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[3liteDragon]

Deviation Games signs with PlayStation to develop a new original IP

A note from the development team on building something new.

blog.playstation.com

Dave Anthony, CEO Deviation Games:

It’s been a wild and crazy roller coaster ride this last year, building a new studio and hiring a ton of great talent amid the pandemonium of the COVID-19 lockdown. What an incredible journey so far and finally the day that marks the beginning of our next chapter has arrived! Today we are thrilled to announce a landmark deal for Deviation Games, working with Sony Interactive Entertainment to develop a brand-new original IP.

When my partner Jason Blundell and I first met decades ago, we often dreamt about having our own studio, making games our way with our own team of like-minded developers, and building a community where lasting friendships are created. That dream has become a reality today. We feel so fortunate to have this incredible opportunity – one for Jason and I to build something completely new from the ground up, to fearlessly innovate and forge an incredible community and legacy.

We call ourselves Deviators. And as Jason describes it, “Another way of saying Deviator is Renaissance mindset. Deviators are not only passionate about their own discipline, but they love others too. We believe that is what is unique and special about our studio, the culture, the team, and this project. From experience, young determined studios need rock solid support to thrive. That’s why it means so much that PlayStation is partnering with us on our first game. As you all know–having enjoyed the amazing PlayStation Studios portfolio–they know what it takes to make great games. To have a partner like that behind us makes the road ahead simply breathtaking.”

I know what you’re thinking as you read this. What kind of game are we making? How long have we already been working on it? Is it story based? Multiplayer? Co-op? Or all of the above and more? When is it coming out? While I can confirm development is already underway, it’s really early for us to be going into specific details. We’re drawing on what we’ve learned over our collective decades making games, but we’re also out to make something fresh and brimming with innovation like you’ve never experienced before. We’re not afraid to say that our ambitions are super high: we’re setting out to make a huge, content-rich game with a focus on a lot of action and a lot of energy, but let’s leave it at that for now and hopefully it won’t be long before we can share more.

As for today, I’m here to say: keep an eye on us–we’ve brought on amazing talent from around the world, we’re over 100 Deviators and growing fast, and we have an incredible partner behind us in SIE. To our fans, particularly those who’ve followed some of our team members’ past work over the years: thank you for all your support, particularly now as we venture into creating something for ourselves. Follow our studio channels for all the latest and stay tuned. We might be quiet for a little while but next time we can talk specifically about what we’re working on; we’re confident it will raise a few eyebrows!

 

[DonF]

Who?

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Former Treyarch vets

Studio is over 100 developers atm

 

[Imtjnotu]

 

[Bladed Thesis]

Who?

The worst developers of COD.

 

[SlimySnake]

Black Ops director and Executive Producer.

Sony has now partnered with three new studios in the last few months alone:

- Ex-Bungie Devs
- Ex-Treyarch Devs
- Jade Raymond's new studio

All making new IPs.

These games are like 5 years away though.

 

[SuperColourful]

Who?

 

[Zekra Dezivad]

Who?

They said "a new studio" exactly at the second line lol

 

[Rolla]

For those asking "who?"

They are Call Of Duty / Treyarch alumni.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

The worst developers of COD.

Black Ops 2 is the best COD

 

[Bladed Thesis]

Black Ops 2 is the best COD

 

[Oddvintagechap]

Former Treyarch vets

Studio is over 100 developers atm

Multiplayer game then. Last fps I liked was Siege, Resistance.. and I buy Call of Duty every other year. EH.

 

[Reindeer]

PlayStation finally decided to make FPS again?

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Bitch i'll smack some tastebuds into you

 

[Bladed Thesis]

Bitch i'll smack some tastebuds into you

I don't think you have any taste yourself. Modern Warfare 1 and/or 2 shit all over Black Ops 2 it's not even funny.

Even you know this.

 

[SlimySnake]

For those asking "who?"

They are Call Of Duty / Treyarch alumni.

More than that, the bald guy is the director of Black Ops 1 and 2. BLOPS 2 mp is my favoite cod mp. It has a huge fanbase. I'd say they made CoD balanced. IW had no idea how to balance anything back then.

The other guy is apparently the face of Zombies. No idea what that means though, but hes been around since Black Ops 1.

Black Ops 2 is the best COD

Good man.

 

[kretos]

i really hope Sony makes a good multiplayer game that makes a lot of money for them so they stop pursuing this shit and continue to focus on single player blockbusters

 

[Dick Jones]

Didn't Treyarch make Spider-Man games on the PS1?

Jim Ryan to Hermen:

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

I don't think you have any taste yourself. Modern Warfare 1 and/or 2 shit all over Black Ops 2 it's not even funny.

Even you know this.

Oh Thesis you make me so angry

 

[Aion002]

Suddenly the Black Ops 1 and 2 were bad games for some.

Hopefully this partnership is long lasting!

 

[OrionNebula]

PlayStation finally decided to make FPS again?

Very possible, as this is lacking directly from Sony
However, nowhere does it seems to mention this is for a fps. Only new IP
Guerilla used to make FPS, and yet they expertly did the transition to third with HZD

 

[SilentUser]

Very, very happy with this type of approach Sony is doing by funding new studios to make new games and new IPs. Though it will take a while before we see anything coming from them or the other partnership Sony has made lately, I think.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Hi, we are Rockstar games and we are working on an exclusive game with playstation called The Agent. We will show you more soon!

 

[Punished Miku]

No Japan studio for another FPS game instead - and a totally new studio that hasn't shipped a game.

I'm sure it makes business sense, but I'm not interested personally. Weak. Sounds like this is years away as well, considering it's not even a game announcement.

 

[Bladed Thesis]

Oh Thesis you make me so angry

You make me so happy. It's hard to know if I'm superior to people on a message board. Always nice to have somebody confirm it for me based on their personal taste.

Joking. Joking.

Or am I?

 

[Reindeer]

Very possible, as this is lacking directly from Sony
However, nowhere does it seems to mention this is for a fps. Only new IP
Guerilla used to make FPS, and yet they expertly did the transition to third with HZD

I know there's no mention of it being FPS, but the guys making it were making FPS games their whole life. I would say it's a good bet that they're making FPS with multiplayer as focus. Sony really wants to invest in multiplayer and FPS is tailor made for that. Might have a really interesting single player too with all the creative freedom they claim they're getting.

 

[Zeroing]

And in 5 years MS will buy the studio … sorry I ruin everything

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

i really hope Sony makes a good multiplayer game that makes a lot of money for them so they stop pursuing this shit and continue to focus on single player blockbusters

I think it will do the opposite unfortunately. If they make a lot of money off multiplayer games, I bet they will probably start pursuing even more multiplayer games. Gaming industry is the epitome of the domino effect. Look at the way Sony follows what Microsoft does for example.

 

[Kokoloko85]

The worst developers of COD.

They done Black Ops, Zombies etc. They are pretty good

Sledgehammer was probably the worst, Advanced Warfare, WW2 etc

 

[NoviDon]

I love the strategy sony is going with investing in the small newly formed studios and their new IP their working on. I said it before but I think this is a great and natural mean of acquiring talent and franchises without having to break the bank. Low risk high reward. If only one of those studios' game hits you buy them when their still cheap and you could have a new billion dollar series when initially only putting end tens of million. Good for the industry growth, good for their bottom line, and good for gamers.

 

[Alandring]

Very possible, as this is lacking directly from Sony
However, nowhere does it seems to mention this is for a fps. Only new IP
Guerilla used to make FPS, and yet they expertly did the transition to third with HZD

Guerrilla is probably also developing a new FPS. So three FPS developed at the same time... This is weird.

 

[SlimySnake]

No Japan studio for another FPS game instead - and a totally new studio that hasn't shipped a game.

I'm sure it makes business sense, but I'm not interested personally. Weak. Sounds like this is years away as well, considering it's not even a game announcement.

That used to be Sony's way. They invested and partnered with smaller studios and cultivated them until they become bigger then acquired them. Out of SSM, ND, GG, Sony Bend, Sucker Punch, PD and MM, only SSM and PD were homegrown. The rest were all acquired.

It's also far cheaper and ultimately a better decision than paying $200 million per studio like they did for Insomniac. Even at $100-150 million, studios like Crytek, Remedy, Bluepoint and KojiPro are not great buys. These new studios are probably gonna cost them a fraction of that over the course of the game's development.

The only problem is that these games are years away so I really hope they have some other third and first party exclusives in the works.

 

[OrionNebula]

Guerrilla is probably also developing a new FPS. So three FPS developed at the same time... This is weird.

Well, sony said they wanted to beef up multiplayers and all, so not too surprised if true.
On the other hand, is Guerilla really doing a fps?

 

[Snowdonhoffen]

Jason Blundell loves time travel, multiverse and mindfuck stuff.
He was in charge of either writing, producing and directing mainly BO1, BO2, BO3 and BO4 campaign and zombies stuff, he had nothing to do with multiplayer.
If anyone has played BO3 campaign that's his story, that's pretty much the kind of concepts he likes to do. And zombies, well... that's another whole bag of weird stuff.
And Dave Anthony I only know he worked on BO1 and 2 campaign and, IMO, BO1 has the best COD campaign ever.
I'm really interested to see what they can do with all this creative freedom, but it seems we'll have to wait some years to see what they are working on.

 

[NoviDon]

Guerrilla is probably also developing a new FPS. So three FPS developed at the same time... This is weird.

Sony is looking to fund and own the rights to next multi billion dollar shooter franchise. they are throwing darts at studios with former talent from places like bungie and treyarch.

 

[SSfox]

Another shit partenership ("partenershit") i don't give fuck about from hermen hulst, after the already Jayde raymond game and ex Bungie Gaas.

Fire this clown and give us back Yosp or somebody else with brain.

 

[Kokoloko85]

The worst developers of COD.

Let me guess your not a playstation fan

 

[IntentionalPun]

These games are like 5 years away though.

Do GAAS games take that long?

Honest question.. but kinda would be my guess for some of these random partnership.. multiplayer focused GAAS games.

 

[Yoboman]

Hope these devs do something more original than military shooter 2021

 

[Bladed Thesis]

Let me guess your not a playstation fan

I'm a huge Playstation fan. Think about it. COD is a cash cow for Activision. The geniuses behind it wouldn't be removed from the series if they made the best ones.

 

[Snowdonhoffen]

i really hope Sony makes a good multiplayer game that makes a lot of money for them so they stop pursuing this shit and continue to focus on single player blockbusters

I'm doubting this will be a multiplayer focused game. I know they worked on COD but they were mainly in the creative side of things of the Campaign and Zombie modes.
I believe this will be a single player focused title with some weird multiverse or phychological concept, judging by the things they've written in the COD games they were in charge of.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

I wonder if it is multiplayer game or not. PS lacks exclusive shooter games.

 

[Fbh]

So...basically:

 

[martino]

So...basically:

partnership with new studio and acquisitions can only be that (at least at first)

 

[Snowdonhoffen]

I'm a huge Playstation fan. Think about it. COD is a cash cow for Activision. The geniuses behind it wouldn't be removed from the series if they made the best ones.

Are you judging that game by the multiplayer stuff? they were nowhere near that aspect of the game.
AFAIK, those dudes left Treyarch after BO4 because Activision shifted focus to Blackout (Battle Royale mode) and Multiplayer and pretty much sidelined Zombies and discarded the whole campaign of that game, the 2 things they were in charge of.

 

[BootsLoader]

Don’t have high hopes for this studio but let’s see.

 

[Entroyp]

Looking at the dev’s background I hope this is not another military shooter.

 

[Bladed Thesis]

Are you judging that game by the multiplayer stuff? they were nowhere near that aspect of the game.
AFAIK, those dudes left Treyarch after BO4 because Activision shifted focus to Blackout (Battle Royale mode) and Multiplayer and pretty much sidelined Zombies and discarded the whole campaign of that game, the 2 things they were in charge of.

Hate to break it to you but the reasoning behind them leaving COD

They left after BO4 because the game development was a nightmare. For Treyarch and Activision. The innovation was gone from Zombies mode, the campaign was a resounding MEH. The game required other development teams being pulled from what they were doing to help Treyarch get it out the door.

Black Ops has 4 big problems in developmentGame playing info

Youtuber TheGamingRevolution, which previously provided up-to-date information on the Call of Duty games, spoke about the problems of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

gameplaying.info

They rewrote the game almost three times and didn't focus on Zombies by their OWN decision (not Activision, not because of MP) so when they presented the game to Activision the campaign was too ambitious and taking too much time and Zombies was a shell of itself, a copycat of previous Zombies games with little effort to innovate. This specific criticism of zombies in BO4 was evident when the game launched. There was mismanagement from the top and not proper scope for the campaign. And this mismanagement in the studio lead to issues within the studios culture, a split between interns, QA and seasoned COD developers.

The Human Cost Of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

One Friday afternoon a few weeks ago, the developers at Treyarch held a happy hour event to welcome the summer interns. There was pizza, beer, and jubilation for everyone at the studio behind Call of Duty: Black Ops 4—except the quality assurance testers, who had to leave shortly after they got...

kotaku.com

New Report Sheds Light On The Crunch & Culture Of Treyarch During The Development Of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 -

Kotaku's Jason Schreier published a report today detailing the issues of contract employees during the development of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4. Current and former staff members describe a "company in which contractors, and particularly testers feel like they're perceived and treated as...

games.mxdwn.com

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Devs Vow to Address Zombies Issues and Crashes

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Zombies players are feeling overlooked, but Treyarch insists the mode is still a priority for them.

wccftech.com

Successful, 500m selling game launches and then the studio heads quietly leave? Again, I'm a huge COD fan, huge Sony fan. Think logically. The guys oversaw a nightmare development of a cash cow and mismanaged a studio so bad Activision LET THEM LEAVE. That speaks volumes. I hope they can pull it together, they've got a lot of great developers with them.

They also made the worst COD games. Campaign, MP, etc. That's an opinion and it's my opinion.

 

[yurinka]

So we have the two producers/executive producers/directors/writers of CoD BO 1, 2, 3, 4 (and more) making a new AAA Sony IP, that pretty likely will be FPS and/or MP.

Very interesting, reminds me of the similar cases of the ex-Bungie guys and Jade Raymond. New IPs from new studios created by people who previously were the leads of super successful teams who worked on top AAA hits and now will have full creative freedom thanks to the Sony money.

They all talk about a 'partnership' with Sony, seems Sony didn't bought their studio but instead will fund and publish their games. Sounds like a smart bet on Sony's side: purchasing them would be more expensive and risky because being a new studio their new games could be a turd, but since they are very experienced and talented, now with creative freedom and the stamina and hope of a new studio they can do something great.

So Sony only publishes their first AAA game, make it (at least temporally) exclusive and maybe keep the IP, if the game works ask them to make more and if the relationship goes well down the road they end buying them. They try that with multiple teams and some may fail but others may succed. Seems smart.

 

[Kokoloko85]

I'm a huge Playstation fan. Think about it. COD is a cash cow for Activision. The geniuses behind it wouldn't be removed from the series if they made the best ones.

I dunno, as a Cod fan the BO1&2 were awesome and they came up with the 1st zombies gameplay which I love.
They are defo better than Sledgehammer but not Infinity Ward. People leave studios all the time