Update: All the attention on John Baustita’s Twitter account earlier today prompted him to come out and make a comment. In a follow-up message, he explained that he left Sony’s unannounced San Diego studio due to “personal circumstances”, and as far as he’s aware the team still exists:
Now we wait for the platform holder to acknowledge the group’s existence, and actually make some announcements about what it’s working on.
Original Story: For the past few years, Sony has been hiring for a secret studio in San Diego, adjacent to its Visual Arts Services Group. This team, according to job listings, was established in order to collaborate with a major first-party studio, which many believed to be Naughty Dog. In fact, with a number of ex-Uncharted creators recruited, it was widely assumed that the team was working on the next story in the buccaneering brand – presumably timed to release alongside the upcoming movie.
That studio, however, may be no more. Quentin Cobb, one of the first high-profile names to join the team, apparently departed the studio this month. In addition, fellow senior game designer John Bautista shared the following ominous message:
Not all hope is lost, though. A number of employees still list the studio on their resume as active roles, although it may be that they’ve just not got around to updating their LinkedIn pages yet. Similarly, the studio is still recruiting for positions, like Senior Gameplay Programmer. Either these job posts need to be taken down, or the team still exists.
To be honest, we’ll probably never know what went on here. The studio was never officially announced, so if it has closed, then Sony won’t comment on that either. We’re probably just going to have to wait and see if a project ever materialises out of this group.
