Last summer it was announced that Sony was bankrolling a fresh PlayStation-exclusive IP from Deviation Games, the new indie studio founded by Treyarch vets Jason Blundell and Dave Anthony. At the time, Deviation already had over 100 employees, and it seems they’re continuing to expand, as they’ve now announced they’re opening a Canadian studio. Here’s what they had to say about the matter on LinkedIn…
Deviation Games is thrilled to announce Deviation Games Canada!! We’ve been working on this initiative for several months now (and keeping it super quiet BTW) so it’s really exciting to finally share this incredible news with all of you!! We hope you will join us in celebrating this amazing milestone!! AND it goes without saying, WE ARE HIRING!! So, if you’re in Canada and you’re interested in exploring any of the opportunities on our website please reach out!
Somewhat oddly, none of the information about Deviation Games Canada mentions a specific city, which may indicate that they’re going for a hybrid approach, with some devs working from home. That said, if I had to guess, I’d say the studio will be headquartered in the Montreal or Toronto area. The Canadian talent pool is deep, and there’s some movement in the labor market given disruptions at Ubisoft, so like seemingly everyone else, it seems like Deviation is looking to snap up some free agents.
As for what Deviation Games might be building, that’s still being kept under wraps. That said, with Call of Duty no longer being a long-term lock on PlayStation following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, you can bet Sony is going to be investing heavily in whatever Deviation is making. Here’s how Dave Anthony vaguely described the project last year…
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. 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.
What do you think? Interested in seeing what Deviation Games is cooking up?
