PlayStation shuts down studio, quietly cancels game

It’s never nice hearing about job losses but unfortunately, especially in the video game industry lately, it’s becoming a common theme as top executives at some of the biggest companies cut costs at the expense of those lower down the hierarchy chain.

Just in 2024 alone, a reported 900 jobs were lost at the hands of Sony, impacting some of its leading development studios including Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games and Insomniac Games. Then just days later, a reported 700 jobs were lost at Electronic Arts. Now, Sony has seeingly been implementing its cost-cutting strategy but this time, it's at the expense of a studio that never even got a chance to release its first game.

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Deviation Games is a Sony-backed studio that was formed in 2020 by Call of Duty veterans, Dave Anthony and Jason Blundell. The closure of this particular studio seems like a strange decision to make, especially with Microsoft now owning the Call of Duty franchise since its $68.7 billion acquisition of its publisher Activision Blizzard.

Despite Microsoft’s continued reassurance that Call of Duty will remain multiplatform, you’d think that a Sony-owned studio of ex-Call of Duty developers would make for an excellent backup plan should Microsoft decide to make Call of Duty exclusive to the green brand one day.

Sadly, Deviation Games never even had the opportunity to reveal a new game let alone release one. The studio was working on an unannounced PlayStation exclusive. At this time, the studio hasn't given a reason for the closure of Deviation Games, however, it’s a safe assumption to make that it could be another cost-cutting strategy.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of Deviation Games," said Kriste Stull, the HR lead at Deviation Games in a LinkedIn post. “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.” This news comes only months after Deviation Games was advertising for vacancies at its studio.

It’s not yet known how many jobs have been lost as a result of the Deviation Games closure, but we hope that those impacted will land new employment as soon as possible.