God of War Creator's Studio Cancels Next Game, Lays Off Staff

The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency, the studio formed byGod of Warcreator andTwisted Metaldesigner David Jaffe, has had its next video game project canceled. As a result, the majority of the gaming division at Bartlet Jones has been laid off. Jaffe made the announcement himself on Twitter, though he didn’t offer specifics on what the project was or who exactly made the decision to cancel it.

Jaffe’s language in his Tweet, which can be seen below, could be interpreted a couple of different ways. It’s possible that Jaffe himself made the call to cancel the project, though he says “we’ve had a project canceled,” which somewhat suggests that the decision was not his to make. If so, then it’s possible that the game was in development as part of a deal with a publisher.

If so, then it stands to reason that the game was in development as part of a collaboration with Sony. After all,David Jaffehas never strayed far from the PlayStation brand, only working on other systems in the earliest days of his career. It’s certainly possible that his next game was in development for system besides the PS4, but it would be the first time Jaffe made a game for a non-PlayStation console since 1994.

There’s a chance we will learn the platform of Jaffe’s canceled game in the near future. In his tweet, Jaffe promises that more news is to come, so perhaps we will learn not only what platform the game was in development for, but what kind of gameplay it would have featured as well.

Unfortunately, the first game from Jaffe’s Bartlet Jones studio failed to make much of an impression on the gaming community, and its failure could very well have factored into the studio canceling its next game and laying off the bulk of its staff. The game in question isDrawn to Death, a multiplayer-focused arena shooter that released as afree PS Plus gamein 2017, but earned widespread negative reviews.

We wish everyone who lose their job at The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency the best of luck in continuing their video game development careers.