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[Team Andromeda]

SONY are the new EA

 

[Sgt.Asher]

Closing Dreams off was a mistake, a free version to look at creations would have been great. Then, of course, lack of a pc release.
I did like the look of it.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

They have 135 employees? WTF!

Unless they get their act right, Media Molecule will have to be shut down, and this money needs to be funded in a better way.

They better start acting like a studio of 100+ developers and give us proper kickass games that are in line with the standards set by PlayStation Studios.

I'd like to think they can do both; MM obviously have a whimsical nature to their creativity and amid many of Sony's 1P teams doing "safer" gritty, mature, cinematic experiences, it's nice that teams like MM are allowed to exist and do their thing.

Maybe if Dreams were designed as an offshoot of the LBP series, it'd of done better commercially with that brand name appeal. But the concept of Dreams itself is refreshing to have, as a game offering unique variety among a platform holder's line-up. IMO Sony need more AA games among their 1P, they need high-quality but sensibly-budgeted games that can fill in the gaps between the big AAA 1P titles that are taking longer (and getting more expensive) to make.

Especially if they want to rely less on 3P-related content exclusivity to fill in that gap, as that is going to just get harder and harder to keep up in meaningful ways (i.e Rebirth exclusivity being only 3 months; maybe it gets extended but maybe it doesn't, then what?). Besides it's always better to have exclusive content be wholly owned and 1P because as the publisher you get 100% of the proceeds (minus retail cuts), you get 100% control of the marketing and licensing of the IP, you don't have to pay costs upfront just to get the exclusivity in the first place, etc. etc.

However I'm also gonna hold on to an idea that maybe these studio downsizings at SIE could also be in preparation for acquiring a developer or two. Developer, not publisher (at least not yet). A studio like Ember Lab makes sense, and there are some Japanese developers who'd also make sense like Level 5. Sony've also said they're interested in investing into and acquiring Korean studios going forward, so that could be at play as well.

Make a new game with a real character this time and people will buy it. Sackboy: a big adventure is exactly the kind of games they should have being doing during all those years.

I can't fault a studio for wanting to express themselves artistically & creatively to do new things. Gaming's a business but it's also an art; you'd think a platform holder could afford to have a few games that aren't massive money makers if it means they can be highly expressive. That helps with appeal too, not just having the safer AA and AAA games across the entire portfolio.

I don't see why people say Dreams "bombed". It's not like it was a game or anything.

But I can see why a studio like MM will see layoffs. They're a talented studio, but not exactly one that produces AAA-titles.

It's sad that so much of industry is in such a way, that a studio can only avoid layoffs if they make AAA titles.

When, ironically, those are the ones that cost the most to produce (and tend to play things the safest in part due to it).

This feels like an unfair characterization. It might have underwhelmed commercially, but as a product it was nothing short of brilliant.

Blame Sony for not putting it on PC to try to capture some of the education market etc. though perhaps I’m looking at things too simplistically and they might have had metrics to show it wouldn’t have done well on PC.

I just think there’s a wider market for stuff like that on PC.

I know we usually butt heads but this is actually a reasonable opinion. Bringing Dreams to PC made a lot more sense, and without diluting the marquee brand equity of the big games and console little by little, to bring to PC than, say, what they're doing with HFW & BS only two years after their PS5 releases. If MM were allowed to get the storefront going so people could sell their own creations & games, that would have helped the game generate a lot of revenue and prevented these layoffs.

But someone higher-up denied them the opportunity to do that, so here we are.

 

[near]

Surprised they survived this long without cuts.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Eh, they don't even make games anymore.
Their last game was released in 2015, almost 10 years ago (and no, Dreams is not a game)

Which completely destroys the argument that Japan Studio was closed for "performance below expectations".
If that was the case, why is a company like Media Molecule still alive then?

Abandoning Japan was their worst mistake

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

(and no, Dreams is not a game)

We are truly in the darkest timeline if this is a real talking point.

 

[ArtHands]

• Jim Ryan
• PlayStation Visual Arts
• Naughty Dog (contractual)
• Connie Booth

And now Media Molecule

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

 

[Famipan]

It’s a pity but I imagine it still works for that kind of studio to have a smaller core team and scale up with cheap outsourcing whenever they really need it… but I hope the core team doesn’t get overworked now.

I have never really played of their games and still got Tearaway in my backlog and would love to play Sackboy (because it has a great soundtrack). Tearaway is supposed to be a must play, but these days with PS5, the creative and playful games are not really what the massive player base are interested in, and it’s a shame.
Steam, itch.io and Nintendo is instead where you can find real creative indie stuff.

I have been constantly pondering whether I should buy Dreams but since they announced stopping online service and no PC support I realised it’s better to get into Unity, Godot or Unreal. Still, Dreams is said to be a great alternative for sketching a quick game idea.

 

[nial]

I thought they'd close down.

They've lost most of their founders and their last released game Dreams (2020) didn't perform well nor did LBP3 (2014) before it. That's nearly 10 years of lackluster performance.

I do think if Dreams had the right model it could have found more success. Should have been F2P.

LBP3 did well and it was developed by Sumo Digital.

 

[nial]

I would believe you if they did not close down japan studios

Team Asobi? This is getting old and annoying.

 

[Joshmyersbv]

Maybe they should have made games people actually wanted to play. When Dreams was announced I knew right away it was gonna bomb. What they were offering "gameplay" wise and the way it looked artistically It was only going to cater to a very niche crowd.

The amount of time they spent on this game both in development and after release only for it end up like it did only shows the lack of talent they have. They are really lucky that the studio didn't close down because we've seen Sony cut losses for less.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

If Media Molecules next game is not a quasi game engine, you would assume the employees who specialize is creating game engines would be released, and they'd hire for positions who have experience working on their next game type instead.

Doom and gloom sells better than common sense though.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

We are truly in the darkest timeline if this is a real talking point.

 

[PatientGamer]

This is partly why if I was a game developer, I'd try my best to go the Insomniac route. Remain independent for as long as is feasibly possible. I know they eventually decided to sell to SIE, but I can see why they held off for 20+ years...

When you're acquired by another company you get the benefits of funding etc, but now basically become an employee again. Don't hit your growth targets and your team gets scaled back, your ideas limited and eventually, the business you started gets shut down.

Of course this can happen if you're independent, but at least if you're an independent dev, you have some say in your destiny.

 

[semiconscious]

I appreciate MM but unless you enjoy using their creator tools, the "games" they release play like trash IMO. Unless they're contributing to tech for other 1st party studios, they seem like a complete waste for Sony.

i was a big fan of littlebigplanet, which released in 2008. but, sequel included, media molecule hasn't managed to create a better, more interesting 'game' since. & 15 years's a long time for any developer...

 

[CamHostage]

Not the most surprising downsizing, MM's future is cloudy at the moment and Dreams didn't do what it needed to (and didn't get ported to PS5/PC, which was clearly a bad sign,) but I really hate what's going on in the industry and the world right now.

 

[DryvBy]

I thought they'd close down.

They've lost most of their founders and their last released game Dreams (2020) didn't perform well nor did LBP3 (2014) before it. That's nearly 10 years of lackluster performance.

I do think if Dreams had the right model it could have found more success. Should have been F2P.

Dreams was hardly a game, more of a tool imo. And LBP has lost its charm. The first game felt so new and fresh but that was on the PS3.

 

[semiconscious]

Dreams was hardly a game, more of a tool imo. And LBP has lost its charm. The first game felt so new and fresh but that was on the PS3.

imo, media molecule's proven to be the game developer equivalent to all them 'one hit wonder' rock bands...

 

[Lionel Richie]

Surprised they're still open.

No hit since LBP2.

SONY is very generous.

Why do Snoy fans talk about Snoy in all caps like they're some sort of divinity?

 

[mckmas8808]

They have 135 employees? WTF!

Unless they get their act right, Media Molecule will have to be shut down, and this money needs to be funded in a better way.

They better start acting like a studio of 100+ developers and give us proper kickass games that are in line with the standards set by PlayStation Studios.

Yeah Sony has been waaaaay nicer to them than they need to be.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I wonder how they're still afloat given Sony has closed down or merged studios with more to show in their portfolio. Also a game like Dreams should be among the first ported to PC. It could do wonders even without modding.

 

[Solarium]

MM needs to go back to the drawing board, foster their initial whimsical/animated style, and apply that to an actual fully-fledged game.

Little Big Planet 1 + 2 and even Tearaway showed that they can create fun animated-style adventure games. They just need to step away from creating these game engines that are disguised as video games for a while.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

The statement I quoted from Ross is from this year May, the interview is more than a year old.

Also, I can't believe you really think the publisher isn't the one who green lights games



Yeah, the developer pitches the game, the publisher approves and funds it. That's how it usually goes.

So you think the situation changed after he left? Clearly that doesn't make sense.

Also learn how Sony green-lights games and how that process works... You're super out of your element here.

 

[RyanEvans21]

It’s a pity but I imagine it still works for that kind of studio to have a smaller core team and scale up with cheap outsourcing whenever they really need it… but I hope the core team doesn’t get overworked now.

I have never really played of their games and still got Tearaway in my backlog and would love to play Sackboy (because it has a great soundtrack). Tearaway is supposed to be a must play, but these days with PS5, the creative and playful games are not really what the massive player base are interested in, and it’s a shame.
Steam, itch.io and Nintendo is instead where you can find real creative indie stuff.

I have been constantly pondering whether I should buy Dreams but since they announced stopping online service and no PC support I realised it’s better to get into Unity, Godot or Unreal. Still, Dreams is said to be a great alternative for sketching a quick game idea.

No idea what game are they doing now! Same as other Sony 1st party studios, specially Naughty Dogs.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Has anyone checked on Jaffe?

 

[adamsapple]

So you think the situation changed after he left? Clearly that doesn't make sense.

Also learn how Sony green-lights games and how that process works... You're super out of your element here.

Man what are you even talking about lol. If the situation had changed after Jeff left Sony/Bend, they would have announced a Days Gone by now, clearly Sony doesn't want to green light it, as of yet.

And since you seem to know so much, why don't you tell us, give some examples, references etc about how the Sony project green light process works, since me showing you a clear and concise example of the GAME DIRECTOR saying Sony did not want to green light the sequel, and you think that's not how the process works

 

[ReBurn]

I enjoyed the first two LittleBigPlanet games so much. By the time the third one came out the charm was kind of gone for me, but I still bought it day 1. Dreams wasn't a bad idea but it felt like wasted potential. If they had released it for PC and allowed for some sort of creator content monetization system I wonder if it could have made it as a live service game platform like Roblox has. With some of the creations there it feels like it could have worked.

 

[AJUMP23]

Crushing those dreams.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Man what are you even talking about lol. If the situation had changed after Jeff left Sony/Bend, they would have announced a Days Gone by now, clearly Sony doesn't want to green light it, as of yet.

And since you seem to know so much, why don't you tell us, give some examples, references etc about how the Sony project green light process works, since me showing you a clear and concise example of the GAME DIRECTOR saying Sony did not want to green light the sequel, and you think that's not how the process works

Dude... you're off your rocker.

He said in an interview that local management didn't pursue a sequel. He was adamant that it wasn't sony.

 

[Beechos]

Only thing dreams seemed to be good for is making short demos similar to the homemade unreal engine demos.

 

[adamsapple]

Dude... you're off your rocker.

He said in an interview that local management didn't pursue a sequel. He was adamant that it wasn't sony.

 

[ArtHands]

you dont end support to something that is successful.

and have you see the title of this very thread?

Maybe their exciting new project doesn’t require so many staffers

 

[Mibu no ookami]

 

[Heisenberg007]

Yeah Sony has been waaaaay nicer to them than they need to be.

100%. However, I'm sure people will start crying as soon as Sony starts demanding better from Media Molecule.