dragonbane
Member
Are you talking facts here Mort, something you can't find on twitter? Also I'm sure Yoshida would have to sign it off at least? We are talking about a lot of (Sony) money here and perhaps a big E3 announcement.
-
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.
IGN: ~50 Layoffs at Sony Santa Monica, Project Canceled [Up2: Was Stig's New IP]
- Thread starter Jonboy
- Start date
- Status
dragonbane
Member
Correct. They probably work on a new IP as well though, but only in pre-production and a long long way off. Looks like GoW reboot is next (in 2016 or something).
Stig basically has to go back to the drawing board.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
Not good that people lost their jobs but I guess it was done with the longterm in mind. Nothing is worse than hearing about those games in development hell that pretty much become money sinkholes and then the game releases and the entire studio shuts down a bit later or something. Hopefully they recognized it could have gotten a lot worse and decided to shutter it. But it's always sad to lose a job (and a new IP for us).
dragonbane
Member
Probably the typical case of "higher up let things go, milestone delivery comes up, finally takes a look at it, goes 'WTF is this?' "
Either this or he joins the 5 people from the Ascension team on the drawing board, in case they cooked up something already.
Sony are lucky they're the new hotness, because outside of UC4, they don't seem like they have much in the next couple of years that would inspire console adoption.
It is better to be in this situation and be able to can a multi-year project if it's not working rather than ship something below par.
It is better to be in this situation and be able to can a multi-year project if it's not working rather than ship something below par.
May be they are not working on GoW at all. I don't know. We don't have much evidence pointing in any direction.
The gaming community is very fickle though, how long can that last when the console "for gamers" has very little exciting AAA exclusive content coming to it.
Yea I'm sure all the other teams aren't working on anything.
Some of y'all have went off the deep end over 1 new ip cancelled.
you mean since we dont know of any other project they are working on? I think TLOU2 might be more exciting than UC4, and so will GT7 be.
But i am sure they have ton of other games in development that we wont see yet, and what Sony has done great was leapfrog XB1 in spec, and essentially every huge third party multi console game will be system seller in a sense.
Corpsepyre
Banned
I have legitimately lost interest in E3 this year. SSM are my favourite studio, and I'm a HUGE God of War fan, and was looking forward to whatever new the guys were upto since 2010. I don't think even a re-announced TLG will ignite my interest. Fuck.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
Meh imo the PS3 picked up the pace on hot first party titles not very early in the generation. Not even close. And they rebounded on that front. That was after a horrendous start. So if Sony can pick it up a year or so from now they'll be in good shape. It's still so early.
Obviously an ideal world would have them blow the door down and keep coming with hit after hit but as far as things are looking, I'd say it's still good.
People are taking this way too personally. I mean, would you rather see the talent move to new (possibly larger) things than to see one of the bigger flops in gaming history possibly to happen? And if that said flop happened, to see the wrecking of SSM because of truckloads of money vanishing in the air. I'd rather see something exciting for the new consoles, not some half-assed bad games. It looks like it's quite harsh environment to be in an AAA studio these days, so they better start delivering or get sacked. There ain't no free meals anymore.
bigboss370
Member
set to be revealed at E3? what the hell happened? o__O
RealityPales
Member
So do we know if Cory Barlog was on Stig's team, or was he doing his own thing as well?
It sucks a new IP was canned, but come on...
This will be forgotten very quickly. It's not as bad as Eight Days or The Getaway 3 which had trailers and everything.
I didn't say they have no games, I'm not sure why you're being so hyperbolic. In terms of likely AAA releases in the next two years, it would appear Sony don't have much. They won't have a SSM game, TLoU team won't ship that soon, SuckerPunch's next game won't be done. I'd have said GT7 but people were saying earlier that 6 did poorly.
Didnt Stig work under barlog for the first couple of GOW then barlog left SSM then came back and made his own team for an unknown game?
How dumb do you have to be to believe any of the teams are given this level of control over their own projects and what they're able to do? Sequel to Lair if they wanted, jesus christ.
BlackBuzzard
Banned
How dumb do you have to be to believe any of the teams are given this level of control over their own projects and what they're able to do? Sequel to Lair if they wanted, jesus christ.
So got any info to share?
bigboss370
Member
I don't understand...the game was in development for a while under a strong team. They hired the writer fro battlestar gallactica, they were apparently doing something cool and unique and sci fi. The project was going well and was set to be revealed at E3...and then suddenly kaput!
I really wanna know what happened here.
EDIT: Nvm I see Mort's post(s)
I really wanna know what happened here.
EDIT: Nvm I see Mort's post(s)
How dumb do you have to be to believe any of the teams are given this level of control over their own projects and what they're able to do? Sequel to Lair if they wanted, jesus christ.
Are you implying that the new IP is not cancelled?
Dev already said in this thread that the IP was on target a few weeks ago and things "change fast" so dont believe all the comments/ (paraphrasing)
Why is it so hard to believe?
They're still paid royalties and performance based bonuses, and they want to keep their jobs, they have all the motivation in the world to pursue commercially and critically well received projects.
bigboss370
Member
what?
I think he's implying the green lights and hordes of cash don't come from team leaders, but from much higher in the chain. Which is obviously the case, and not what mortimer was implying. You can't get Lair 2 past the higher ups, but you can get money to do Uncharted 4-7 based on its relative commercial success previously. That reality is the current environment for pretty much all publishers.
Yeah. It was rumoured as a Sci Fi epic open world game with vehicular component (whatever that meant - maybe mechs???). It would be a high risk bet.
No one wwants sequel to Lair. Not even the Haze devs.
IE, dont believe everything you read, wait and see.
You don't think any of the other teams are working on AAA games ?
He's saying that Sony first party developers don't have as much freedom as mort stated. Does anyone really believe Sony would be completely fine with Naughty Dog cancelling U4 at this point? Ha, no. Let alone making a Lair sequel.
dragonbane
Member
Come on guys, Lair sequel was obviously hyperbolic on his part.
Mort saying he was hired for that reason is enough for me.
jhmtehgamr20xx
Banned
Someone'll get access to the code and assets and dump it online in two years. Unseen 64 will post about it, and so on.
Sucks it was the new IP tho. Financially makes sense, but the industry needs new IP. The least they can try to do is integrate planned mechanics from that game into the project they're still working on.
Just to be clear, you're not confusing that w/ GG's rumored new IP, right? Because I heard they were working on a scifi/horror game, not SSM.
If it turns out it was SSM all along and it got cancelled, that would be a massive blow for me personally.
travisbickle
Member
So Sony AAA
SSM
TLOU
Suckerpunch
And recently downgraded from AAA because of sales
Gran Turismo.
Not much outside of that?
I'd think GG's other game is, but other than that, not really. Sony Bend are apparently making a PS4 game, but to go from the games they've been making to AAA would be strange, so I imagine it's a smaller project. Quantic Dream's project will be big budget, but in terms of moving hardware, which is what I said, I would be surprised, Beyond sold a million, which is okay, it might have broken even, but it's not going to be drawing crowds. Media Molecule could go either way, it could be mind blowing and very popular, or not at all, but they're a small studio, so the risk is very small for Sony anyway.
But yes, basically I think this is either one of four, five, or six 'AAA' releases for Sony for the next couple of years, so I do think it's notable, but I wasn't complaining. I think it's great for Sony that they're in a more commanding position where they can position themselves as a more consistent publisher. It's like the Blizzard thing, they make weak games too, it's just that they don't release them. Obviously it's not good that a project didn't work out, and it's really unfortunate that people lost their jobs, but fewer, stronger releases is what a publisher should be aiming for I believe, and as of right now, Sony are in a better position than they've been for a few years, and they have a better developer collection than they ever have.
Really, because RaD went from PSP games to AAA PS4. Why can't Sony Bend go from Uncharted Vita to AAA PS4?
Do what you want, but it better sell, or otherwise you get fired. Still wanna make a Lair sequel?
Yep. Sickening.
Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Yoshida or the way he handles WWS. I was not asking because wanted to find out who to blame, or to justify some hatred to anyone. I was merely curious if the decision really laid that much with the studio and not Yoshida et al.
RaD aren't first party though, they were pitching the game.
In terms of this 'developers choose' concept, one aspect we do know they don't choose is platform, some of the GoW2 staff publicly talked about wanting the project to be on PS3, and I don't believe Bend would have chosen to toil away on handhelds for two generations.
It's possible they're making a big game of course, I just wouldn't guess that they are.
Oh! Wasn't aware of that. When did this happen?
Seems like Phil wants to grab himself some talent:
https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/438486097295720448
https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/438486097295720448
Nobody in their right mind will give you freedom to make really stupid decisions, that does not mean that you can not make creative ones.
I have no idea why would ND decide not to make their Uncharted game, I am sure they love doing that, and nobody would do Lair sequel, unless they are insane.
Just as we are clear that AAA means nothing in regards to a game but budge, I would say it's good that Sony can tailor their output to enforce a high degree of quality over their published works.
Though we don't want them pulling Valve or Blizzard like models, because 1.) they don't need to in order to maintain their momentum as much as they need to fill niche holes and target a gamut of game interests. 2.) They can't get away with anti-consumer policies like Blizzard due to the plethora of projects they touch. The implications extend to their platform not just a single game. 3.) They are publically traded so they can't operate off of money-feed-generators like Valve can.
- Status