Founded in 2007, this San Diego-based developer supports games from other first-party with art, animation etc. As support, their contributions are small, but it means VASG work on 15-25 games at a time, in addition to Sony's non-gaming IP like Netflix's Love, Death & Robots. Though not the traditional role of a developer, there was a failed pivot to become one in 2018.
VASG Senior Director Michael Mumbauer aspired to become a proper PS Studio with full creative control over a game, so 30 devs joined from near studios to remake a classic. 2007's Uncharted was targeted, but as an early PS3 game, it was too hard to modernize for PS5 at that size. VASG then settled on 2013's The Last of Us - a more modern PS3 game. Afterwards, VASG could hire up for Uncharted, then their own titles.
TLOU's remake (Project T1X) was probationally approved, which meant it stayed a secret with no budget to hire up. VASG questioned Sony's commitment, but completed a vertical slice to showcase T1X's look and feel in spring 2019 - just before Hermen Hulst took over all of first-party. Due to his new role, Hulst thoroughly reviewed the entire PS Studios portfolio and grew concerned with T1X's budget. Mumbauer argued this was VASG's first project on a new engine and he had to hire up to modernize gameplay. Hulst was unconvinced.
Instead, T1X's team supported Naughty Dog's TLOU 2 after its delay to 2020. Once shipped, instead of hiring up, T1X shifted to ND's budget who joined in a support role. Mumbauer knew this would strip VASG's autonomy as ND outpaced VASG's work due to their size. As TLOU was their IP, ND were also trusted more by Sony, which effectively gave them final say. VASG was now jokingly referred to as ND South, so in late 2020, with his vision dead, Mumbauer and many on his team quit. VASG now continue in the support role Sony always saw them in.
Mumbauer's vision for VASG died in 2020, which made it very unlikely that they'd ever develop their own PS5 game. Since then, other factors have made the chances even lower.
A worse economy resulted in multiple rounds of layoffs at Sony and VASG wasn't immune. In March 2025, Bend's live-service game was cancelled after 4 years of development. As VASG supported the cancelled project, an undisclosed number of VASG staff were let go.
Circumstances could change on PS6, but this seems unlikely. Until then, we can at least appreciate VASG's work in most upcoming PS Studios games via art, animation etc. VASG are also rumored to be assisting Naughty Dog and a new internal studio on the next Uncharted. This isn't what Mumbauer envisioned, but as part of many projects, VASG continue to be essential to PS Studios for the foreseeable future.
