Established in 2020 by two seasoned professionals with a background in crafting notable Call of Duty titles, including Jason Blundell, the executive producer of 2010’s Call of Duty: Black Ops and the creative force behind the revitalization of the Zombies mode in Black Ops 2.
With Blundell having directed two of the most coveted Call of Duty Zombies maps ever made, Mob of the Dead and Origins.
Despite its promise, the studio was unable to unveil its inaugural project, an original intellectual property slated for exclusive release on PlayStation platforms, but it was always assumed that the studio itself wasn’t bound for greatness as Blundell himself, one of the co-founders of Deviation Games having departed from his own company on September 8th, 2022, around two and a half years after it was established.
PlayStation secured Blundell, who now heads an undisclosed PlayStation studio. It became evident that Sony had withdrawn its funding from Deviation Games some time ago, as many personnel from the studio were reassigned to other projects within the company or laid off entirely months ago, only now is it confirmed that the studio is closing down for good.
The announcement was made on LinkedIn by Kriste Stull, Deviation Games’ Chief HR & Operations Officer, who also mentioned that the team would be hosting a networking event to support individuals affected by the studio’s closure.
In light of Sony’s recent announcement of approximately 900 job cuts within its PlayStation division and the absence of first-party exclusives for the PlayStation 5, which has consistently fallen short of sales projections, it’s understandable why the studio is shutting down.
With global economies going down the shitter, overinflated gaming giants like Sony have no choice but to downsize their operations resulting in mass layoffs or even closing entire studios, such as the shutdown of Sony’s PlayStation London studio.
Deviation Games, established in 2020 and backed by Sony PlayStation, operated for a few years without releasing any products. However, the studio’s key resources were gradually reassigned internally, leaving the remaining team members sidelined and now sacked.
