Sony Shuts Down Dark Outlaw Games Studio

Sony Interactive Entertainment has shut down Dark Outlaw Games, a first-party studio it founded just over a year ago and led by veteran game developer Jason Blundell, according to multiple reports. The closure, announced internally on Tuesday, affects the Los Angeles-based team, which was in the early stages of developing a new AAA console title. This marks the second PlayStation studio closure in recent months, following the shuttering of Bluepoint Games last month.

Dark Outlaw Games was established in March 2025 under the PlayStation Studios banner, with Blundell at the helm. Blundell, a former co-studio head at Treyarch who spent 13 years at Activision, is best known for co-creating the Zombies mode in the Call of Duty series. He left Activision in 2020 and co-founded Deviation Games the following year, which had a publishing partnership with PlayStation for a live-service project. Blundell departed Deviation in 2022, and the studio closed in 2024 after its game was canceled amid development challenges and a reported budget exceeding $200 million.

In announcing Dark Outlaw, Blundell expressed enthusiasm for the opportunity. "I've had the amazing opportunity to create a new...