According to a recent report, PlayStation has closed the doors on Dark Outlaws Games, a studio formed only last year.
The news comes directly from Bloomberg’s resident scooper, Jason Schreier, who posted the unfortunate details to his personal Bluesky account. Schreier states that Dark Outlaws Games, a studio helmed by former Call of Duty lead Jason Blundell, has been dissolved, with other staff in the mobile space also getting their walking papers.
Dark Outlaws Games was rumoured to be working on a first-party game at the behest of Sony, though nothing was ever officially announced. Blundell had been the frontman for Deviation Games, another studio with ties to PlayStation, before his exit from the team in 2022. The entire studio went on to close its doors in 2024, before it had a chance to announce a single project.
More layoffs today: PlayStation is closing Dark Outlaw Games, a studio formed last year by former Call of Duty lead Jason Blundell (his previous PlayStation studio, Deviation, was shut down in 2024). PlayStation is also making other cuts including in mobile development. Around 50 people laid off.
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) 2026-03-24T18:10:02.888Z
Between the studio closure and mobile team layoffs, roughly 50 people have found themselves without a source of income.
Dark Outlaw Games joins an alarmingly growing list of PlayStation studios that have faced closure. Firewalk Studios was shuttered following the catastrophic launch of its hero shooter, Concord, while Bluepoint Games was very recently closed, seemingly as a result of PlayStation’s failed push into live-service games.
Increased development costs and a tenuous global climate are undoubtedly huge contributing factors. With that said, we can’t ignore the Jim Ryan-led focus on live-service, highly monetised titles that PlayStation committed to back in 2022. According to the business briefing at the time, the plan was to have 12 live-service titles in circulation by FY25, which was misguided then and an utter failure now. While Jim Ryan has now departed the company, his spectre looms large, with the consequences of that live-service push now falling on the shoulders of the creative teams, rather than the corporate bigwigs.
What a damn shame.
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Adam's undying love for all things PlayStation can only be rivalled by his obsession with vacuuming. Whether it's a Dyson or a DualShock in hand you can guarantee he has a passion for it. PSN: TheVacuumVandal XBL: VacuumVandal Steam: TheVacuumVandal
