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[mreddie]

These are dark days ahead of us,,,

 

[rdrr gnr]

I was in panic mode at first and was being unrealistic, I really doubt they would cancel the new IP everyone's been talking about, they even named dropped SSM as one of the studios that has a new IP coming up at gamescom and apparently its been in development for a long time. I doubt they would cut a big project this late into it. If a project actually got canceled, its probably something in its early stages, and Sony decided to have everyone focus on either GoW 4 or stigs game instead of having 3 games. Obviously that's just me doing guesswork..

That's the best worst case scenario. It won't bring reprieve for all those out of work, but it should please the fans, including myself.

 

[ZoddGutts]

Yes I am sure they cancelled a good game. Makes perfect logical sense. In fact when a game is cancelled the first thing that pops in my head is usually how good it would be.

Happened to True Crime: Hong Kong, it looked great but was cancelled because it was thought to not sell well eventhough it was half a year away from completetion, thankfully SquareEnix picked it up.

 

[Zok310]

Its a fact of life. Sorry for these folks but at some point you are going to get laid off even more so in this up and down industry.

 

[B.O.O.M]

Looks like Adam Puhl (lead combat designer on GoW I, II & III) is part of the layoffs. Edited his bio. Was involved with Stig's project.

FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK why why whyyyyyyyyy

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

According to da interwebs, the TGS build was 65% complete, that doesn't sound "close to final", and according to the article I linked to that's what Yoshida ended up playing in the end. Two hours of it, and his main complaint was that he couldn't advance past the first level, which sounds to me like a totally regular DS experience. I've had enough of the Yoshida Defense Force. Not everyone is perfect, dudes.

I completely agree with that but I thought Yoshida played it way earlier than TGS didn't he?

 

[Carl]

I'm talking about major games not phoned in shit like Knack that they made minimal effort on and it got its ass handed to it by reviewers. Where are the variety of new IPs like ICO, Jak & Daxter, Crash Bandicoot, Medievil, Wipeout, Jet Moto, Parappa, etc. all that kind of stuff. So far the only major games that have been announced is Uncharted 4 and Infamous 3 and The order 1886 which although new looks like it literally plays like every other 3rd person corridor shooter on the market. hurrr

Knack was great, but even if you ignore that, they last new IP they released was 4 months ago. Hardly a long time ago.

 

[Bunta]

I'm talking about major games not phoned in shit like Knack that they made minimal effort on and it got its ass handed to it by reviewers. Where are the variety of new IPs like ICO, Jak & Daxter, Crash Bandicoot, Medievil, Wipeout, Jet Moto, Parappa, etc. all that kind of stuff. So far the only major games that have been announced is Uncharted 4 and Infamous 3 and The order 1886 which although new looks like it literally plays like every other 3rd person corridor shooter on the market. hurrr

Oh, you've played it?

 

[Pound_lb003]

I do not think job is an important thing to have in life. I do not think losing a job is something to be sorry about ( I do get mad (to corporations) when corporations fire people to increase growth of profits, but I do not really feel sorry for people getting fired then either). Never have and propably never will. As long as we live in this kind of society atleast. I have never felt sorry for anyone for getting fired (including my brother and mother). I would never put myself to such position where losing my job would be big negative to me. Necessity of job is one of the reasons why current societies (generally) are such a messy/shitty places.
I would feel sorry for troubles people may have to go trough because of the position they have put themselfs to, but not for losing a job. Me despising this job centric society from when I was a child might have something to do with that...

To cut shit short. One lays in bed, like one makes their bed.
Or some shit like that.
Right now I would propably not feel sorry for anyone, but I am bit bipolarbear person.
Did I already write that I despise current societys we live in (societys that i know of, to be exact).

Sincerely: This Is All Something I Could/Should Have Kept To Myself

Face the music, we caught you being an asshole. Perhaps you've never lost a job, perhaps you've never had a job. The point is, it's not very pleasant, when there's bills to pay and you have a family to feed. If you don't think a job is a necessity, I think I'd be bored in the society you'd like.

Point is, it's cordial in the very least to wish people well.

 

[johnny956]

What the hell is this. This is some college freshman philosophy shit, come on man.

The part about losing a job not a big negative? Good lord. I have a hefty savings and could be unemployed for a year and be fine and I still get worried when there are layoffs at my job.

Who needs any kind of income to live a life right?

 

[Cheech]

[
Anything but this. What Microsoft is doing is just preventing games from coming to Playstation platforms. I dont want Sony to do the same thing.

What do you think would be more helpful in pushing PS4s? Titanfall or Killzone?

Sony's studios are simply not reliable enough to pump out big league system sellers. They hit on one occasionally, usually thanks to Naughty Dog, but cherry picking the third party system sellers is clearly a more reliable way to push systems.

That said, using Titanfall is not a great premise because the Xbox One has other issues to deal with, but Gears of War is a much better example. That series pushed many, many Xboxes, and started life just as Titanfall did.

I don't want it them buying timed exclusives to stop other platforms getting the game because that doesn't benefit me, the game would still come out money hats or no.

Sony, like Microsoft, are not in business to benefit you, the consumer. They're in it to make money. These first party studios are criminally expensive to run, and not always going to generate home runs. It's negligent to keep some of these studios going that aren't making money for the owner.

 

[Caronte]

This is brilliant and exactly the kind of thing that some people in this thread need to look at.

There is a big difference between cancelling a project and firing 50 people including veterans.

Knack was great, but even if you ignore that, they last new IP they released was 4 months ago. Hardly a long time ago.

Oh.

 

[beril]

I was in panic mode at first and was being unrealistic, I really doubt they would cancel the new IP everyone's been talking about, they even named dropped SSM as one of the studios that has a new IP coming up at gamescom and apparently its been in development for a long time. I doubt they would cut a big project this late into it. If a project actually got canceled, its probably something in its early stages, and Sony decided to have everyone focus on either GoW 4 or stigs game instead of having 3 games. Obviously that's just me doing guesswork..

That's clearly not the case since they're laying off 50 people

 

[jay]

Okay guys, I'm sure Demon's Souls truly is Yoshida's most favoritest games evarz, a game in which he found no redeeming qualities whatsoever even in a "close to final" version.

His top 10 games last generation were all available on Sony products, so he is clearly not just doing PR here.

 

[NervousXtian]

I do not think job is an important thing to have in life. I do not think losing a job is something to be sorry about ( I do get mad (to corporations) when corporations fire people to increase growth of profits, but I do not really feel sorry for people getting fired then either). Never have and propably never will. As long as we live in this kind of society atleast. I have never felt sorry for anyone for getting fired (including my brother and mother). I would never put myself to such position where losing my job would be big negative to me. Necessity of job is one of the reasons why current societies (generally) are such a messy/shitty places.
I would feel sorry for troubles people may have to go trough because of the position they have put themselfs to, but not for losing a job. Me despising this job centric society from when I was a child might have something to do with that...

To cut shit short. One lays in bed, like one makes their bed.
Or some shit like that.
Right now I would propably not feel sorry for anyone, but I am bit bipolarbear person.
Did I already write that I despise current societys we live in (societys that i know of, to be exact).

Sincerely: This Is All Something I Could/Should Have Kept To Myself

Well, the thing is, most people have bills to pay, mortgage rent to make, they need food to live.. and a good chunk probably had wife/husband/kids to provide for.

Also, there is a huge difference between being fired and being laid off.

You can still hate society and feel empathy.

 

[Kyoufu]

Okay guys, I'm sure Demon's Souls truly is Yoshida's most favoritest games evarz, a game in which he found no redeeming qualities whatsoever even in a "close to final" version.

It's as if a person cannot give a game a second chance. They must hate it forever.

 

[Pound_lb003]

What do you think would be more helpful in pushing PS4s? Titanfall or Killzone?

Sony's studios are simply not reliable enough to pump out big league system sellers. They hit on one occasionally, usually thanks to Naughty Dog, but cherry picking the third party system sellers is clearly a more reliable way to push systems.

That said, using Titanfall is not a great premise because the Xbox One has other issues to deal with, but Gears of War is a much better example. That series pushed many, many Xboxes, and started life just as Titanfall did.

Sorry dude. Unlike you, I don't have shares in Sony, but I love games like Shadow of the Colossus - that aren't necessarily amazing sellers.

I think you're on the wrong forum.

Spoiler

Depressingly, sometimes that couldn't be further from the truth, but I like to think at least 80% of posters here actually like games.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

What do you think would be more helpful in pushing PS4s? Titanfall or Killzone?

Sony's studios are simply not reliable enough to pump out big league system sellers. They hit on one occasionally, usually thanks to Naughty Dog, but cherry picking the third party system sellers is clearly a more reliable way to push systems.

That said, using Titanfall is not a great premise because the Xbox One has other issues to deal with, but Gears of War is a much better example. That series pushed many, many Xboxes, and started life just as Titanfall did.

Yeah but thats still a hard call to make. MS spends a huge amount of money helping to publish Gear and buys Bungie but both of those developers call it quits. Now MS is stuck with no Gears or Halo 3 equivalent(Titanfall isn't close). So you know what they have deemed the best option?

To spend millions upon millions shoring up two studios that can keep those games going without the creators at the helm to do it. Seems just as risky to me.

 

[IAmRandom31]

Man, the assumptions are out of this world in this thread. All over 23% of a single studio getting laid off for unknown reasons. IP is unknown, everything is unknown lol.

But yet, Sony is now Microsoft. Sony doesn't care about new IP's. Sony is this and Sony is that.

Good lord peeps.

 

[Nightengale]

His top 10 games last generation were all available on Sony products, so he is clearly not just doing PR here.

DQ3 isn't , try again.

 

[Carl]

There is a big difference between cancelling a project and firing 50 people including veterans.

If there's nowhere else for them to go, what do you expect?

 

[gundamkyoukai]

If a project get cancel it's no surprise that they letting go of people .
SSM suppose to be 220 plus people which is going to big to be working on a 1 console project .
Sorry about people losing there job and hope they land on there feet .

 

[jay]

DQ3 isn't , try again.

You are referring to a top 5 RPG list he gave, I am not.

 

[Nightengale]

You are referring to a top 5 RPG list he gave, I am not.

Oops, point taken.

I will refrain from comments then.

 

[mreddie]

Weren't SSM collaborating with 3 games and doing their own game as well?

 

[Amentallica]

I do not think job is an important thing to have in life. I do not think losing a job is something to be sorry about ( I do get mad (to corporations) when corporations fire people to increase growth of profits, but I do not really feel sorry for people getting fired then either). Never have and propably never will. As long as we live in this kind of society atleast. I have never felt sorry for anyone for getting fired (including my brother and mother). I would never put myself to such position where losing my job would be big negative to me. Necessity of job is one of the reasons why current societies (generally) are such a messy/shitty places.
I would feel sorry for troubles people may have to go trough because of the position they have put themselfs to, but not for losing a job. Me despising this job centric society from when I was a child might have something to do with that...

To cut shit short. One lays in bed, like one makes their bed.
Or some shit like that.
Right now I would propably not feel sorry for anyone, but I am bit bipolarbear person.
Did I already write that I despise current societys we live in (societys that i know of, to be exact).

Sincerely: This Is All Something I Could/Should Have Kept To Myself

You sound very misdirected and ignorant, and you are very insulting to boot. It's one thing to plan ahead of time that you want to be a nomad, travel about and live life on your own terms without a corporate leash around your neck, but it's an entirely different thing when someone unexpectedly loses a job, especially if the life they CHOSE for themselves necessitates income. Who the fuck are you to judge those who work for a living? Some of us enjoy it.

How is your internet paid for? Someone had to work to pay for it, be it you or someone else supporting you. If you think a job is so useless, go live on the street, and fuck off.

 

[WordsintheWater]

Hope everyone affected by this lands on their feet, good luck.

 

[Caronte]

It's as if a person cannot give a game a second chance. They must hate it forever.

He didn't give Demon's Souls a second chance before the game's release to publish it WW.

If there's nowhere else for them to go, what do you expect?

Seriously? You have no place for a lead designer of the only succesful franchise SSM has produced?

 

[Nightengale]

Weren't SSM collaborating with 3 games and doing their own game as well?

Layoffs are quite obviously from the internal development team, looking at the resumes. SSM doesn't really have that many resources for external development in the first place.

 

[EL CUCO]

What do you think would be more helpful in pushing PS4s? Titanfall or Killzone?

Sony's studios are simply not reliable enough to pump out big league system sellers. They hit on one occasionally, usually thanks to Naughty Dog, but cherry picking the third party system sellers is clearly a more reliable way to push systems.

That said, using Titanfall is not a great premise because the Xbox One has other issues to deal with, but Gears of War is a much better example. That series pushed many, many Xboxes, and started life just as Titanfall did.

Sony takes more creative risks with their IP's. They aim to have a nice mix of genres. And to name a few other system sellers apart from ND, Gran Turismo, MLB: The Show are some that I would consider in that category.

They just haven't scored in the mainstream with games that go pew pew like MS has.

 

[cebri.one]

Sony's studios are simply not reliable enough to pump out big league system sellers. They hit on one occasionally, usually thanks to Naughty Dog,

 

[Pound_lb003]

You sound very misdirected and ignorant, and you are very insulting to boot. It's one thing to plan ahead of time that you want to be a nomad, travel about and live life on your own terms without a corporate leash around your neck, but it's an entirely different thing when someone unexpectedly loses a job, especially if the life they CHOSE for themselves necessitates income. Who the fuck are you to judge those who work for a living? Some of us enjoy it.

How is your internet paid for? Someone had to work to pay for it, be it you or someone else supporting you. If you think a job is so useless, go live on the street, and fuck off.

You know... There's no reason to make him hate society more.

You can be cordial in your criticism of his comments, as he should be cordial with his comments.

 

[Cheech]

Sorry dude. Unlike you, I don't have shares in Sony, but I love games like Shadow of the Colossus - that aren't necessarily amazing sellers.

I think you're on the wrong forum.

Spoiler

Depressingly, sometimes that couldn't be further from the truth, but I like to think at least 80% of posters here actually like games.

I love games, but the fact is, if you're trying to sell console hardware, you don't want exclusive duds dragging your brand down.

I am sitting here plowing through the new Thief on PC, instead of on my shiny new PS4, because Ubisoft knew it was a dud, and the true value of this piece of shit isn't anywhere near $59.99. I got it for nearly half that price.

But if you work with Sony and MS, that's the price they have to sell it at out of the gate. Sony is clearly catching on that putting all their eggs in first party studios might not necessarily be the way to go, and I look forward to the 59.99 model going away as well.

Thief really sucks, BTW. It's not even worth the $33 I paid for it. Derrick was right.

Sony takes more creative risks with their IP's. They aim to have a nice mix of genres. And to name a few other system sellers apart from ND, Gran Turismo, MLB: The Show are some that I would consider in that category.

They just haven't scored in the mainstream with games that go pew pew like MS has.

"Creative risks" don't sell systems. Nobody is checking out the PS brand because of Journey or Flower. They're certainly not stealing Xbox customers with that stuff.

These guys took eons to make GT5, and didn't GT6 basically bomb? I would venture a guess that having that on the PS4 would have made a much bigger impact than Driveclub, which.. Probably is not great. I wish that studio would have just done another Motorstorm (speaking as a gamer - as a businessman, I would have shredded that studio after the last Motorstorm game bombed).

 

[Carl]

He didn't give Demon's Souls a second chance before the game's release to publish it WW.



Seriously? You have no place for a lead designer of the only succesful franchise SSM has produced?

Those places would presumably already be filled on other teams, and it's not like SSM would pay him/her to piss around for months until there's another project they can lead.

 

[Xenon]

Sad news. I hope everyone lands on their feet.

Maybe Sony no longer feels they need to put out as much exclusive content to sell systems like they had to with the PS3. Having the best version of almost all multi-plat titles will drive their hardware sales now.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

I love games, but the fact is, if you're trying to sell console hardware, you don't want exclusive duds dragging your brand down.

I am sitting here plowing through the new Thief on PC, instead of on my shiny new PS4, because Ubisoft knew it was a dud, and the true value of this piece of shit isn't anywhere near $59.99. I got it for nearly half that price.

But if you work with Sony and MS, that's the price they have to sell it at out of the gate. Sony is clearly catching on that putting all their eggs in first party studios might not necessarily be the way to go, and I look forward to the 59.99 model going away as well.

Thief really sucks, BTW. It's not even worth the $33 I paid for it. Derrick was right.

Hahaha. Derrick Redeemed!

 

[RoboPlato]

I was in panic mode at first and was being unrealistic, I really doubt they would cancel the new IP everyone's been talking about, they even named dropped SSM as one of the studios that has a new IP coming up at gamescom and apparently its been in development for a long time. I doubt they would cut a big project this late into it. If a project actually got canceled, its probably something in its early stages, and Sony decided to have everyone focus on either GoW 4 or stigs game instead of having 3 games. Obviously that's just me doing guesswork..

Talked to someone from SSM and, despite not getting any completely straight answers, this is about what I can make of the situation. They're really bummed about some of the people that are gone but it doesn't sound like it was one of the major projects that got the axe. I wish all the people that got layed off the best. Some serious talent in that pool.

 

[Metalingus5150]

Sad news. I hope everyone lands on their feet.

Maybe Sony no longer feels they need to put out as much exclusive content to sell systems like they had to with the PS3. Having the best version of almost all multi-plat titles will drive their hardware sales now.

Such an amazing theory you have there.

 

[Deleted member 80556]

Gran Turismo 6 am cry. That damn PS4!

 

[hodayathink]

I'm talking about major games not phoned in shit like Knack that they made minimal effort on and it got its ass handed to it by reviewers. Where are the variety of new IPs like ICO, Jak & Daxter, Crash Bandicoot, Medievil, Wipeout, Jet Moto, Parappa, etc. all that kind of stuff. So far the only major games that have been announced is Uncharted 4 and Infamous 3 and The order 1886 which although new looks like it literally plays like every other 3rd person corridor shooter on the market. hurrr

November (3 months ago): Tearaway
October (a month before that): Beyond: Two Souls (or Rain/Puppeteer, if you'd like)
June (4 months before that): The Last of Us

 

[Amentallica]

You know... There's no reason to make him hate society more.

You can be cordial in your criticism of his comments, as he should be cordial with his comments.

I do apologize for being a bit excessive in my response, it was a spur of the moment comment.

 

[Devilgunman]

That was total pandering BS.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/yoshida-thought-demons-souls-was-unbelievably-bad/

Lol! Sounds like he's just trying to cover his ass and make himself sound hip for the fans.

Is there anybody else wanna join the party?

smh

 

[beril]

If a project get cancel it's no surprise that they letting go of people .
SSM suppose to be 220 plus people which is going to big to be working on a 1 console project .
Sorry about people losing there job and hope they land on there feet .

For a company the size of Sony it is, or at least it should be. A cancelled project shouldn't have to mean massive layoffs for a big publisher with several AA games in development, unless it's a cost cutting decision from the start.

 

[J-Rzez]

It would be far preferable to me that Sony starts going after these same exclusive content, like they did with Assassin's Creed 4, and stop dumping money into "exclusive" games that nobody wants to buy, but they're forced to keep cranking out because their studios have to have something to do.

If Sony did this you can be damn sure I wouldn't buy their consoles here on out. I buy them for their exclusives that push the hardware properly, and are fun to boot. These studios are what kept Sony in the game last gen, and people remember this, so I'm sure it helped people justify their purchase. And some of the best games came out of Sonys studios... Yet you want them to kill off these to fund a bunch of unfocused Porterhouse's? I can't get into that. I'll take a TLoU over getting a map pack 2 weeks soon any day. I have my gaming rig for all that nonsense, and my PS4 for its exclusives I can't get on PC, where as I can get many of their competitors games not on their hardware.

I still can't grasp telling Sony to give one of their biggest, most respected advantages for DLC time windows of ports...

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I hope some of these go on to found their own studio and continue to pursue their dreams independently. There is enough talent there to do something truly special.

 

[Kenshin001]

According to da interwebs, the TGS build was 65% complete, that doesn't sound "close to final", and according to the article I linked to that's what Yoshida ended up playing in the end. Two hours of it, and his main complaint was that he couldn't advance past the first level, which sounds to me like a totally regular DS experience. I've had enough of the Yoshida Defense Force. Not everyone is perfect, dudes.

Amen brother. Yoshida has done a terrible job. If anyone should be "outplaced" it's him. He seems to make one boneheaded decision after another. Pretty sure the people at SSM could have been moved to other projects, maybe helping finish TLG since that seems like it's going to take longer to finish than the Sagrada Familia.

 

[RoboPlato]

I hope some of these go on to found their own studio and continue to pursue their dreams independently.

Irrational/SSM super studio

 

[ReaperXL7]

This is probably the biggest hit I have taken with Sony lay offs so far. SSM is responsible for my favorite Sony owned franchise, and I was very excited to see what kind of ideas they had up their sleeve for a new IP. I wanted to believe Sony was really behind internally developed new IP and that we would get a number of them within the first few years of the PS4, but until Sony comments further on this (which won't happen) it looks like they are just going to make them pump out more God of War.

I'm genuinely upset over this which might very well be a bit dumb, I feel for those that lost their job, and this has effected my excitement for E3 quite a bit.

 

[Caronte]

Not really a good example since Gran Turismo has been getting worse since Yoshida became president of WWS.

 

[Deleted member 80556]

Irrational/SSM super studio

God damn, that would be a killer studio!