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[NullPointer]

"Games" aren't uniform. God of War: Ascension was a disaster for one.

Define disaster.

It sold less than GoW3 but did it have GoW3's budget?

 

[javie3d]

Heartbreaking, especially right before they move the studio..

 

[infiniteheteroskdasticity]

This actually would make sense. Maybe the ones left couldn't hold the project together. It would be absolutely massive news if Stig or Barlog's games were cancelled.

Yeah. Stig's new IP is probably close to reveal and Balrog's new game is clearly getting a lot of resources (GOW reboot is my guess). There were on and off rumors about the Ascension team moving on to another new project but my guess is that SSM couldn't justify 3 full teams. Its a pity because I liked Ascension and thought it was one of the strongest GOW games. I hope everybody involved lands on their feet.

 

[Schrade]

Fuck. Sorry to those who got laid off. I hope you land on your feet.

I hate hearing about things like this.

 

[RoboPlato]

IMO they should downsize the studios that made Knack, Killzone or Beyond Two Souls

cause at the end of the day God of War Ascension is a better game than those titles

QD isn't owned by Sony

 

[Sn4ke_911]

He also left SSM out to dry when he left them out of the blue during production of GOW3, which is why we got the game we got.

Have you seen the GoW2 "Making of"? he put all his heart into this project, he looked pretty fucked up in interviews, he needed a break badly.

 

[B.O.O.M]

Did Barlog ever confirm working on a new GoW or is that just speculation?

He was making his own team for a new project..no mention on what that project might be like

 

[Mifune]

That sucks. However, I'm not convinced that a project was canceled. IGN probably got wind of layoffs and then jumped to conclusions like IGN is wont to do.

 

[xxracerxx]

Heartbreaking, especially right before they move the studio..

Better than making the employees move then laying them off ala Conan O'Brien.

 

[Freeman]

Who was porting GoW Collection to Vita?

 

[Kintaro]

Weren't they working on some open world RPG or something to that effect? I get their studios confused. =x

 

[Voidance]

Could this be due to The Order 1886 reaching completion? SSM had a hand in that if I recall.

Either way, job searching sucks no matter who you are. I really hope everyone gets picked up -- there's no shortage of talent with these folks.

 

[Sendou]

Define disaster.

It sold less than GoW3 but did it have GoW3's budget?

I mean just what would you call this?

God of War: Ascension may have cost as much to develop as Modern Warfare 2, it has been revealed.

God of War: Ascension producer Whitney Wade told 20 Minuten (via VG247) that the game had "a mid double-digit million amount" budget.

The quote appears to suggest that development costs were somewhere in the region of $40-$60 million, although it is unknown whether that figure includes marketing costs.

It was recently suggested that God of War: Ascension was a sales flop, shifting 360,000 in its first month on sale, compared to the 1.1 million monthly sales achieved by God of War 3.

So that would mean the budget was about the same GoW3 had.

 

[jett]

Evolution had better hope Drive Club is a runaway sales success because I'm getting exceedingly confused how they've avoided all the downsizing with once stalwarts like Studio Liverpool disappearing entirely and now the behemoth of SSM getting a hit. Oh and The Last Guardian continuing development of course.

I don't actually understand it at all since SSM are up there with ND, and this was probably a new IP thats been scuppered. Was it one of their joint productions like The Unfinished Swan follow up?

Evo must have a guardian angel at Sony. DriuveCloob is definitely their last chance, though.

 

[BruiserBear]

What is Shuhei Yoshida doing?!

I honestly don't have a lot of faith in the man. I think he's incredibly likeable, but I believe Sony's worldwide studios have been very poorly managed over the past 5-8 years.

 

[Juliet's 8½ Spirits]

Define disaster.

It sold less than GoW3 but did it have GoW3's budget?

it did

 

[Lasthope106]

Two big profile studios having major reductions, one outright closed. Face it GAF, the AAA industry is going down in flames. I made a thread a couple of months ago where I brought the observation that teenagers aren't into trying lots of games anymore. This reaffirms that observation. Sure the gaming audience has grown, but I would argue the "core" has actually shrunk in size.

 

[StalkerUKCG]

nooooo! i wonder what was cancelled??

You can bet your bottom dollar it was not GoW4.

 

[iNvid02]

Goodbye The Last of Us 2 and any chance of TLoU1 on PS4, I'll never get to experience any of your universe.

i know i cant stop crying

 

[Succinct Verbosity]

Aren't games more popular now and selling more than ever? If so, why are we hearing news like this and news of big studios closing their doors?

Perhaps a large chunk of that record game sales money is coming from the casual/mobile market. A larger chunk than many hardcore gamers would like to admit.

Yes and no. Specific games are selling well, but due to how much the past generation was prolonged, game sales have been falling YoY. The PS4 and XBOne seems to be revitalising the market, at least.

 

[psn]

Good luck for everyone, but talented people like them should land on their feet again.

 

[jett]

Define disaster.

It sold less than GoW3 but did it have GoW3's budget?

Apparently it did.

http://www.vg247.com/2013/04/22/god-of-war-ascension-had-a-budget-somewhere-near-50-million-report/

GOW3 had a confirmed $44 million budget, btw.

 

[newjeruse]

Could this be due to The Order 1886 reaching completion? SSM had a hand in that if I recall.

It hasn't reached completion. If anything, they're entering crunch.

 

[Giant Panda]

We don't have all the information, but from what we do know this puts Yoshida's management in a bad light.

 

[Carl]

IMO they should downsize the studios that made Knack, Killzone or Beyond Two Souls

cause at the end of the day God of War Ascension is a better game than those titles

How would they downsize a studio they don't own?

 

[NullPointer]

I mean just what would you call this?

So that would mean the budget was about the same GoW3 had.

it did

Holy bajeezus, I had no idea.

I had a good time with it but figured it was a smaller project in scope and budget - though still epic in the gameplay department.

Wow. Thoroughly floored, and bummed.

 

[The perfect Dark]

I would knock on wood before saying that.

*knocks on wood*

 

[hohoXD123]

Two big profile studios having major reductions, one outright closed. Face it GAF, the AAA industry is going down in flames. I made a thread a couple of months ago where I brought the observation that teenagers aren't into trying lots of games anymore. This reaffirms that observation. Sure the gaming audience has grown, but I would argue the "core" has actually shrunk in size.

The console launches suggest otherwise...

 

[Mifune]

I mean just what would you call this?



So that would mean the budget was about the same GoW3 had.

GOW Ascension sold way more than 360,000 in its first month. Not sure where they got those numbers.

 

[BlackBuzzard]

GOW Ascension sold way more than 360,000 in its first month. Not sure where you got those numbers.

He means in the first month.

 

[Sendou]

GOW Ascension sold way more than 360,000 in its first month. Not sure where you got those numbers.

Read again in a more careful manner.

 

[jaosobno]

God fucking dammit, I hope for two things:

1. I hope that everyone finds new jobs ASAP.

2. I hope that they didn't cancel the new IP. Kill Kratos, bring us something new. Last great GOW was GOW3, Ascension was unnecessary.

 

[Lasthope106]

The console launches suggest otherwise...

The layoffs reported in this thread suggest otherwise...

 

[WhiskeyKnight]

Next gen is selling gangbusters but everybody's still getting fired.

Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[PapaJustify]

Well sometimes a project just doesn't work out. Then a few of the people that were working on that project are "overhead".

My regrets to the poor souls without a job now, but for the studio it is probably not a big deal. Actually better to let go instead of dragging a project like The Last Guardian.

 

[Takao]

"This is a result of a cycle of resource re-alignment against priority growth areas within SCE WWS"

Sounds like they canceled a Vita game.

Who was porting GoW Collection to Vita?

Sanzaru

 

[B.O.O.M]

IMO they should downsize the studios that made Knack, Killzone or Beyond Two Souls

cause at the end of the day God of War Ascension is a better game than those titles

Knack was done by SCEJA. And the project was done mainly by two or so people for a while iirc. Their output is very good

QD isn't owned by Sony

As for KZ without knowing the budget of the games it's hard to say..wouldn't be surprised if they had always broken even or profited on their games

 

[TheSadRanger]

WTF, didn't they say they were hiring when Irrational shut down last week? Why would they advertise that they might hire Irrational employees (via twitter), when they were about do a round of layoffs?

Don't get me wrong, I feel for the employees that got laid off.

 

[SniperHunter]

How would they downsize a studio they don't own?

by not wasting anymore money on them

 

[Mifune]

Read again in a more careful manner.

630,000 for March according to NPD.

EDIT: Oh, those are UK numbers. Now I understand.

 

[Oersted]

Next gen is selling gangbusters but everybody's still getting fired.

Doesn't make sense to me.

Small install bases and increasing budgets?

 

[Kinyou]

Next gen is selling gangbusters but everybody's still getting fired.

Doesn't make sense to me.

What other first party devs did get fired?

 

[chubigans]

"This is a result of a cycle of resource re-alignment against priority growth areas within SCE WWS"

Sounds like they canceled a Vita game.

Yeah, that's what it's looking like.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

Yeah, because one guy made the whole game. And he didn't have an existing template to go off of either.

Anyways, I'd rather this be about Barlog's project than Stig's, just for the fact that it's been hinted at for years, while Barlog only recently joined back with SSM.

The fuck are you talking about?

on every MGS game it says "a HIDEO KOJIMA game" surely he made the game all by himself *facepalm*

You just called GoW3 Sig's game. and so is GoW2 Barlog's game. It's called being the game director.

 

[Sorcerer Supreme]

I honestly don't have a lot of faith in the man. I think he's incredibly likeable, but I believe Sony's worldwide studios have been very poorly managed over the past 5-8 years.

This so much. They completely fucked over Zipper and the Socom brand which was always their most popular online game in favor of trying to create a Halo clone in KILLZONE and Resistance.

 

[Caronte]

Its OK guys Shu has a funny Twitter account and he seems like a cool dude I wish he was my friend I bet we'd get along great.

 

[V_Ben]

"This is a result of a cycle of resource re-alignment against priority growth areas within SCE WWS"

Sounds like they canceled a Vita game.



Sanzaru

...it really wouldn't surprise me if the Papy team was making a GoW game for Vita after Ascension.

 

[zroid]

Supposing that means the winner of The Tester season 3 is out.

Ironic that the only one of the three still (I think?) employed by Sony is the one who got scooped up by Sony Pictures.

 

[B.O.O.M]

"This is a result of a cycle of resource re-alignment against priority growth areas within SCE WWS"

Sounds like they canceled a Vita game.



Sanzaru

lol come on man..like SCEA studios would even know wtf a vita is

I'm thinking some small project for PS3..cancel it since the sales are slowing down and move resources to PS4 projects

 

[Netherscourge]

It's not CLOSED, they just laid some people off and cancelled an unannounced project.