Sorry but even very patient me has to call them out this time.
The PS3 was a pig to program for and late to launch yet ND still managed to get Uncharted out a year after launch with 70 staff.
The PS4 was touted as being much easier/quicker to program and WWS are a very experienced bunch.
I read this article on DriveClub's problems the other day and was like how did it get to that point?
http://videogames.virginmedia.com/n..._driveclub_for_failing_to_hit_ps4_launch.html
Maybe Shu is pushing them too hard and burning them out? Or the devs themselves are being too ambitious? *shrugs*
I really believed that a bomb was going to dropped at E3 with a big release this year out of nowhere, a bit like they surprised everyone with the TLoU reveal.
Not now.
I'm sorry to burst this bubble of optimism, but this is a brand new generation with machines less than a year old. There are multiple layers to the 2015 delays happening in the industry.
1. Developers have had less than a year with complete, working, 100% retail units to program on. New hardware poses new challenges, no matter how simple it is to work on. Sony's first party was knee deep in esoteric, eccentric, multi-spe programming last generation. Now is the time to optimize, learn, and try new things. This takes time.
2. This is a new generation of games and hence a new layer of complexity. New engines, models, AI routines, and design is being played with. There is a ceiling of the unknown.
3. Sony's output last year for PS3 was remarkable. They hit it out the park, but it also hindered their PS4 output as studios who would have shifted completely to PS4 stuck on PS3 and are now shifting forward. Typically Sony first party titles don't launch in the first year.
4. No one wants to release a half baked product. Coming out early, unfinished, and janky will destroy a brand. Just ask Killzone Shadow Fall.
It's better to be late, than to be on time and smell like shit.