Sony Partner Deviation Games Shuttered Before Shipping Its First PS5 Project

Didn't Sony poach all the talent already? Including the former co-founder Jason Blundell?

@ThorsHammer yes, he left in 2022 and joined one of PS Studios. Probably Firewalk

Nice headline but Sony cut ties with this studio almost a year ago.

Sad to see a studio closed down before they have a chance to ship out their first game.

On a side note, I said in a previous article that studio closures are happening quite a bit in 2024 so it's a news cycle we're bound to keep seeing. Hopefully everything gets stable for a lot of these devs.

This studio was cooked since the day they lost their co-funder. Sony wanted to work with that guy not with Deviation so they hired the guy and people who started to leave Deviation, pulled the money from the project and the studio was done. Whatever happened in Deviation that make the guy leave was the first and last mistake for the studio.

Another casualty of Sony's short-sighted live-service initiative.

I just don’t understand why these newly formed development companies don’t start small, and get their feet wet with smaller indie/AA titles instead of jumping headfirst into the deep end with these large, overly ambitious AAA titles that could sink most companies. There may be a few companies that saw success using that formula, but for the most part, you gotta learn to walk before you run.

Yeesh. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for any studios wanting to partner with Sony.

@nessisonett like Arrowhead who has been working with Sony for 10 years and now have a mega hit in Helldivers 2?

@nessisonett @theSpectre this was a casualty of their project not going well. This myth that Sony don't work well with other studios is boring, they have a pretty decent track record.

Blundell left very shortly after Deviation was founded and likely headed up Firewalk Studios' Concord game.

The job security for a game developer has to be close to non existent.

@gymratAmarillo What are you talking about. Literally what are you on. This is a studio which has shut down before shipping a game. I’m saying it’s not a great endorsement. 1 + Orange = Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

@nessisonett Sony didn’t shut the studio down. They cancelled one project they were funding. The fact that the studio couldn’t get even one single other publishing deal in it’s entire lifetime is probably down to their work, the same work that caused Sony to cancel funding.

@nessisonett correction this is a studio which has shut down because they lost a key member just within months after signing a big partnership* or you didn't know in the game industry the devs are part of contracts and losing those devs are the equivalent of a contract breach? They lost funding and didn't find a new partnership, that's how business works.
1 + pink = Christopher Nolan LOL

I really dislike the complete bias on this site at times. If a studio that is partnered with Sony releases a good game then all people talk about is the great job Sony did. If things don't go to plan then it's solely the fault of the studio and Sony were far better off without them.

There's never any culpability from Sony for some people here.

And before anyone mentions it, I am fully aware this is a PlayStation site. But that doesn't mean that everyone has to blindly agree with everything Sony says and does.

@__jamiie You seem to be entirely missing the part in which it's very different releasing a bad game and identifying during development a game is bad and cancelling it earlier.

If they'd funded this game all the way to release and it was bad then they'd get destroyed for it. They didn't do that though. Part of working with a studio is identifying what is working and what isn't. No one wants to release a Redfall, but cancelling a Redfall 2 years ago and using the resources for something else would be a lot better.

@__jamiie that's how it goes on these type of sites though, look at everyone praising Sony for Helldivers 2 when they had pretty much zero involvement in it but as soon as something bad comes out that Sony's done they shift the blame on to anything else they can do

@TwoDents Yep, the same people moaning about people being "Pro" Sony on a Playstation website are the same ones bashing Sony every chance they can get, quite hypocritical tbh.

Sony did not shut this studio down like some seem to believe, Sony do not own them and only part they played with this dev was part funding a game with them. Seems to me they had no funds other than what Sony was giving them and when Sony pulled the plug on their project they couldn't interest any other publishers to partner with them, which honestly doesn't bode well for whatever their game was.

@Gamestation

look at everyone praising Sony for Helldivers 2 when they had pretty much zero involvement in it

Sony own the IP in totality. They funded the franchise for 10+ years. Sony support studios worked on the game in multiple capacities. Sony offer a wide range of support like Motion and Facial capture(Sony have one of the best motion capture studios in the business, even studios like Capcom pay to use it for Resident Evil), voice acting, assistance with art assets, executive level oversight of the project etc. In the Helldivers 2 credits there’s literally dozens and dozens of Sony employees.

@Professor_Niggle I didn't say Sony doesn't work well with studios. I said it was a failure of the live-service push. I think these games are just a massive gamble and so many of them fail. Live-service is a far bigger risk than other games. Every year multiple live-service games shut down (some right after launch). Only a select few are ever successful and rarely immediately. Honestly, (MMORPGs notwithstanding), I think I can count on one hand the number of live service games that have succeeded: Destiny 2, GTA Online, Sea of Thieves, Fortnite, The Division. And even a number of those were disasters at launch. Hell, Red Dead Redemption II has sold over 60 million and yet, Red Dead Online couldn't hold an audience.

Sony retained Blundell who is primarily who they wanted to work with seemingly. This seemed like a project doomed for failure the minute he departed the studio.

Damp squib, wet fart? Never mind.

Haven Studios is good candidate for shutting down, their game got the same reaction that Suicide Squad got and that game is basically dead and buried after a little over a month.

I actually forgot this studio was even a thing. I lost any hope that this studio was going to make it to the finish line a while ago. Still, sad to see and I wish everyone the best.

@theSpectre I agree, was a 2 in 1 response so the only part of your comment I was responding to was "casualty of Sony's short-sighted live-service initiative". We don't know the details, but I just think it was a casualty of bad planning and bad game design, because if it wasn't, well see Helldivers 2 and the soon to come Concord and Fairgame$. They weren't cancelled or went well enough to warrant release windows and official announcements. That isn't to say when launched they won't die or fizzle quickly but yeah.

I agree as well that the live service games are just a massive gamble and so many of them fail, but as much as it's hated I do think it's a gamble worth taking. The way these games transform and the variety they can bring is worth it. But when Devs seem to phone it in or there is too much exec meddling and there is no real fun or bite to the game like suicide squad then yeah might as well not bother with it

Another day, another Sony project shuts down.....

@Professor_Niggle My bad, it can be hard to understand intent in these comments sometimes lol. Agreed, though. There are good live service games (I love Final Fantasy XIV and Helldivers II appears to be insane, though I haven't played it). I think the failure comes when studios who don't know how to make them (or don't want to) get forced to do it. That's how we get a Suicide Squad or a Redfall. It's how Deviation Games fails or how we get a Halo Infinite. Hopefully, Concord and Fairgame$ turn out better than most. I still lament the loss of The Last of Us Online, but seeing the falls of Rocksteady and Arkane, it was probably for the best. We don't want to lose Naughty Dog.

This why "just start up your own studio" is almost never a better strategy than aquiring a studio. Even talented, innovative people often struggle getting these things off the ground.

@theSpectre not your fault, it wasn't very clear tbf. Play some Helldivers 2, one of the best fun I've had in a long time. Kinda reminds me of a smaller scale Warhawk.

Yeah the devs that don't have the experience or are excessively pushed into making live service games without much testing or room for experimentation are usually the ones that fail almost immediately. On the other side, games that are good to great once or twice and not able to reel you back in are the ones are more common and I think that's what Factions was going to be like. We've heard it was fun but from ND themselves, it wasn't enough and they realised they'd have to pour all their resources into it for it to get there.

I'm hoping that Concord does something fresh, if it's like Titanfall I'll be happy but if it's another COD clone then not looking great. As for Fairgame$ everything I've seen in that CG trailer tells me it's going to be something like a fast paced version of rainbow 6. Which I think sounds good but yeah the meat is these games cannot be lacking. With Bungie being their live service consultants I think they can figure it out. Bungie do bed to shore up and get themselves together for Destiny 2 ending and Marathon though but I think they'll be fine.

@Professor_Niggle I'll get to Helldivers II, but I've just got too much to play at the moment (you can probably figure out from my pic what I'm currently playing). On top of that, over the next 2 months we've got Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, South Park: Snow Day, and Alone in the Dark, all of which are on my radar. From what I've heard, Concord is sort of like Guardians of the Galaxy, whatever that means. Fairgame$ has a lot of potential, I just hope they don't screw it up. As for Bungie, it's probably time to sunset Destiny and move on to Marathon. Though, I hope Sony gets them to make a full single player campaign for Marathon as that would be insane and Bungie is long overdue for new single player content.

That’s a damn shame

Splending gamemaking by Sony this gen...really glorious
Naughty Dog - TLOU online game cancelled after several years into the project
London Studio - shuttered
Pixel Opus - shuttered
Japan Studio - shuttered (Asobi has risen from ashes)
Deviation Games - closed before they shipped their first game
Firesprite - Sony installed XDev devs to run the studio and they mismanaged it. Twisted Metal reboot cancelled.

Jesus Christ. I thought that Microsoft is the one who is mismanaging studios.

@gymratAmarillo it sounds like he left that studio for sony.

@Godot25 lets bring reality in this , sony saw the progress or lack of said progress of those games. they don't cancel games that will be good. yet people are acting like they did with games you haven't even seen. if anything mismanaging them would be allowing them to waste their time on a low quality product.

@IslandLogic

We need a return of quality AA games because AAA has become too costly it seems. I'd gladly take AA games vs Live Service games.

I think one of the problems is AA still won't sell enough for publishers. Too many consumers want the best and nothing but the best and those that would be fine with lower budget games seem to be too few in comparison for the sales publishers desire.

@Godot25 Deviation Games wasn't a Sony studio.

@twitchtvpat So, letting Naughty Dog develop TLOU Online and after 5 years of development "we found out that this game would mean that entire studio would need to commit to live service" is good management? Please, spare me excuses.

I mean. You can't even look at situations with whole live service push, toxic enviroment in Firesprite, shuttering of several studios etc. and don't think "this is mismanaged." Unless you have rainbow googles.

It was the same way with Xbox and 343. There were plent of signs that studio is mismanaged. And people refused to accept a reality. But it took failure of Halo Infinite live service for Xbox management to realise how bad situation is and only then they acted and restructured whole studio.

@theSpectre Yes and? It's not like they didn't fund and oversaw project development.

Said this elsewhere,but again here. Feel like Herman Hulst has flown under the radar a bit as Worldwide Studios head in all this.

When the decree from Jim Ryan (or indeed Toroki as 2IC of Sony Group),for more live service games this generation came,(Especially with the Activision buyout),instead of looking towards the Sony IP cupboard like Resistance, Motorstorm, Twisted Metal, or even a remix ports of Little Big Planet 1 & 2 where they could launch with solid single player modes AND also be backed up with multiplayer/ live service & build on those ports towards a reboot/sequel etc.,Hulst & co.,went with a dartboard approach of throw AAA budgets at start up teams & hope for the best,plus pushing internal studios to come up with online only games along with the Bungie purchase.

The disdain for old IP's (esp. PS3 locked ones), that could've been used as building blocks feel like missed opportunities in favour of PS4 remasters. The rare engagement publicly Hulst gives rarely acknowledges older legacy IP's in the way Shawn Layden or Shuhei Yoshida did.

It might not be all Hulst's personal role to oversee every title daily,but Santa Monica as an example during a Yoshida God of War (PS4 reboot), visit certainly listened to his feedback & pivoted as a result of it.

@Kang81 quality is not the problem. We've had plenty of great AA games that, unfortunately, didn't sell well. When it comes to first party games, the average ps gamer has sent a clear message to Sony. Big budget or we won't bother.

@Godot25 you conveniently forgot to mention all the great games we've got so far, like God of War Ragnarok, Spider-man 2, Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart, Returnal, etc. Wonder why.

@naruball Probably because all of those games were greenlit under "previous regime." Ryan and Hulst came into their respective positions in 2019. Hell, even big success for PlayStation this year (Helldivers 2) was greenlit by previous management since that game was in development for 8 years.

So I'm primarily talking about their management. It was them who pushed hard into live service. They bought and mismanaged Firesprite. They shut down all of studios I mentioned. They bought Bungie (which currently looks like huge miss). They develop a partnership with Deviation.

hopefully theres a bloomberg or axios deep dive into what happened to the studio. super strange

Just to point out to many.

Their closure had 0 to do with Sonys short sighted view of live service.

This is what happened at this studio.

They pitched a perfect pitch to Playstation. They believed in it due to the people who was working on it. They partnered with them.

The game just wasn't coming together a co founder left and the game was just to big for the big heads who thought they could do it with their first game. Ens of story

@Godot25 so let me get this straight. When they cancel a game, it's their management. When they don't, it's not, right?

@theSpectre there's a lot to play atm, still haven't got around finishing a lot of games I started last year. But yeah hopefully we can get to see those upcoming live service projects as there has been so much cancellations as of late

@naruball Ehh. No?
Comparing games that were in deep production by the time Ryan and Hulst were promoted vs. new-ish games that probably waited for their turn into full production is pretty much different thing.

Not to mention fact, that overwhelming majority of games you talked about are straight sequel to popular games which is safest bet in existence in gaming world. All they had to to is let teams cook and not ***** it up.

I mean. If you think that current management of PlayStation under Ryan and Hulst under PlayStation Studios is fine, then okay. But even many hardcore PlayStation fans have no problems to admit that they are ***** things up in a big way.

Outside of Helldivers 2, Sony don't have any big game from internal studios for entire 2024. And even labelling Helldivers 2 as a big game is a pretty big stretch, since that game is selling for 30 bucks.

So let me sum things up for you
No big-brand AAA first-party developed game until April 2025 at earliest (we would be lucky if we can get Concord)
Naughty Dog spend 5 years of internal resources and development for game that will not be released - meaning that we will be probably glad if they will be able to release at least one game for WHOLE PS5 GEN.
Ryan and co. installed Sony XDev people into management of Firesprite which lead to toxic culture and many experienced people already left the studio after they received retention bonus
Japan Studio, Pixel Opus, London Studio shuttered and Media Molecule is shell of it's former self
Bungie ***** up Lightfall expansion which lead to insufficient revenue, which in turn leads to risk that Sony will replace board of directors in the studio with their own people (and I'm sure people would not pack their bags after that happens)

I mean. It's cool resume if you ask me. /s

@Godot25 "I mean. It's cool resume if you ask me. /s"

So you're not interested in a dialogue. Cool. Won't waste my time with you.

@naruball

True, a lot of the AA games of late haven't been great. I just think of something like Darksiders when I think of AA games that perform well.

Not necessarily my type of game, but Remnant from the Ashes 1 & 2 seem to have been big successes.

Still, I agree with you that the majority of gamers these days want the best of the best AAA games and they won't bother buying anything else.

In my opinion, the more mainstream gaming has become the more it's also become about straight profits before creating good games. It's a business and always has been about profit, but not at the expense