Developer Deviation Games' quietly struggling PS5 exclusive has reportedly been cancelled, according to industry insider and analyst Colin Moriarty and a source familiar with the project. Moriarty says he learned of the recent layoffs weeks in advance from the source and that the project has now been scrapped.
Moriarty revealed the news on the most recent episode of his Sacred Symbols podcast, starting around the 2:45:55 mark above (thanks, PlayStation LifeStyle). Last year, we brought you the news that Deviation co-founder Jason Blundell had left the studio and that PlayStation Studios' big dog Herman Hulst stopped by to kick the tyres on the mysterious project.
We'll file this as a Rumour until we hear official confirmation, but this isn't Moriarty's first rodeo, and the signs are all there. Let us know how this makes you feel in the comments section below.
[source News: Deviation Games' PS5 Exclusive Project Doesn't Appear to Be Progressing Well]
Comments 32
Not surprising but better to cut losses then have a Redfall situation.
If it was GAAS .....then it doesn't matter....
Wouldn’t surprise me. If you have like 8 teams all working on similar projects then you’ve basically put them up against each other with jobs and funding at risk.
GOOD, if it wasn't elite there is no room here for it.
No but seriously, thank God they didn't do anything stupid like keep paying and it ending up a disaster or even worst, buying the studio.
@AdamNovice only MS was ever going to see a “Redfall situation”. Sony has enough output to be able to shrug a bad game under the rug and have no one care if it’s a dud.
Not saying it was a bad idea to shut this if it was struggling, but, especially service games, can do a 180 overnight in very unpredictable ways. Sea of Thieves was not very successful at launch but is today one of Xbox most successful games. Fortnite itself was a disaster until they added one mode to the game that made it into a huge success.
Sometimes, with service games, it’s worth releasing a few duds and give them a year or two to see if they grow wings.
That's a shame but it's better to cancel the game rather than having redfall quality games for playstation exclusive.
I heard it was because their game was known to be not following the norm.
Better this than the Scalebound hype, hype, hype…cancellation.
The approach of Sony to acquire talent is understandable, you want people who do a good job, but at the same time nobody can be forced to stay at a company (thank goodness) so it makes little sense in my eyes.
If Sony focuses on acquiring studios/publishers with loved IP's and promising technologies, those are things that can't just quit and leave. And when you offer good conditions the talent will come, work on something known and when settled come up with fresh ideas.
@AdamNovice or a Forspoken and Redfall situation. Both should have been cut and moved on from.
@wiiware or to fund another Forspoken. We don’t need two of those.
@anon_pel222 100% agree
@lacerz Yup that's one of the reasons I was infuriated with xbox, got me hyped for almost a year and a half just to cancel the game. I'm glad sony is getting ahead of things before any hype was behind the game.
I see Redfall being mentioned a fair bit here. I’ve put a few hours into the game. It’s no exaggeration to say it’s the most buggy game I’ve played. I’ve seen numerous issues of items floating in space, NPCs stuck in T poses, as well as freezes and crashes. On top of this, there are so many aspects of the overall design that just don’t work, or detract from what could have been a great experience.
Why Microsoft didn’t step in and oversee the development of the project is questionable. As the first Xbox-only Bethesda release, it stands as a huge failure. The situation puts far more pressure on Starfield to succeed - hopefully the delay to its release is to make sure MS don’t have another Redfall situation and lose even more confidence in the brand.
I gave up on the game at the weekend and deleted it. It wasn’t fun and continuing to play was a waste of a valuable time.
I was wary of this Deviation project as soon as they wheeled the devs out to promote the acquisition, with little to speak of the game itself.
If this was to be a live-service game, then sadly it is no great loss.
@Green-Bandit Forspoken was a 3rd party title. By Square. Red fall has been under MS for what 18-24month of its development? And they still let it out the door as it was.
Who here actually plays and enjoys GaaS? I’m curious as to the reasons why people make the decision to dedicate their time to games of this ilk. Is is the social aspect, connecting and playing with others? Satisfaction gained from the gameplay loop and progression?
What’s the demographic of players who play GaaS? How does devoting time to these games fit into player’s schedules?
Is there now a shift away from GaaS? We hear more and more games of this type being announced, but many seemed doomed to fail before release.
It will be interesting to see what happens to London Studios multiplayer game…
@Vacuumator I've completed 15 single player games already this year, but even I have played GAAS titles as well, it breaks down the grind for me as most of the games I play are long Rpg's/JRPG's so its nice to have a change of pace a few hours a week.
Id also say these GAAS games are more of a challenge as well as with titles like apex legends, fortnite and call of duty you're against real people so there's more achievement when you win vs just killing dumb Ai constantly in single player games
@Vacuumator I have enjoyed many GaaS games, from Rocket League, Fall Guys and Fortnite to Marvel Snap and Gwent, but also Animal Crossing. I fell off all these games at some point, but I enjoyed my time with them.
What I like about GaaS is that it can add a kind of immersion. With the game changing almost every week, the game feels alive. It's also encouraging to keep playing because of it, and can be great to discuss with friends.
There's definitely not a shift away from these kind of games, but the market is saturated. In all honesty, every part of the game market at this point feels kind of saturated. It's hard to make a game stand out when there are so many great games releasing.
You hear about GaaS games shutting down, but that's because there are so many of them, not because people aren't playing them at all.
And GaaS of course eats up a lot of time. Its players are dedicated. What I heard Jim Ryan say is that now as a company Sony is not only competing with Microsoft and Nintendo anymore. They're competing with every other company that wants you to put your time in their product. It's why they see GaaS are such a big opportunity.
If you play Marvel's Spider-Man you're in the PlayStation ecosystem for a couple of hours. After you complete it, you're going to be waiting for game 2, which is going to take months to release. In the meantime you could be doing anything: work in your garden, Netflix, watch sports. That's not what Sony wants. They want you to keep playing on the PlayStation, so you'll keep buying stuff (DLC, Battle Passes) on their platform. A good GaaS is going to achieve that.
I enjoyed forspoken .....completed with 100% trophies ...can't say redfall was good as it it was garbage
@Green-Bandit To be fair, forspoken is squareenix games, sony just gave them money for the exclusivity, while this game that's cancelled is a true sony funded games.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner I’m aware. Both games stink! Which sucks cause i wanted them both to be good.
@wiiware Yeah i know, just wonder what Sony seen that they liked and now it’s gone. But at least they didn’t waste their time or ours on it.
Might want to note who Deviation Games is in the article. Had to google to find out. Not surprised I don't know the name given that they've never released a game...
@Vacuumator You know I thought the same thing until you find a game that gels with you.
For me it’s efootball23 which is F2P GAAS I play a couple of games pretty much every day for almost 4 months straight now. Probably have well over 1000hours into that by now.
I spent my first £5 on the game last week as there was a special sale on the in-game premium currency. Didn’t have to but wanted to as I’m above average & can just complete the weekly events to earn the currency.
There’s also Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Masters, but that game is just ok.
These games are just part of my rotation & go along with games like Far Cry 5, Dragon Quest XI S,…. .
This is normal. Some games don’t hit the bar and get cancelled. The only difference is we don’t usually have anything announced, it happens silently.
First project scrapped... looks like hot start for a new studio. 🤣
Anyway, if it was GaaS it is best thing they should do with it and other studios should follow.
It clearly wasn't up to scratch ,I remember cory barlog saying that,when Shuhei Yoshida saw an early version of god of war, he was horrified,maybe they just didn't want another forspoken on their hands,or heaven forbid redfall
Good news.
One less service game to worry about.
It was a multiplayer game so everything is fine. It shows making a good game is fnk hard.
HAHAHAHAHA wonderful it's already starting.
I wouldn't mind seeing some footage at some point.
No clue what this game was gonna be, so not emotionally invested.
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