Sony made many acquisitions in the year 2021 but it also made some partnerships along the way too. Along with its partnering with Haven Studios, the PlayStation publisher also announced a team-up with Deviation Games at Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest event this past June. The team didn't have much to say then about the Sony partnership but it seems now they are finally able to reveal that their first title will be going into full production in 2022.
Led be former Treyarch chief Jason Blundell, Deviation Games is now home to 100 employees from across the video game industry. In a new video, Blundell explains that the team has been working through a rigorous post-production period but is now ready to begin work on their first game. He explains that the team's name "Deviation" came from his and the team's desire to move away from the normal, humdrum, same-y games that have permeated the landscape for so many years. Blundell's hope is that Deviation's newest title is instantly recognizable from screenshots and something that will stand out during a conference or E3-type showing.
It is likely that Deviation Games' title will be a first-person shooter as it is a genre Blundell is intimately familiar with. He claims that gameplay will be of the utmost importance to the team moving forward and that no matter how good the story is, it means nothing if it's not partnered with fun and addicting gameplay. Pushing the genre and the medium forward is what is at the forefront of Blundell's ambitions for the game; creating the perfect marriage of game design and storytelling.
While it's unlikely much of Deviation's newest title will be shown or even talked about next year, it is apparent that Jason Blundell and his team are committed to creating a title that will stick in the gamer consciousness. Sony is taking a chance and investing heavily in this studio, so it must have faith in the team's vision and dedication to bringing it to fruition.
Sony certainly went to work this year acquiring many studios large and small including Housemarque, responsible for one of 2021's best games Returnal, and Bluepoint Games who masterfully remade both Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls. While not an acquisition, Deviation Games will no doubt prove to be another feather in the publisher's cap and may even lead to it being acquired by Sony one day. This studio will be one to keep an eye on regardless.