Latest news with #JasonBlundell
Metro
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
PlayStation continues live service obsession with new studio of Bungie veterans
Sony has announced the formation of a new PlayStation studio and it sounds like it will be dedicated to more live service games. Sony may have closed down several studios last year, including Concord developer Firewalk Studios and London Studio, but the company is now starting to plant new seeds. Earlier this year, Dark Outlaw Games, led by Call Of Duty alumni Jason Blundell, was officially announced. Now, PlayStation has unveiled another new studio, only this time formed primarily from ex-Bungie developers. The new studio, named teamLFG, is based in Washington, US and is made up primarily of former Bungie developers. However, it also includes people that have worked on a myriad of different online games, including League Of Legends, Fortnite, Roblox, and Rec Room. As outlined in a PlayStation blog post, teamLFG (which stands for 'Looking For Group') are working on an 'ambitious incubation project' which, based on the studio's name and introduction, sounds like it will be a live service project. 'We are driven by a mission to create games where players can find friendship, community, and belonging,' reads a statement from the team. 'We want our players to feel excited when the log on to discover their teammates already hanging out online. 'We want our players to recognise familiar names and to make myths and memes out of each other. We want our players to love remembering that one time where they pulled off That Play that changed the whole story of the match. As we say on the team – dat's da good stuff.' They added: 'We will make immersive multiplayer worlds propelled by action games that players can learn, play, and master for countless hours. We want to build our games with our communities, inviting players to be a part of our development process through early access playtests.' When it comes to the studio's first project, teamLFG describes it as a 'team-based action game that draws inspiration from fighting games, platformers, MOBAs, life sims, and frog-type games'. And no, we don't know what that means either. 'Players will inhabit a lighthearted, comedic world set in a brand new, mythic, science-fantasy universe,' the statement adds. Weirdly, this isn't the first time 'frog-type games' have been mentioned. This same synopsis was used by Bungie in 2023 when it announced it was hiring for a new incubation project, so this is presumably the exact same game but now under Sony's wing. One of our favorite incubation projects is a team-based action game inspired by several genres in a brand-new, science-fantasy draws inspiration from fighting games, platformers, MOBAs, life sims, and frog-type games, wrapped up in a lighthearted, comedic world. — Bungie (@Bungie) August 18, 2023 While we'd at least be curious to see a battle royale take on Frogger, the announcement of this studio suggests PlayStation is still committed to live service games despite the failure of Concord, something PlayStation Studios CEO Hermen Hulst stated in December last year. More Trending Sony is already hoping Bungie's next online shooter Marathon will hit when it launches later this year, along with heist shooter Fairgame$ from Haven. A Horizon multiplayer spin-off is also rumoured to be in the works, but hasn't been officially announced. Sony has seen success in the live service space with Helldivers 2, but the amount of funds being pumped into these risky multiplayer projects – seemingly at the expense of single-player titles – is starting to show in the 2025 release slate. The only Sony-published single player games coming out this year are Death Stranding 2 and Ghost Of Yōtei, and only the latter is made by an internal studio. There's a chance more could be announced at a future State Of Play, but when so many live service games barely last a year, it's worrying to see Sony continue to devote so much time and resources to the concept, at theexpense of other styles of games. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Switch 2 pre-orders direct from Nintendo UK drop invite requirements MORE: EA game prices will not increase 'at this point' as Battlefield 6 release window confirmed MORE: Elden Ring movie with Alex Garland is happening after all says insider
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sony has a new first-party PlayStation studio led by CoD Zombies creator Jason Blundell
Engadget has been testing and reviewing consumer tech since 2004. Our stories may include affiliate links; if you buy something through a link, we may earn a commission. Read more about how we evaluate products. Sony has apparently formed a new first-party studio for PlayStation called Dark Outlaw Games, and it has already started hiring personnel for it. Jason Blundell, who worked on several Call of Duty titles under Treyarch and who's perhaps best known for co-creating CoD's Zombies mode, has revealed that he's heading up the studio in an interview with Jeff Gerstmann for his podcast. As for why Sony Interactive hasn't announced the new studio yet, Blundell said that they've been "working away in the shadows for a while" and that they'll "step out into the light" when they have something to talk about. Presumably, that means Sony will make an official announcement once Dark Outlaw is ready to reveal its first game. Blundell didn't say if he and his team have already started developing their first title or if it even already has a project lined up. All he said was that the studio is currently "staffing up" and that he's "getting the team to gel, getting the ideas clicking right" and then testing them. Blundell worked as a programmer and a producer for Activision before joining Treyarch to work on Call of Duty. For Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, he directed and produced the Career and Zombies experiences. Blundell left Treyarch in 2020 and founded Deviation Games, which he also left in 2022 before the studio shut down two years later. According to Dark Outlaw Games' LinkedIn account, the PlayStation studio was founded in 2024, is based in Los Angeles and has a team size between 11 and 50 persons.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sony has a new first-party PlayStation studio led by CoD Zombies creator Jason Blundell
Engadget has been testing and reviewing consumer tech since 2004. Our stories may include affiliate links; if you buy something through a link, we may earn a commission. Read more about how we evaluate products. Sony has apparently formed a new first-party studio for PlayStation called Dark Outlaw Games, and it has already started hiring personnel for it. Jason Blundell, who worked on several Call of Duty titles under Treyarch and who's perhaps best known for co-creating CoD's Zombies mode, has revealed that he's heading up the studio in an interview with Jeff Gerstmann for his podcast. As for why Sony Interactive hasn't announced the new studio yet, Blundell said that they've been "working away in the shadows for a while" and that they'll "step out into the light" when they have something to talk about. Presumably, that means Sony will make an official announcement once Dark Outlaw is ready to reveal its first game. Blundell didn't say if he and his team have already started developing their first title or if it even already has a project lined up. All he said was that the studio is currently "staffing up" and that he's "getting the team to gel, getting the ideas clicking right" and then testing them. Blundell worked as a programmer and a producer for Activision before joining Treyarch to work on Call of Duty. For Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, he directed and produced the Career and Zombies experiences. Blundell left Treyarch in 2020 and founded Deviation Games, which he also left in 2022 before the studio shut down two years later. According to Dark Outlaw Games' LinkedIn account, the PlayStation studio was founded in 2024, is based in Los Angeles and has a team size between 11 and 50 persons.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Former Treyarch studio co-head and Black Ops 3 director is heading up a new first-party PlayStation studio
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Five years after leaving Treyarch, former studio co-chief and Call of Duty producer Jason Blundell is heading up a new first-party PlayStation Studio called Dark Outlaw Games. "Dark Outlaw Games have been working away in the shadows for a while, and when we've got something to talk about we'll step out into the light," Blundell said in an interview with Jeff Gerstmann. "But the story for me is about the game, not about the studio. So the reason why we're not doing a fanfare or shouting about it from the rooftops is, let's get something, right? "It's such a privilege to be able to do it with Sony as a new first-party studio. Sony doesn't set up first-party studios all the time. To have that privilege is humbling, it's really nice. I'm really excited." Blundell said Dark Outlaw has been "staffing up [and] keeping it kind of low key" to this point, but declined to say anything specific about the studio's current status, much less what it's working on. "We're getting the team to jell, getting the ideas clicking—I'm a programmer at heart, so let's test those assumptions: Is it working, is it working? You're trying to hit that escape velocity." Blundell has a long list of credits to his name, beginning—just as he said—as a programmer on Starlancer in 2000. But he's best known for a long run on Call of Duty at Treyarch: He served as producer on Call of Duty 3 and Black Ops, directed two Zombies maps for Black Ops 2, and directed both the campaign and Zombies modes for Black Ops 3. He left Treyarch in 2020 after 13 years at the studio, saying his time at the studio "has been nothing short of awesome." This isn't Blundell's first comeback: In 2021 he launched a new studio alongside fellow Call of Duty veteran Dave Anthony in 2021 called Deviation Games. Interestingly, that studio's first project was being developed in partnership with Sony, but Blundell left Deviation just over a year later, in September 2022, and the studio closed in 2024 without releasing a game. Apparently that unhappy outcome hasn't diminished his enthusiasm. "It's very exciting," Blundell said in the interview. "I love the fact that still at this point in my career, I'm given these opportunities. It's always that desire to—again, you want to put that one extra disc on the wall, if you will, and can we bring something to an audience and excite them and get some new IPs ... that makes me jump out of bed every morning." 2025 games: This year's upcoming releasesBest PC games: Our all-time favoritesFree PC games: Freebie festBest FPS games: Finest gunplayBest RPGs: Grand adventuresBest co-op games: Better together
