Sony Interactive Entertainment has established Dark Outlaw Games, a new studio led by Jason Blundell, the producer on Call of Duty: Black Ops, Campaign design director for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, game director for the Campaign and Zombies modes of Call of Duty: Black Ops III, and director and producer for the Career and Zombies modes in Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII.
Blundell revealed the new studio’s establishment on the latest episode of Jeff Gerstmann’s Bonus Podcast.
“I’ve had the amazing opportunity to create a new studio within PlayStation Studios for Sony,” Blundell said. “The studio is called Dark Outlaw. And so Dark Outlaw Games have 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. 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 continued, “And it’s such a privilege to be able to do it with with Sony as a new first-party studio. You know, Sony doesn’t set up first-party studios all the time. So to have to have that privilege is humbling—it’s really nice. I’m really excited.”
As for how far along the studio’s first game is, Blundell remained tight-lipped.
“[We’re currently] staffing up, keeping it kind of lowkey—been going for a little bit of time now. Not gonna really comment about what we’re doing exactly, but it’s like we talked about—getting the team to gel, getting the ideas clicking right, let’s test those—you know, I’m a programmer at heart—so let’s test those assumptions, and you know, ‘is it working?’”
He went on, “It’s very exciting and I love the fact still, at this point in my career, I’m given these opportunities. And it’s always that desire to want to put that one extra disc on the wall, if you will, and can we bring something to an audience and excite them and get some new IPs or [something] exciting or dangerous. That makes me jump out of bed every morning.”
The studio currently has social accounts on Twitter and LinkedIn.