It has been something of an open secret that Sony has a new triple-A studio in LA, but now a job listing has confirmed its existence. But which of the three secret studios is it?
If you don’t know what I mean, let me quickly fill you in. A few months back we learned Bridgett O’Neill of Bungie was taking over as Senior Creative Director of Creative at PlayStation Studios, but despite the new job she wasn’t leaving Bungie because, in her words, “Bungie Creative Studios is joining PlayStation to build the foundation for a creative team that can support all PlayStation live service games.”
As for the other mystery team, we learned of it from another job listing in 2022. From that we discovered that Naughty Dog was teaming up with PlayStation Studios Visual Arts to form a new internal studio to work on a new title.
Jason Blundell is working on a new game and is head of a new studio within Sony Studios. That new studio partnered up with Destiny 2’s developer “Bungie”. The game is “an action game set in a brand-new science-fantasy universe” and was one Bungie had been working on already. pic.twitter.com/nqVt7lcKn6
— Glitching Queen ❤️ (@GirlGlitcher) August 27, 2024
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However, in this case the new LA studio mentioned in today’s job listing is probably related to Jason Blundell, formerly of Deviation Games. He left months before massive layoffs hit the company. Deviation would close its doors for the final time in March of 2024. Before his Deviation days, Blundell worked on Call of Duty, holding titles such as Campaign Design Director for Black Ops 2, and Game Director both the campaign and the zombies mode in Black Ops 3.
In early 2024 word began to spread that Jason Blundell had been picked up by Sony and was heading a new studio teaming up with Bungie to develop a new sci-fi action game. This was a few months before Bungie revealed Marathon to the world.
JOB UPDATE!
I’ve been wanting to say this for a while, but now I finally can! 😊
I’m a Junior Game Designer @PlayStation Studios.
And I work for Jason Blundell. ❤️
— JC (@JCbackfire) December 18, 2023
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In December of 2024, a newly hired Game Designer at PlayStation revealed he was working for Jason Blundell. Other former Deviation employees were also said to have been taking jobs at Sony, making people wonder if Blundell and co were setting up a new studio under Sony.
The LA job listing is for a Project Senior Producer and refers to an unnamed LA studio.
“We are a newly established AAA studio based in Los Angeles, driven by a team of seasoned industry leaders and experienced game developers.” reads the listing. “Our mission is to create the next groundbreaking AAA original IP while reimagining the development process with a lean and highly efficient approach. We’re seeking talented individuals who share our vision and are eager to join us on this journey. “
Unfortunately the listing doesn’t provide any interesting information to glean about what the game could be. The description of the game is vague, so it could still be Bungie’s Marathon or something else entirely.
