PlayStation has signed a new franchise from Call of Duty Black Ops veterans

PlayStation is to publish the debut title from Deviation Games, a new studio headed up by former Call of Duty Black Ops veterans Dave Anthony and Jason Blundell.

Anthony directed and wrote the screenplay for 2010’s Black Ops and 2012’s Black Ops 2, while former Treyarch co-studio head Blundell, who was one of the lead creators of Call of Duty’s Zombies mode, left the developer in early 2020 after 13 years.

The pair appeared on stage at Summer Games Fest Kickoff Live on Thursday to unveil new their studio Deviation Games, which is developing a brand-new original IP.

“We feel so fortunate to have this incredible opportunity – one for Jason and I to build something completely new from the ground up, to fearlessly innovate and forge an incredible community and legacy,” Deviation CEO Anthony told the PlayStation Blog.

Deviation’s team is currently over 100 strong and Anthony said he’s confident the studio’s debut project will “raise a few eyebrows”.

He added: “While I can confirm development is already underway, it’s really early for us to be going into specific details. We’re drawing on what we’ve learned over our collective decades making games, but we’re also out to make something fresh and brimming with innovation like you’ve never experienced before.

Further reading

Sony has over 25 PS5 games in development and says almost half are new IP

“There’s an incredible amount of variety,” claims PlayStation Studios boss

“We’re not afraid to say that our ambitions are super high: we’re setting out to make a huge, content-rich game with a focus on a lot of action and a lot of energy, but let’s leave it at that for now and hopefully it won’t be long before we can share more.”

Sony said in March that it was funding an original IP from a AAA start-up studio established by former Stadia games boss Jade Raymond, and in April it announced it had signed an original multiplayer project from Firewalk, a new studio founded by Bungie veterans.