In a surprise move, PlayStation is shutting down a studio that was founded just a year ago, ending the studio’s time without it ever having released a game.
What PlayStation Studio is being shut down?
Dark Outlaw Games, the studio founded in 2025 by former Call of Duty lead Jason Blundell, is closing down. The news first appeared on a thread on the ResetEra forums, and was later confirmed by reporter Jason Schreier.
The studio was originally founded as an incubation studio, and said to be in the early stages of their project, which now will not be coming out due to the studio shutting down.
For Blundell, this is the second time he’s dealt with unfortunate development happenings with PlayStation. His previous studio, Deviation, was also working on a game for PlayStation when it shut down, which led to PlayStation bringing in Blundell to start Dark Outlaw Games.
It’s unclear exactly what Dark Outlaw was working on. Alongside the news, Schreier also noted that there were going to be around 50 people laid off elsewhere at PlayStation, namely in its mobile development department.
Blundell is primarily known for his time with developer Treyarch, where he helped on some of the most beloved Call of Duty games like Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: World at War.
Back in 2021, Blundell and fellow former Treyarch developer Dave Anthony formed the studio in a partnership with Sony called Deviation Games. A little over a year after its reveal, it was announced Blundell left the studio. The rumors that proceeded his departure were troubling, with the studio inevitably shutting its doors last year.
The news comes just a month after PlayStation shut down Bluepoint Games, one of its biggest and well-known studios.
