Dark Outlaw Games, the studio founded by former Call of Duty developer Jason Blundell, is shutting down amid bigger cuts to PlayStation overall, according to a report from Jason Schreier.
Blundell’s previous studio, Deviation, was partnered with Sony and closed in 2024. As for the wider cuts, around 50 people are losing their jobs across PlayStation, including on the mobile teams.
An SIE spokesperson sent a statement confirming the changes and saying they were made “to support long-term sustainability.”
“Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Studio Business Group has made several strategic adjustments to support long-term sustainability,” the SIE spokesperson said. “As part of this process, there were limited workforce reductions across select teams. We greatly appreciate the contributions of all those impacted.”
In 2025, Blundell said it was “such a privilege” to start a new studio with PlayStation. “Sony doesn’t start up first-party studios all the time, so to have that privilege is humbling,” he said. Also at the time, Blundell said the team had been working “in the shadows” for some time. The studio’s game was never revealed, however.
Sony’s careers page still has a job listing up for Dark Outlaw. It says the studio was aiming to make “the next groundbreaking AAA original IP” as part of a “lean and highly efficient” development setup.
As for Blundell, he was was instrumental in the creation of Call of Duty’s massively popular Zombies mode during his time at Treyarch. He worked on a number of Call of Duty games over the years, and he directed 2015’s Black Ops 3.
The closure of Dark Outlaw comes not long after Sony closed Bluepoint, a studio known for consistently great remakes.