive producer Pat Dwyer, game designer JC Farmer, and lead animator Kristen Sych.
— @Zuby_Tech (@Zuby_Tech) December 26, 2023
It was also recently reported that Jason Blundell, former Treyarch developer and co-founder of Deviation Games, has joined PlayStation. The information was shared by JC Farmer, who revealed that he is working as a game designer for PlayStation Studios under Jason Blundell.
JOB UPDATE!
I've been wanting to say this for a while, but now I finally can! 😊
I'm a Junior Game Designer @PlayStation Studios.
And I work for Jason Blundell. ❤️
— JC (@JCbackfire) December 18, 2023
Blundell formed Deviation Games in 2021 with Dave Anthony after their long stints at Treyarch. The developer is best known for his work in the Call of Duty Zombies series and is the creator of the Chaos storyline. Blundell was working on an unannounced title at Deviation Games for Sony when he left.
It seems that Blundell has reunited with former Deviation employees and is working on an unannounced project at PlayStation Studios. If rumors are true, then Blundell and his team will be a solid addition to Sony, which is looking to expand its lineup of IPs.
There is speculation that Blundell may be working on a first-person shooter title that will compete with Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty franchise. Considering Blundell’s extensive experience working on the shooter series, it would be a safe bet to say that Sony may be looking to establish its own FPS titles.
Sony is currently looking to bolster its media offerings outside of its marquee franchises. The company acquired Halo and Destiny developer Bungie last year specifically to create titles in the live-service games segment. So far, the studio has only announced one new title in Marathon, a new sci-fi extraction shooter. The title has unfortunately been delayed as Bungie missed its revenue targets for the year and has been forced to lay off part of its workforce.
PlayStation also acquired Firewalk Studios in April 2023 to work on an original AAA multiplayer game. The studio has since announced Concord, a PVP multiplayer FPS title, scheduled to arrive next year on PC and PS5. There is little information about the game outside of its launch trailer.
It will be interesting to see Sony respond to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard by forming a new studio to work on a rival for Call of Duty. Microsoft previously said that its current ten-year licensing deal with PlayStation will be enough time for the latter to produce a shooter that can compete with Call of Duty.
