Former Treyarch co-studio head Jason Blundell has announced the formation fo a new first-party studio within PlayStation Studios. Blundell, who was also one of th elead creators of Call of Duty's Zombies mode, confirmed in an interview with VGC that his new studio is called Dark Outlaw.
“I’ve had the amazing opportunity to create a new studio within PlayStation Studios for Sony,” Blundell revealed. “The studio is called Dark Outlaw. We’ve been working away in the shadows for a while, when we’ve got something to talk about we’ll step out into the light. It’s such a privilege to be able to do it with Sony as a new first-party studio, Sony doesn’t start up first-party studios all the time, so to have that privilege is humbling.”
Funny enough, this is Blundell's first partnership with Sony. When leaving Treyarch in 2020, Blundell actually helped form Deviation Games, a Sony-partnered studio that was working on a game to be released exclusively on PlayStation. Unfortunately, the studio closed before it was ever even able to release its first game.
"It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of Deviation Games," Deviation chief HR officer Kriste Stull said at the time. "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."
Hopefully, Bundell has better luck at it this time. Dark Outlaw Games is currently "staffing up." Blundell wouldn't reveal how far along the developer is with a production schedule, but he did note that the studio has been going "for a little bit of time."
“It’s about getting the team to gel,” he said. “I’m a programmer at heart so let’s test those assumptions, is it working?… You’re trying to hit that escape velocity.”
Blundell will serve as studio head and director for Dark Outlaw Games. Given his experience at Treyarch and work on the Call of Duty franchise, Dark Outlaw Games could be the first-party studio for Sony that finally delivers a stand-out first-person shooter for PlayStation. While Call of Duty and Battlefield remain two of the most popular shooters, Sony lacks a first-party shooter to compete with them. Call of Duty is now owned by Microsoft, while Battlefield is a third-party title from EA. Sony does own Bungie, developer of Destiny, but that's more of a co-op experience rather than a competitive shooter.