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Deviation Games, a AAA developer backed by PlayStation, has been shut down before it was able to ship its first game.
There’s a chance you haven’t heard the name Deviation Games before, but to catch you up quickly, the studio was formed back in 2020 by former Call of Duty leads Dave Anthony and Jason Blundell. The studio was revealed in 2021, with PlayStation backing the studio financially, working on a new AAA IP. Unfortunately, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the studio has now been shut down. “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of Deviation Games,” chief HR and operations officer Kriste Stull shared on LinkedIn.
“I want to express my deepest gratitude to our entire team. Thank you for all your hard work, dedication, and contributions to Deviation; I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have worked with each and every one of you. To the entire video game industry, we will be hosting a networking event, and we would love for any/all companies/studios hiring to participate. Please reach out to me directly if you are interested in attending. To all the Deviators out there, we will always cherish the memories we made together. Thank you for being a part of our journey. Go get ’em!”
It should be noted that in a 2021 interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Anthony spoke about the partnership with PlayStation, saying, “It’s absolutely mind-blowing. For us, we have never been in a situation like this before, where we’ve got everything we could possibly ask for. From day one of the studio we have complete financial security for years and years to come.
“Now, with this partnership with Sony, we can be ourselves. And not only that, when we bring people into the studio, we can promise them that this is our culture. And we can fearlessly create and innovate and be groundbreaking.”
No reason was provided as to why the studio is shutting down, but PlayStation did recently announce that it was laying off 900 people, closing London Studio down entirely. Deviation Games’ closure is just the latest in a long string of closures and layoffs, with EA having also recently laid off 5% of its staff.