Deviation Games' first AAA game has reportedly been canceled by Sony

Source: Deviation Games Twitter

Deviation Games was founded by Dave Anthony and Jason Blundell. Most of the studio was formed from highly esteemed Treyarch developers. The transition of most of the original Treyarch developers came after the rocky release of Black Ops 4. The two co-founders of Deviation Games, Jason Blundell and Dave Anthony, were Treyarch veterans who worked in many positions of development and leadership at Treyarch and Activision.

Jason Blundell is most known for his leadership in Treyarch's zombie mode. He took leadership of the mode at the end of Black Ops 2's lifecycle and delivered some of the most memorable zombies experience to COD fans. Dave Anthony worked on screen-play for both Black Ops 1 and Black Ops 2's campaign mode. He also helped with the production of the classic zombies mode with original director Jimmy Zielinski.

First Appearance of Deviation Games

Deviation Games was first announced in June 2021 as it was a surprise reveal with their partnership with Sony. At the time of their reveal, the COD community was going crazy as Both Jason Blundell and Dave Anthony have worked extensively with Sony. People began to speculate a COD zombies-like game.

What kind of game were they making?

The only fact people knew for certain was that the game was suppose to be a PlayStation exclusive. As to what kind of game it was, people said quite a few different things as it was likely they were only planning and never made it into full-production. According to some information by Opps Leaks, the game was meant to be a "world-class FPS that is planned to be supported for years, if not generations." He continued by saying it was to "receive many game modes, including heavily story-driven single-player campaigns and multiplayer aimed both for arcade modes and competitive ones."

In simple terms, this all seems like it was just developer talk. We don't even know what kind of engine this game would run on or any details on the support/sequels for this game. (Nothing beyond speculation).

Game canceled by Sony amidst layoffs

The latest rumor floating around is the supposed canceling of the exclusive PlayStation game. According to a former developer who worked at Deviation the company, "ran into a difficult situation and was forced to make a number of layoffs which I was apart of." Now, with over 90 team members fired, it's safe to question how the studio will turn out come 2024.

For the recent layoffs and canceling of the first-party game. Sony seems to be taking drastic steps in trying to keep up with Microsoft as their acquisition of Activision is almost certain. Also, with everyone going crazy over cloud gaming, this could have something to do with the shakeup of Deviation. Or this could just be part of game development and things could turn around in the future.

I'll be sure to keep up on the studio in the coming weeks.