PlayStation has formed a new first-party studio called Dark Outlaw Games with Call of Duty Zombies lead Jason Blundell, who will serve as its studio head and director. Not much is known about what kind of games will be developed under Dark Outlaw Games, though Blundell recently stated that the studio was “staffing up” and would have more to share on its projects in the near future.
Jason Blundell was a former Treyarch co-studio head and a lead creator on the Call of Duty Zombies mode before leaving Activision in 2020 to establish his own studio, Deviation Games. Unfortunately, Deviation Games wouldn’t get a chance to release a game under its name which would’ve been a new IP exclusive to PlayStation platforms. The studio, which Blundell was a co-founder on, would be closed down in 2024.
Speaking with Jeff Gerstmann in a recent interview, Blundell talked more about Dark Outlaw Games and the excitement of working with Sony. “I’ve had the amazing opportunity to create a new studio within PlayStation Studios for Sony,” said Blundell. “The studio is called Dark Outlaw. We’ve been working away in the shadows for a while, when we’ve got something to talk about we’ll step out into the light.”
“It’s such a privilege to be able to do it with Sony as a new first-party studio, Sony doesn’t start up first-party studios all the time, so to have that privilege is humbling,” he added.
Blundell also confirmed that Dark Outlaw Games had already quietly been working on a project for some time, though he didn’t state how far along it was in development at this stage.
As for the Call of Duty franchise, it has included a Zombies mode in almost every recent release due to its popularity, including last year’s Black Ops 6 which became the biggest launch in the franchise’s history.
Source: Jeff Gerstmann
