Game development studio Deviation Games is officially shutting down. The news comes from HR Chief and Operations Officer Kriste Stull, who shared the following post on LinkedIn:
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of Deviation Games. 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!
Deviation Games was unveiled less than three years ago, in June 2021, and was founded by former Call of Duty (Treyarch) developers Jason Blundell and Dave Anthony. At that time, the studio received funding from Sony to make a new live service PlayStation IP.
In January 2022, the studio even announced a new Canadian branch, hinting at an expansion of its workforce. However, things quickly spiraled down from there. In September 2022, co-founder and game director Jason Blundell left the company (seemingly to land at PlayStation Studios, according to this tweet).
Around ten months ago, Deviation Games was hit by significant layoffs, and their live service PlayStation IP, which reportedly cost at least $50 million, was canceled. It was originally supposed to be among the wave of ten live service games Sony wanted to launch before March 2026.
However, the house of PlayStation recently said only six of those titles will be available by that time, likely due to cancellations and delays. We know The Last of Us Online has been canceled, too, and the same fate befell London Studio's fantasy cooperative game when the studio was shut down in late February.
Haven Studios and Firewalk Studios are still working on Fairgame$ and Concord. Bungie is making Marathon, a sci-fi PvP extraction shooter based on its owned IP. Last we heard, it should be released next year. Moreover, Guerrilla Games is still working on its Horizon Online cooperative game despite the recent layoffs.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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