In light of a recent report indicating that Sony is shutting down another one of its studios—Dark Outlaw Games—founder Jason Blundell has offered his own comments about the matter. In livestream alongside now-former level designer at the studio JCbackfire, Blundell said that Dark Outlaw Games was working on “a hell of a game”.
“You’re gonna mourn what could have been because we were making a hell of a game,” Blundell said. While he clearly noted that he didn’t bear any ill will towards Sony, and went as far as to refer to the company as having been a great partner, he went on to say that “it f****** sucked.” However, he wasn’t able to reveal any more details about the event. “We have to respect confidentiality so we can’t go into every gory detail,” he said.
Blundell went on to note that the decision to shut down Dark Outlaw Games largely came about due to changing times. He still can’t help but express sadness over what could have been with the studio’s project. “I can reassure you—and it’s been reassured to me—it’s just times change, focus changes, but the project we were doing and what we were doing, fans would have been very excited,” he said.
JCbackfire expressed a similar kind of sadness, noting that in his five years of having worked in the game development industry, none of his work will be seen by players. However, the two are still optimistic about the future. “The sentiment is definitely we’re down but not out,” he said.
Reports indicating that Sony is shutting down Dark Outlaw Games earlier this week, courtesy of Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier. In a social media post, he said that alongside the studio’s closure, Sony was also making cuts in mobile game development. This has seemingly impacted “around” 50 people.
Schreier also indicated that Sony’s focus moving forward will be on a “few select high-impact projects,” while the company continued to support projects like MLB The Show Mobile and Ratchet and Clank: Ranger Rumble.
Dark Outlaw Games was unveiled in March 2025. Founded by Jason Blundell – a veteran developer who had previously worked at Treyarch on the Call of Duty: Black Ops franchise and considered one of the masterminds behind Call of Duty Zombies – Dark Outlaw Games was going to be a first-party PlayStation studio. Considering the pedigree, it was likely focused on developing shooters.
While the studio had only been announced this time last year, work had apparently already been going on in secret. Speaking to Giant Bomb co-founder Jeff Gerstmann on his Bonus Podcast, Blundell said that the team had been “working away in the shadows for a while,” before the studio was officially unveiled. At the time, he said that the studio was still growing, and that more details would be revealed about its projects “when we’ve got something to talk about.”
It is worth noting that Blundell had previously co-founded another studio that was working with PlayStation – Deviation Games back in 2021. However, Blundell left the studio in 2022, with Deviation Games itself being shut down in 2024 without having released any games.