Though Sony have yet to officially unveil or even talk about it, their new first party studio in San Diego – made from the ground up to work on… something – has been in the news for nearly two years now. Recently, however, when senior game designers Quentin Cobb and John Bautista left the studio, there were some reports that the developer may have been shut down before it could even get off the ground.
That, however, seems to not be the case. Bautista tweeted a couple of weeks ago that he had left the studio, calling it “a crazy ride, and an amazing company”, but saying that “things just didn’t work out this time.” Following recent speculation, however, Bautista clarified in another tweet that he had left the studio due to “personal circumstances”, and as far as he is aware, the developer is still up and running on working on its secret project.
As for what it is that the studio is working on, that’s anyone’s best game, especially since the studio itself hasn’t been publicly unveiled yet by Sony. They have been recruiting talent from a number of high profile developers, most notably from Naughty Dog, and there’s been plenty of speculation as such that they would be working on Uncharted 5, especially with Naughty Dog having wrapped up their work on the series.
Just to clarify, I made the decision to move on due to my own personal circumstances. AFAIK the studio is still there and the project is still ongoing.
— John Bautista (@JustCallMeBau) November 29, 2020
