Sony's Sets Up New First-Party Studio, Dark Outlaw Games, With Call of Duty Veteran in Charge

Sony has set up a new first-party studio, Dark Outlaw Games, within its PlayStation Studios umbrella. The studio is headed by Call of Duty veteran Jason Blundell, who confirmed the new PlayStation unit in an interview Monday. Dark Outlaw is currently in the process of hiring more staff, Blundell said. He did not share any details about the studio's first project, but said an announcement would come when there was something to talk about.

Sony Sets Up Dark Outlaw Games 

The industry veteran announced Dark Outlaw Games in an interview with Jeff Gertsmann published Monday. “I've had the amazing opportunity to create a new studio within PlayStation Studios for Sony. The studio is called Dark Outlaw Games. We've been working away in the shadows for a while and when we've got something to talk about, we'll step out into the light,” Blundell said towards the end of the interaction.

Blundell suggested that Dark Outlaw was still in the process of finalising its first project and said the studio was “staffing up”.

“But you know the story for me is about the game, not about the studio, so the reason why we're not doing a fanfare or shout about it from the rooftops is like, let's get something, right?” Blundell said.

“It's such a privilege to be able to do it with Sony as a new first-party studio. You know, Sony don't set up first-party studios all the time. To have that privilege is humbling. I'm really excited,” he continued.

Blundell said the studio was still “staffing up” and had been “going on for a little bit of time”, but didn't comment on what the studio was doing exactly. The former Treyarch developer said it was currently about “getting the team to gel, getting the ideas clicking” and testing assumptions. Blundell said the team will “work tirelessly” to get its first project ready.

Blundell is known for his work on the Call of Duty franchise at Treyarch. He was responsible for single-player campaigns and the Zombies across multiple COD titles, including Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Black Ops 3 and Black Ops 4.

The industry veteran left Treyarch in 2020 to form Deviation Games, which was backed by Sony to create an original triple-A IP for the platform. Blundell, however, left Deviation in 2022 and the studio was later hit with significant layoffs, before shutting down in 2024.