Jason Blundell Leaves Deviation Games - and this time it’s not a MS studio

Dabaus

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What a surprise considering all the slogans they coined up on their site.

Wonder what has gone on here? Acquisition or a fallout?

Maybe a better opportunity elsewhere which is why I am not to keen on acquisitions dependent on figures.

Much like Kojima productions being acquired isn’t a good idea either cause it’s nothing without Kojima.
This is a god point actually. Paying key people a retainer is important. I still think deviation is the next studio to be acquired by Sony, regardless of the optics of what’s happening here.
 
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Heisenberg007

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Not a good look for the studio or Sony; I was excited for Jason.

But ... as many have pointed out that it may mean an acquisition. In that case, it makes sense why Jason would leave, given his position in the studio. However, it's bad if he left because of other, non-acquisition related reasons.
 
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CloudStrife

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It seems sony is crumbling, in panic mode. Poor Jimbo after backstabbing Shawn. This is well deserved
Assuming the username is the same, how do you have the time and energy to bounce between the other site and here saying stupid things for attention? Nothing you said makes sense in relation to the topic.
 
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Remember_Spinal

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Isn't one of those studio that Hermen is betting on? Ewww smelling pretty weird.


As opposed to the studios he’s not betting on?

The Big Lebowski What GIF by MOODMAN
 
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Loy310

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It seems sony is crumbling, in panic mode. Poor Jimbo after backstabbing Shawn. This is well deserved
Some y'all folks are weird as fuck.
I just have to ask, how old are you? Im guessing you really cant be no more than 13 years old?
 

Bryank75

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I'm really worried that most of these unproven Studios that Sony bought or planned to buy are just 'get rich quick' con-jobs.

They seem to look legit but the have proven nothing, the teams have not been through anything together and everything could fall apart at any point....

I'd prefer one proven studio with a solid IP over 3 of these... gambles.
 

CloudStrife

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Some y'all folks are weird as fuck.
I just have to ask, how old are you? Im guessing you really cant be no more than 13 years old?

This. I hope this place does a better job than GAF when it comes to cracking down on people trolling like that.

I'm really worried that most of these unproven Studios that Sony bought or planned to buy are just 'get rich quick' con-jobs.

They seem to look legit but the have proven nothing, the teams have not been through anything together and everything could fall apart at any point....

I'd prefer one proven studio with a solid IP over 3 of these... gambles.

Sometimes you have to gamble. Eventually you strike gold. Plus proven studios are expensive and not always willing to sell. I personally like this approach.
 

EDMIX

Active member
Come on mate.

You can’t be that naive.

Just cause nothing has been publicly announced doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.

I doubt this is a acquisition though. More like a fallout or a better opportunity elsewhere.

Yea I don't know whats going on here to speculate. Could be leaving for better opportunities, family issues etc.
 

Muddasar

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That’s why I was never keen on Sony acquiring studios led by key figures.

Deviation, Kojima productions and Haven studios are perfect examples.

Thankfully Sony has only acquired one.

These studios are nothing without those key figures and watch a mass exodus if they leave.

I doubt they could make a half decent game even if most remained without the key figures.

We all know what happened to Rare when the Stamper Brothers left after cashing in.

One successful game in 2 decades called Sea of Thieves. Even that reviewed badly.

Rare were making games on the same level as Nintendo Internal Studios during the N64 days.
 
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Remember_Spinal

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This. I hope this place does a better job than GAF when it comes to cracking down on people trolling like that.



Sometimes you have to gamble. Eventually you strike gold. Plus proven studios are expensive and not always willing to sell. I personally like this approach.

Yeah, sony is being smart and as much as people shit on them for trying to money hat or pull other moves, they have been very faithful in their approach to betting on talent. Even with bungie who people assume are some big huge studio but they paid a lot of money for them and not even for exclusives, they bought them in order to make their own homegrown studios even better.

Sony has probably invested far more into growing their own studios then they have on acquisitions and taking games from other people permanently. I’d rather they continue to invest in new promising talent and make new kinds of games outside of their primary studios. I’d rather they find new studios to make FPS, or Social Sim, Racing games, Strategy, Platformers, etc outside of forcing their main studios to do it.

What Sony is doing isn’t “sexy” and doesn’t score them big points in the short term with warriors, it is overall better for the games industry. Smaller talented studios deserve a shot at the big leagues, thats how we got Returnal.
 

Heisenberg007

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Yeah, sony is being smart and as much as people shit on them for trying to money hat or pull other moves, they have been very faithful in their approach to betting on talent. Even with bungie who people assume are some big huge studio but they paid a lot of money for them and not even for exclusives, they bought them in order to make their own homegrown studios even better.

Sony has probably invested far more into growing their own studios then they have on acquisitions and taking games from other people permanently. I’d rather they continue to invest in new promising talent and make new kinds of games outside of their primary studios. I’d rather they find new studios to make FPS, or Social Sim, Racing games, Strategy, Platformers, etc outside of forcing their main studios to do it.

What Sony is doing isn’t “sexy” and doesn’t score them big points in the short term with warriors, it is overall better for the games industry. Smaller talented studios deserve a shot at the big leagues, thats how we got Returnal.
Couldn't have said it better. 100% agree.

And in the long term, it is also better for PS gamers. If Sony acquires SquareEnix, it does not change much for PS gamers. We still get pretty much the same games we'd have got otherwise.

But by investing in Ember Labs, Deviation, Haven, FireSprite, etc. we get new and more games. That also means more people working for PlayStation Studios, which means proven studios like SSM, ND, SP, GG don't have to leave their comfort zones to diversify the gaming portfolio.

Otherwise, if Sony felt the need for a military FPS, they (theoretically) could have asked Naughty Dog to work on one. That's not their specialty and the game could have turned out just good, instead of the top-notch 10/10 great stuff that ND produces in their area of specialization, i.e., 3rd-person narrative-driven action game.
 

Gods&Monsters

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Even if he's cashing out, that's a bad look. Why leave so early before the project is announced? It's like he doesn't care about the studio he founded. Take the money and bye.
 

Remember_Spinal

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Even if he's cashing out, that's a bad look. Why leave so early before the project is announced? It's like he doesn't care about the studio he founded. Take the money and bye.

I find it weird because he’s almost been the face of the company. He did that whole long video blog explaining their goals for the future and what they were aiming to do with their game. He was the one talking about how it needs to look super recognizable when you see it and a bunch of other stuff.

I just really hope they are not gonna do a bog standard military shooter. People are expecting them to go toe to toe with CoD the Goliath so it’d be in their best interest if they do something completely different, tonally. Something closer to an APEX, Tarkov, Valorant….etc

A lot of eyes are gonna be on these new studios, partnerships, and service games. They can’t afford to be average like Destruction All-Stars
 
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Papacheeks

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That’s why I was never keen on Sony acquiring studios led by key figures.

Deviation, Kojima productions and Haven studios are perfect examples.

Thankfully Sony has only acquired one.

These studios are nothing without those key figures and watch a mass exodus if they leave.

I doubt they could make a half decent game even if most remained without the key figures.

We all know what happened to Rare when the Stamper Brothers left after cashing in.

One successful game in 2 decades called Sea of Thieves. Even that reviewed badly.

Rare were making games on the same level as Nintendo Internal Studios during the N64 days.

One person doesn;t make a studio. Vince Zampalla is heading up a new studio for EA, respawn is being run and has been for some time by different people.

Jason could have left for many reasons, but looking at the allumni thats still there and people they have Acquired like flame, I believe the studio will be fine.
We wont know unless someone leaks it, or Jason says something on twitter.

But deviation Games isn't one person, and a lot of times games that they start rarely don't have growing pains.
Looking at the talent pool, I think Deviation will still make an awesome title. And Jason probably set them up for success, possible he disagreed with something or sees that there is better opportunity's elsewhere?

Sounds like creative differences in my opinion and until we actually see the game I doubt he will comment.
 

Muddasar

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One person doesn;t make a studio. Vince Zampalla is heading up a new studio for EA, respawn is being run and has been for some time by different people.

Jason could have left for many reasons, but looking at the allumni thats still there and people they have Acquired like flame, I believe the studio will be fine.
We wont know unless someone leaks it, or Jason says something on twitter.

But deviation Games isn't one person, and a lot of times games that they start rarely don't have growing pains.
Looking at the talent pool, I think Deviation will still make an awesome title. And Jason probably set them up for success, possible he disagreed with something or sees that there is better opportunity's elsewhere?

Sounds like creative differences in my opinion and until we actually see the game I doubt he will comment.

Let's hope so.

Just worried we might see a mass exodus following Jason.
 

Papacheeks

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Let's hope so.

Just worried we might see a mass exodus following Jason.

They just got Black ops alumni? And it was Jason and someone else that helped founded Deviation. He might not like the story, or disagreed with the direction? But there are literally a bunch of people who got hired there recently that have 15+years expierence with call of duty among other titles. If it was that divisive more people would have left when he left.

Dave Anthony is the other co-founder. He's still there and taking role of Creative Director. We wont know what happened, but if what Blundal disagreed with was such a big deal, there would be a bigger deal out of his departure.

Sounds like the studio is setup well, its going to be a wait and see but with NDA's unless someone like Jason leaks shit we will never know.
 
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Hezekiah

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This is a big surprise, he's been high profile in terms on engagement on social media platforms.

I also wonder if it's linked to acquisition - they completed post-production in January so it seems unlikely that it's about the direction the game has taken.