• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

GI: Sucker Punch talks letting go of Sly Cooper, playing Sly 4, and purchased by Sony

AznSniper

Member
I wonder if we will see it. The game wasn't a huge blockbuster, since Sony didn't promote it.

It was bad timing for the release of the game though. Sony was transitioning to a new marketing company as they split with their old one so Thieves In Time barely had any advertising. Still happy to hear that the game sold well though.
 

Flarin

Member
I have a lot more respect for those guys wanting to stay a smaller team. It shows that they're sticking to their core values as a company. Never played the PS3 inFamous games but really looking forward to Second Son.
 
- didn't realize sly 3 was so rushed. that explains a lot.

- kinda want to try that n64 rocket game

- nice to see them give props to thieves in time. sony should buy sanzaru and get them to make games on ps4 for all those character action series the original teams have moved on from. they did excellent work on sly 4.

great video. wall of letters from kids about sly is very sweet.

I second the notion.
 
It was bad timing for the release of the game though. Sony was transitioning to a new marketing company as they split with their old one so Thieves In Time barely had any advertising. Still happy to hear that the game sold well though.

Did it sell well? I didn't hear any word about decent sales.
 

Carl

Member
image.php

I was asking for that. Well played.

There is a stark difference between the different franchises Sucker Punch released. Call of Duty has new characters, new settings, a new story, and new powers every go around. I'm not passing any judgement on the quality of the title or its merit for existing, but it still feels familiar to me.

Fair point. i suppose.
 

Ridley327

Member
Good to hear that they really dug Sly 4. I can only imagine how hard it can be for someone else to take over a project like that, but Sanzaru did such a great job of making Sly 4, and it sounds like they were bowled over with how good a job they did.

I know people want Sanzaru to work on a new Jak & Daxter, but Sly 5 should be the priority for what should be obvious reasons for anyone that got the platinum. :p
 
Regardless of the quality of Second Son the shift between console generations has always proved to be a good time for fresh IP and ideas for Sucker Punch. Seeing Sucker Punch still tied to the Infamous franchise just seems like a missed opportunity.

I disagree. The superhero genre has massive potential and is still relatively unexplored in videogames (with some notable exceptions like Batman & Spider-Man). While Delsin's powers look similar to Cole's in principle, there's loads they can do within the structures of the gameworld they've established. Hopefully the more powerful hardware will allow for changes in the content and game design to allow for a better experience. I think the Infamous series has plenty of mileage yet.
 

Krisprolls

Banned
I disagree. The superhero genre has massive potential and is still relatively unexplored in videogames (with some notable exceptions like Batman & Spider-Man). While Delsin's powers look similar to Cole's in principle, there's loads they can do within the structures of the gameworld they've established. Hopefully the more powerful hardware will allow for changes in the content and game design to allow for a better experience. I think the Infamous series has plenty of mileage yet.

I agree with you. It's one of the best settings you can get in a video game. Unlimited potential.
 

CamHostage

Member
Now would be a perfect time to get an indie and have them remake Rocket, the control scheme on that (which had a lot of tossing and aiming in platformer play) might benefit nicely from touch features on PS Vita or PS4 or a mobile device.
 

Carl

Member
Now would be a perfect time to get an indie and have them remake Rocket, the control scheme on that (which had a lot of tossing and aiming in platformer play) might benefit nicely from touch features on PS Vita or PS4 or a mobile device.

Depends who owns the IP. Ubisoft, i assume. If it is Ubi, i'm sure they'd rather hire 10 million people to make Assassin's Creed 12.

E: Quoted wrong post :3
 

The Lamp

Member
Yes, and the surest way to make something cease to be amazing is to keep making more.

This is the dumbest thing I've read in a few days.

Continuing an IP doesn't automatically make a game series more awful. I guess they should have stopped Uncharted at Drakes Fortune! Clearly no room for improvement!
 
They sound a lot like Naughty Dog before they secretly started putting together a second team that no one outside of Sony knew about. :p
 
Is Sony still working with Sanzaru games? Didn't they have layoffs after the release of Sly?

Would be a shame. I hope they get more work from Sony on PS4 development, taking up the slack from the absence of Insomniac and making some cool platformers, either new or existing IP.
 

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
This is the dumbest thing I've read in a few days.

Continuing an IP doesn't automatically make a game series more awful. I guess they should have stopped Uncharted at Drakes Fortune! Clearly no room for improvement!
That's a flawed metaphor. It's more like rather than move on to Last of Us, if Naughty Dog just made Uncharted 4.

To be clear, I'm not saying 'cancel Second Son'. The cat's well out of the bag on that one and hey, sure, it looks good. I'm just advocating that studios not get so tied down to one series for such a stretch. Shuffling a new IP into the mix every now and then helps stave off franchise fatigue for both the IP and for the developers themselves. The model shouldn't be "stick with this one franchise and this one franchise only for several years, then totally abandon it for the next thing once that runs its course," and that's definitely a recurring pattern for Sony franchises. They should be encouraging studios to make secondary IPs and alternate liberally; Make it exciting when they announce that a dev's returning to an old well instead of making people go "oh, hm, another sequel to the same thing they've been doing the last half-decade is their next thing, you say? Shocking." These franchises could be strong for decades with responsible IP shepherding, but instead the pattern is burn bright, burn fast, and burn out. Then it's onto the next thing to repeat the pattern.
 

Ridley327

Member
Is Sony still working with Sanzaru games? Didn't they have layoffs after the release of Sly?

Would be a shame. I hope they get more work from Sony on PS4 development, taking up the slack from the absence of Insomniac and making some cool platformers, either new or existing IP.

The rumor was that there were layoffs before Sly 4 came out, due to the game being done months before its release date, but I don't know if it was ever substantiated.
 

Mobius1

Member
was it fun?

I was a kid at the time but I enjoyed Rocket a lot. It's the first game I played with a physics engine and it blew my mind. I can't recall if the platforming itself was any good, but there was a lot of variety: you got to build a roller-coaster and there was dune-buggy driving. Each level had its own theme, I remember an ancient greece level and a sideshow funhouse type area.
 
Yes. Why would they just go out of business after their game did alright? They haven't gotten disowned like Super Bot, so they are fine. Hopefully working on Sly 5 or Jak 4.

I am pretty sure they got disowned exactly like superbot and they had to let go most of there staff after they finished working on it but before it shipped.

Would like to be proven wrong though because that seemed like a great little studio.
 
I am pretty sure they got disowned exactly like superbot and they had to let go most of there staff after they finished working on it but before it shipped.

Would like to be proven wrong though because that seemed like a great little studio.

You should not say something like that without any evidence. Their game was great, and did well.
 
Just hope they expand so they can handle more than one game like ND. And I hope they don't go to shit like Insomniac.Infamous 1 and 2 are probably my favorite Sony PS3 series since i found Uncharted outside of 2 way too inconsistent. I hope Second Son does well. Hopefully it's launched in a period where it can shine because it can easily get swallowed
 

I-hate-u

Member
Just hope they expand so they can handle more than one game like ND. And I hope they don't go to shit like Insomniac.Infamous 1 and 2 are probably my favorite Sony PS3 series since i found Uncharted outside of 2 way too inconsistent. I hope Second Son does well. Hopefully it's launched in a period where it can shine because it can easily get swallowed

I dunno man. They seem to like being in a spot where they are a one game studio. Running multiple game projects is hard.
 

AznSniper

Member
Just hope they expand so they can handle more than one game like ND. And I hope they don't go to shit like Insomniac.Infamous 1 and 2 are probably my favorite Sony PS3 series since i found Uncharted outside of 2 way too inconsistent. I hope Second Son does well. Hopefully it's launched in a period where it can shine because it can easily get swallowed

They won't. You can tell they really love working with Sony which is why they agreed to be purchased by Sony unlike Insomniac.
 

TripOpt55

Member
What a great video. The Sly Cooper letters were so cool. Love these guys. I'm not the biggest Infamous fan. I like the games, but don't love them. I was honestly kind of hoping they'd move to a new series. But after seeing more on Second Son I'm excited.

Also would love for Sanzaru to make a Jak 4 if they were interested like they were with Sly. Loved Sly 4. Though Sly 5 would be welcome too!
 
I am pretty sure they got disowned exactly like superbot and they had to let go most of there staff after they finished working on it but before it shipped.

Would like to be proven wrong though because that seemed like a great little studio.

You are wrong. Sanzaru's layoffs had nothing to do with the sales of the game, its's just something a lot of smaller companies do after they finish development on a title.

Also, there was never anything said by Sony or anyone else for that matter, that said that they had cut the ties with Sanzaru.
 
You are wrong. Sanzaru's layoffs had nothing to do with the sales of the game, its's just something a lot of smaller companies do after they finish development on a title.

Also, there was never anything said by Sony or anyone else for that matter, that said that they had cut the ties with Sanzaru.

Everything has to do with sales at some level. And these days a company doesn't even need to wait till release day to get an idea of how well a game will perform. I think the game is great, and I bought it myself for Vita, but Sanzaru played it safe and didn't really do enough innovation with the franchise to get the sales from "about as expected," to "a surprising hit." Were it the latter case I am sure they would have more work from Sony, which, considering the market, they would be foolish to refuse.

Eat Sleep Play,SuperBot, and Nihilistic are also examples of studios who severed ties with Sony shortly after the release of their less than successful titles.
 
Sucker Punch "single company single project focus, small" = Quality titles.

Insomnaic " lets expand as fast as we can, let make billion games at once" = horrible titles.

I agree with that. I really like SP's philosophy in this video of playing to their strengths and staying small & focused. Not many development studios seem to think like that these days.

Sanzaru did a fantastic job with Sly Cooper and I hope they are making Sly 5 for the PS4.

More Sly from Sanzaru would be heaven.

Yeah, I really liked Sly 4 and I thought they did a great job carrying the torch from SP. I would love more Sly from them, or even if they have a shot at another 'abandoned' Sony platform series, be it Jak, Ratchet or perhaps even Ape Escape.

I think after Second Son they should have a chance to do a new IP.

I wouldn't mind this, but only if it's the studio's choice to move on. I get the feeling they love working in this comic book universe they've created. Would be great if they were able to alternate two different series, either with two separate teams or alternating IPs every 18-24 months. Creatively I definitely think it's best for a studio to not be beholden to a single series.

They need to promote Sly more to increase sales.

I agree with this; Sony seems vaguely schizophrenic when it comes to their marketing. They promote games like Uncharted and Gran Turismo and God of War, but smaller productions like Starhawk, Battle Royale, Sorcery and Sly are treated like an unwanted pet and sent out to die.

Is Sony still working with Sanzaru games? Didn't they have layoffs after the release of Sly?

Does Sanzaru games still exist?

You are wrong. Sanzaru's layoffs had nothing to do with the sales of the game, its's just something a lot of smaller companies do after they finish development on a title.

I can't find anything online about the status of Sanzaru Games (can't get on their own website due to work filters), but it doesn't look like they've closed down. Wikipedia seems to think they're developing Sly 5, subtitled 'Master of Thieves', but there's not a link to back that up.
 
Sucker Punch "single company single project focus, small" = Quality titles.

Insomnaic " lets expand as fast as we can, let make billion games at once" = horrible titles.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Insomniac has grown slowly over the years since spyro. Ted thought they were finally ready to branch out. He took it slow and steady.
 
That's a flawed metaphor. It's more like rather than move on to Last of Us, if Naughty Dog just made Uncharted 4.

To be clear, I'm not saying 'cancel Second Son'. The cat's well out of the bag on that one and hey, sure, it looks good. I'm just advocating that studios not get so tied down to one series for such a stretch. Shuffling a new IP into the mix every now and then helps stave off franchise fatigue for both the IP and for the developers themselves. The model shouldn't be "stick with this one franchise and this one franchise only for several years, then totally abandon it for the next thing once that runs its course," and that's definitely a recurring pattern for Sony franchises. They should be encouraging studios to make secondary IPs and alternate liberally; Make it exciting when they announce that a dev's returning to an old well instead of making people go "oh, hm, another sequel to the same thing they've been doing the last half-decade is their next thing, you say? Shocking." These franchises could be strong for decades with responsible IP shepherding, but instead the pattern is burn bright, burn fast, and burn out. Then it's onto the next thing to repeat the pattern.

"Half as long, twice as bright!"
 

Concept17

Member
Certainly a studio that has captured my attention. Infamous 1 and 2 were among my favorite games this generation, and arguably some of the most refreshing gameplay. I think their game design is similar to someone like Volition's where they kind of create the game around the gameplay, and just keep taking it up another notch.
 

Carl

Member
Everything has to do with sales at some level. And these days a company doesn't even need to wait till release day to get an idea of how well a game will perform. I think the game is great, and I bought it myself for Vita, but Sanzaru played it safe and didn't really do enough innovation with the franchise to get the sales from "about as expected," to "a surprising hit." Were it the latter case I am sure they would have more work from Sony, which, considering the market, they would be foolish to refuse.

Eat Sleep Play,SuperBot, and Nihilistic are also examples of studios who severed ties with Sony shortly after the release of their less than successful titles.

Who says they haven't? :s
 
Top Bottom