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UC4 Game Director Justin Richmond Leaves ND (And famousmortimer leaves GAF #1393)

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Connecting dots where they don't need to be connected.



Stig and his team spent almost 100 million dollars on a game that failed every QA test that took. The game sucked. They shitcanned the game and a lot of the people involved. They offered stig a spot on barlog's project - he didn't want to go from game director to something lesser so he quit.

This makes sense, right? Shitty game, money wasted, people fired, head guy leaves out of ego? I mean that all makes sense.


Amy Hennig has creative differences about the direction that UC4 should go in. Egos swell, she leaves. She's happy, she will make another studio much better when she gets there. Justin Richmond, an ally of Hennig's, gets an offer he can't refuse from Riot. He leaves.

These things happen. Naughty Dog is going to be fine. UC4 will still be awesome. Riot will be better with the pickup of Richmond and whoever gets Hennig will be better off. The sky isn't falling.


Guerilla Cambridge is working on a vita game that is shit and won't sell. They slim down as they retool for another project.

Again - this isn't new. This happens a lot.


The director of Driveclub doesn't deliver the game on time. Given more time the game still needs work. He is replaced.



Wouldn't you replace him? Wouldn't you shitcan stig's project that cost them almost 100 mil and had nothing of value to show for it? In fact they should have done it two years ago. The fact they let it go this far is a testament to how much they believed in him after GoW 3.


And all of this is happening before the fiscal year ends. Is sony trimming fat? Of course. Sony corporation is not in a great spot. So they are tightening up a bit. But a lot of people are connecting dots that don't need to be connected. Hennig/Richmond is about creative differences and ego. Stig is about wasted money and time. Col Rogers (driveclub) is about failing to deliver. Taken on their own they all make sense. Combine them together and you get glenn beck with a chalkboard.


And Jack Tretton was about money and inability to move up. He will make more money and have more power somewhere else - something Sony simply could not offer him. Shit happens.


It's the same with the xbox department guys. People move around. People leave for other companies. Shit happens.

The logic, the insight, your post has it all.
 
I personally find the Uncharted series to be much stronger work than TLOU. It's a damn shame that two of the creative leaders of those games left Naughty Dog. But at the same time, if you aren't happy at your job, or if you want to try something new, then you gotta do, what you gotta do. I wish them all the best, and hope they continue making great games. Furthermore, I expect Neil and Bruce to step up their game since now they are the two top Naughty Dogs.
 
Who is running Uncharted 4 now? Seriously? Amy and Justin are both gone now.

Is it really Neil and Bruce?
We can only assume so. Which makes the whole situation pretty weird.


957.gif
90 minutes of pre-rendered cutscenes. Embrace them!
 
Connecting dots where they don't need to be connected.



Stig and his team spent almost 100 million dollars on a game that failed every QA test that took. The game sucked. They shitcanned the game and a lot of the people involved. They offered stig a spot on barlog's project - he didn't want to go from game director to something lesser so he quit.

This makes sense, right? Shitty game, money wasted, people fired, head guy leaves out of ego? I mean that all makes sense.


Amy Hennig has creative differences about the direction that UC4 should go in. Egos swell, she leaves. She's happy, she will make another studio much better when she gets there. Justin Richmond, an ally of Hennig's, gets an offer he can't refuse from Riot. He leaves.

These things happen. Naughty Dog is going to be fine. UC4 will still be awesome. Riot will be better with the pickup of Richmond and whoever gets Hennig will be better off. The sky isn't falling.


Guerilla Cambridge is working on a vita game that is shit and won't sell. They slim down as they retool for another project.

Again - this isn't new. This happens a lot.


The director of Driveclub doesn't deliver the game on time. Given more time the game still needs work. He is replaced.



Wouldn't you replace him? Wouldn't you shitcan stig's project that cost them almost 100 mil and had nothing of value to show for it? In fact they should have done it two years ago. The fact they let it go this far is a testament to how much they believed in him after GoW 3.


And all of this is happening before the fiscal year ends. Is sony trimming fat? Of course. Sony corporation is not in a great spot. So they are tightening up a bit. But a lot of people are connecting dots that don't need to be connected. Hennig/Richmond is about creative differences and ego. Stig is about wasted money and time. Col Rogers (driveclub) is about failing to deliver. Taken on their own they all make sense. Combine them together and you get glenn beck with a chalkboard.


And Jack Tretton was about money and inability to move up. He will make more money and have more power somewhere else - something Sony simply could not offer him. Shit happens.


It's the same with the xbox department guys. People move around. People leave for other companies. Shit happens.


Did stig really waste that amount of money?! Holly shit! Thanks for the insight though.
 

RaikuHebi

Banned
Uhu, I'm only nerdy enough to know individuals and how and when they left for a few franchices, but look at something like Silent Hill. There was a new director for every Silent Hill game with team silent... and producers were also changed around all the time. They still maintained to be pretty damn consistently awesome and even though the director of SH1 left completey, SH2 is still pretty much regarded as the best one... and SH3 being pretty damn popular too which was a new director again, who then joined Kojima. It seems pretty damn normal for people to move around a lot like this.

I'm sure there's still lots of people at ND that have worked on the different uncharted games and can carry the ideas over.

You make a great point and ND themselves are a great example of this as well. None of the people that worked on Crash Bandicoot are there anymore.


Hahahaha.
 

Yawnier

Banned
It's important to note, that even before this recent exodus of talent and tound of layoffs sony are not what they were during the ps3 era

Team ico is all but kaput, insomniac are working with microsoft, zipper dead, sony liverpool dead, big huge games, incognito, superbot etc

Ninja theory is making cellphone games (i believe), united front are making watch dogs etc

This is worrying stuff

Zipper still hurts, man. They hadn't delivered a decent game since 3 or Combined Assault but ughhhh.
 
Well, can't say much about it asside from hoping this does not affect the quality of the games in a negative way.

Good luck at the new job!
 

Sendou

Member
I wouldn't call four years of development "early stages".

They rebooted that shit apparently. So yeah they had little to show for that $100 million. That is unbelievable level of mismanagement from Sony and if I was working for them I'd start exploring my career options as well.
 

NHale

Member
After Amy Hennig left this was almost a guarantee to happen. My guess is that Uncharted 4 development was facing a similar troubling path and they made changes at the top. Or the rumor is true and Neil and Bruce made a power move inside the company.

Even Balestra and Evan Wells admit that Uncharted 3 development was a mess. They had to submit the team to an insane crushing period because they made so many late changes (Amy and Justin decisions + actors leaving for movie gigs). According to them they will never submit their studio to another period like that, so clearly it was something that left a mark.

One thing is sure, Uncharted 4 is definitely not releasing in 2014.
 

Vire

Member
I wouldn't call four years of development "early stages".

Most of the four years were spent in pre-production where only a handful of people are working on it. (Concept artists, directors, etc)

There is no way $100 Million was spent on this game.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
I think $50MM makes more sense unless they spent a lot on visual effects (CGI?) and prototyping or something.
Most of the four years were spent in pre-production where only a handful of people are working on it. (Concept artists, directors, etc)

There is no way $100 Million was spent on this game.


There's really no evidence it was never in full production. I can't imagine somebody would let a game stay in preproduction for 4 years.
 
It's important to note, that even before this recent exodus of talent and tound of layoffs sony are not what they were during the ps3 era

Team ico is all but kaput, insomniac are working with microsoft, zipper dead, sony liverpool dead, big huge games, incognito, superbot etc

Ninja theory is making cellphone games (i believe), united front are making watch dogs etc

This is worrying stuff

Well that just seems to be a general trend of the industry. Can't afford many big projects without them being multiplatform secured +5mil sellers, designed by focus groups. Which is why we end up with a million ass creed games.
 

Trevelyon

Member
I mean, is there a precedent for this type of massive money skin in the history of this industry? What vapor ware has lost that amount of money. That is insane, I can't believe that number.
 

coolasj19

Why are you reading my tag instead of the title of my post?
Connecting dots where they don't need to be connected.

Stig and his team spent almost 100 million dollars on a game that failed every QA test that took. The game sucked. They shitcanned the game and a lot of the people involved. They offered stig a spot on barlog's project - he didn't want to go from game director to something lesser so he quit.

Amy Hennig has creative differences about the direction that UC4 should go in. Egos swell, she leaves. She's happy, she will make another studio much better when she gets there. Justin Richmond, an ally of Hennig's, gets an offer he can't refuse from Riot. He leaves.

Guerilla Cambridge is working on a vita game that is shit and won't sell. They slim down as they retool for another project.

The director of Driveclub doesn't deliver the game on time. Given more time the game still needs work. He is replaced.

And Jack Tretton was about money and inability to move up. He will make more money and have more power somewhere else - something Sony simply could not offer him. Shit happens.


It's the same with the xbox department guys.
People move around. People leave for other companies. Shit happens.
What the hell? Whyyyy? Ugh.
Fair enough.
Please don't tell me that true. You mean past tense right? Love my Vita, but doing another Vita game on a single team studio isn't smart.
Sounds about right.
Exactly what happened.
And about the Xbox department. I believe you when you say it's happening. But why don't we get this news reported? Are there not enough sources? It wouldn't garner interest? Wazup?
 
Connecting dots where they don't need to be connected.



Stig and his team spent almost 100 million dollars on a game that failed every QA test that took. The game sucked. They shitcanned the game and a lot of the people involved. They offered stig a spot on barlog's project - he didn't want to go from game director to something lesser so he quit.

This makes sense, right? Shitty game, money wasted, people fired, head guy leaves out of ego? I mean that all makes sense.


Amy Hennig has creative differences about the direction that UC4 should go in. Egos swell, she leaves. She's happy, she will make another studio much better when she gets there. Justin Richmond, an ally of Hennig's, gets an offer he can't refuse from Riot. He leaves.

These things happen. Naughty Dog is going to be fine. UC4 will still be awesome. Riot will be better with the pickup of Richmond and whoever gets Hennig will be better off. The sky isn't falling.


Guerilla Cambridge is working on a vita game that is shit and won't sell. They slim down as they retool for another project.

Again - this isn't new. This happens a lot.


The director of Driveclub doesn't deliver the game on time. Given more time the game still needs work. He is replaced.



Wouldn't you replace him? Wouldn't you shitcan stig's project that cost them almost 100 mil and had nothing of value to show for it? In fact they should have done it two years ago. The fact they let it go this far is a testament to how much they believed in him after GoW 3.


And all of this is happening before the fiscal year ends. Is sony trimming fat? Of course. Sony corporation is not in a great spot. So they are tightening up a bit. But a lot of people are connecting dots that don't need to be connected. Hennig/Richmond is about creative differences and ego. Stig is about wasted money and time. Col Rogers (driveclub) is about failing to deliver. Taken on their own they all make sense. Combine them together and you get glenn beck with a chalkboard.


And Jack Tretton was about money and inability to move up. He will make more money and have more power somewhere else - something Sony simply could not offer him. Shit happens.


It's the same with the xbox department guys. People move around. People leave for other companies. Shit happens.

Post makes a lot of sense .
Also WTF at Stig game costing 100 million that crazy amount of money they gave him .
 

Pennywise

Member
I think $50MM makes more sense unless they spent a lot on visual effects (CGI?) and prototyping or something.



There's really no evidence it was never in full production. I can't imagine somebody would let a game stay in preproduction for 4 years.

Wasn't there some quotes that stated they wanted to show off something this E3 ?
Maybe they prepared a bunch of stuff already...which also costs alot of money.
 

StuBurns

Banned
I mean, is there a precedent for this type of massive money skin in the history of this industry? What vapor ware has lost that amount of money. That is insane, I can't believe that number.
Sony spent $40M on LA Noire before R* took it on.
Really? You cannot imagine an AAA game being in development for 4 years costing $100M?
It would take five hundred people working on it to burn that much cash, and the general belief seems to be it had a skeleton crew until Ascension wrapped and that majority of that team rotated over to Stig's game.
 
cambridge is working on another vita game?




Depends on the number of people working on the project. 100 people at 100k for 4 years? Definitely possible, but that does seem a little high.



I don't know what cambridge is working on. I don't think they know. I think they slimmed down as they figure out what they are doing next. If/when that's approved, they will hire people again. Many studios operate like this. Especially lower-tier ones like GC.





I heard various numbers between 75mil and 90 mil for stig's game. I said "almost 100" because, well, both are almost 100 mil. They restarted the game, from scratch, THREE TIMES! And it sucked every time. The whole "it was too much like destiny" thing is bullshit. It was more horror-ish and like Dead Space than Destiny. That whole thing was sony jumping on the grenade to help stig save face. And help themselves save face as they wasted a fucking TON of money.
 

Vire

Member
I think $50MM makes more sense unless they spent a lot on visual effects (CGI?) and prototyping or something.



There's really no evidence it was never in full production. I can't imagine somebody would let a game stay in preproduction for 4 years.
Oh sure, I'm sure it was in full production for 1 to 2 years. But with a staff size of 80 people, I can't imagine it being anywhere close to $100MM.
 

Falcon511

Banned
Connecting dots where they don't need to be connected.



Stig and his team spent almost 100 million dollars on a game that failed every QA test that took. The game sucked. They shitcanned the game and a lot of the people involved. They offered stig a spot on barlog's project - he didn't want to go from game director to something lesser so he quit.

I think you should quit while you are ahead. 100 million is a lot to loose for a game with no marketing and such.
 

LastNac

Member
I don't know what cambridge is working on. I don't think they know. I think they slimmed down as they figure out what they are doing next. If/when that's approved, they will hire people again. Many studios operate like this. Especially lower-tier ones like GC.





I heard various numbers between 75mil and 90 mil for stig's game. I said "almost 100" because, well, both are almost 100 mil. They restarted the game, from scratch, THREE TIMES! And it sucked every time. The whole "it was too much like destiny" thing is bullshit. It was more horror-ish and like Dead Space than Destiny. That whole thing was sony jumping on the grenade to help stig save face. And help themselves save face as they wasted a fucking TON of money.

Question is though, is UC4 too far long to be messed up with a change in direction?
 
They rebooted that shit apparently. So yeah they had little to show for that $100 million. That is unbelievable level of mismanagement from Sony and if I was working for them I'd start exploring my career options as well.

stop-stop.gif


Seriously, you're just fishing for anything to latch onto your narrative that Sony is about to implode or something.

We have the answers of the past couple of months right here, there isn't any big monster lurking behind the shades. It's creative differences + canning projects + one person who got an offer they couldn't refuse.
 
Connecting dots where they don't need to be connected.

Stig and his team spent almost 100 million dollars on a game that failed every QA test that took. The game sucked. They shitcanned the game and a lot of the people involved. They offered stig a spot on barlog's project - he didn't want to go from game director to something lesser so he quit.

This makes sense, right? Shitty game, money wasted, people fired, head guy leaves out of ego? I mean that all makes sense.

Amy Hennig has creative differences about the direction that UC4 should go in. Egos swell, she leaves. She's happy, she will make another studio much better when she gets there. Justin Richmond, an ally of Hennig's, gets an offer he can't refuse from Riot. He leaves.

These things happen. Naughty Dog is going to be fine. UC4 will still be awesome. Riot will be better with the pickup of Richmond and whoever gets Hennig will be better off. The sky isn't falling.

Guerilla Cambridge is working on a vita game that is shit and won't sell. They slim down as they retool for another project.

Again - this isn't new. This happens a lot.

The director of Driveclub doesn't deliver the game on time. Given more time the game still needs work. He is replaced.

Wouldn't you replace him? Wouldn't you shitcan stig's project that cost them almost 100 mil and had nothing of value to show for it? In fact they should have done it two years ago. The fact they let it go this far is a testament to how much they believed in him after GoW 3.

And all of this is happening before the fiscal year ends. Is sony trimming fat? Of course. Sony corporation is not in a great spot. So they are tightening up a bit. But a lot of people are connecting dots that don't need to be connected. Hennig/Richmond is about creative differences and ego. Stig is about wasted money and time. Col Rogers (driveclub) is about failing to deliver. Taken on their own they all make sense. Combine them together and you get glenn beck with a chalkboard.

And Jack Tretton was about money and inability to move up. He will make more money and have more power somewhere else - something Sony simply could not offer him. Shit happens.

It's the same with the xbox department guys. People move around. People leave for other companies. Shit happens.

Great post that sums up everything nicely. The insider info is also appreciated. But the problem isn't whether or not these were the correct business decisions; the concern is that each of these news items is bad for PS4 fans.

This is easily the worst month I can remember as a PlayStation fan.

I've found out that the SSM space game I was stoked about and expecting in the next 1-2 years actually isn't ever coming. I'm not a fan of God of War, so I was anxious to see what else the studio could bring. Apparently it's nothing any time soon.

I'm a HUGE Uncharted fan. This month, arguably the two most important people left the project. That's certainly not a good sign. It doesn't sound like a unified project, which is never good. I wouldn't be surprised if the game doesn't ship until Fall 2015, which is disappointing. I'm sure it'll be great, but I'd be lying if I said I'm just as confident as I was in February.

I was expecting DriveClub at launch. Sony recently said that the game went back to the drawing board at an unspecified time. The release date and quality are very much in question.

This has been a VERY bad month for PS4 gamers.
 

Loudninja

Member
I don't know what cambridge is working on. I don't think they know. I think they slimmed down as they figure out what they are doing next. If/when that's approved, they will hire people again. Many studios operate like this. Especially lower-tier ones like GC.





I heard various numbers between 75mil and 90 mil for stig's game. I said "almost 100" because, well, both are almost 100 mil. They restarted the game, from scratch, THREE TIMES! And it sucked every time. The whole "it was too much like destiny" thing is bullshit. It was more horror-ish and like Dead Space than Destiny. That whole thing was sony jumping on the grenade to help stig save face. And help themselves save face as they wasted a fucking TON of money.
Oh man that sounds like a complete mess.

I would have like to see a horror game shame they could not really get it going.
 

Loris146

Member
I don't know what cambridge is working on. I don't think they know. I think they slimmed down as they figure out what they are doing next. If/when that's approved, they will hire people again. Many studios operate like this. Especially lower-tier ones like GC.





I heard various numbers between 75mil and 90 mil for stig's game. I said "almost 100" because, well, both are almost 100 mil. They restarted the game, from scratch, THREE TIMES! And it sucked every time. The whole "it was too much like destiny" thing is bullshit. It was more horror-ish and like Dead Space than Destiny. That whole thing was sony jumping on the grenade to help stig save face. And help themselves save face as they wasted a fucking TON of money.

This is awful, simply awful.
 
Connecting dots where they don't need to be connected.



Stig and his team spent almost 100 million dollars on a game that failed every QA test that took. The game sucked. They shitcanned the game and a lot of the people involved. They offered stig a spot on barlog's project - he didn't want to go from game director to something lesser so he quit.

This makes sense, right? Shitty game, money wasted, people fired, head guy leaves out of ego? I mean that all makes sense.


Amy Hennig has creative differences about the direction that UC4 should go in. Egos swell, she leaves. She's happy, she will make another studio much better when she gets there. Justin Richmond, an ally of Hennig's, gets an offer he can't refuse from Riot. He leaves.

These things happen. Naughty Dog is going to be fine. UC4 will still be awesome. Riot will be better with the pickup of Richmond and whoever gets Hennig will be better off. The sky isn't falling.


Guerilla Cambridge is working on a vita game that is shit and won't sell. They slim down as they retool for another project.

Again - this isn't new. This happens a lot.


The director of Driveclub doesn't deliver the game on time. Given more time the game still needs work. He is replaced.



Wouldn't you replace him? Wouldn't you shitcan stig's project that cost them almost 100 mil and had nothing of value to show for it? In fact they should have done it two years ago. The fact they let it go this far is a testament to how much they believed in him after GoW 3.


And all of this is happening before the fiscal year ends. Is sony trimming fat? Of course. Sony corporation is not in a great spot. So they are tightening up a bit. But a lot of people are connecting dots that don't need to be connected. Hennig/Richmond is about creative differences and ego. Stig is about wasted money and time. Col Rogers (driveclub) is about failing to deliver. Taken on their own they all make sense. Combine them together and you get glenn beck with a chalkboard.


And Jack Tretton was about money and inability to move up. He will make more money and have more power somewhere else - something Sony simply could not offer him. Shit happens.


It's the same with the xbox department guys. People move around. People leave for other companies. Shit happens.

Explains a lot and sounds about right.
 
I don't know what cambridge is working on. I don't think they know. I think they slimmed down as they figure out what they are doing next. If/when that's approved, they will hire people again. Many studios operate like this. Especially lower-tier ones like GC.





I heard various numbers between 75mil and 90 mil for stig's game. I said "almost 100" because, well, both are almost 100 mil. They restarted the game, from scratch, THREE TIMES! And it sucked every time. The whole "it was too much like destiny" thing is bullshit. It was more horror-ish and like Dead Space than Destiny. That whole thing was sony jumping on the grenade to help stig save face. And help themselves save face as they wasted a fucking TON of money.

13613446471224667340.GIF


Why the hell would Sony allow this to happen three times?
 
I don't know what cambridge is working on. I don't think they know. I think they slimmed down as they figure out what they are doing next. If/when that's approved, they will hire people again. Many studios operate like this. Especially lower-tier ones like GC.





I heard various numbers between 75mil and 90 mil for stig's game. I said "almost 100" because, well, both are almost 100 mil. They restarted the game, from scratch, THREE TIMES! And it sucked every time. The whole "it was too much like destiny" thing is bullshit. It was more horror-ish and like Dead Space than Destiny. That whole thing was sony jumping on the grenade to help stig save face. And help themselves save face as they wasted a fucking TON of money.

How did sony allow them to continue this far?! That sound insane.
 
Connecting dots where they don't need to be connected.



Stig and his team spent almost 100 million dollars on a game that failed every QA test that took. The game sucked. They shitcanned the game and a lot of the people involved. They offered stig a spot on barlog's project - he didn't want to go from game director to something lesser so he quit.

This makes sense, right? Shitty game, money wasted, people fired, head guy leaves out of ego? I mean that all makes sense.


Amy Hennig has creative differences about the direction that UC4 should go in. Egos swell, she leaves. She's happy, she will make another studio much better when she gets there. Justin Richmond, an ally of Hennig's, gets an offer he can't refuse from Riot. He leaves.

These things happen. Naughty Dog is going to be fine. UC4 will still be awesome. Riot will be better with the pickup of Richmond and whoever gets Hennig will be better off. The sky isn't falling.


Guerilla Cambridge is working on a vita game that is shit and won't sell. They slim down as they retool for another project.

Again - this isn't new. This happens a lot.


The director of Driveclub doesn't deliver the game on time. Given more time the game still needs work. He is replaced.



Wouldn't you replace him? Wouldn't you shitcan stig's project that cost them almost 100 mil and had nothing of value to show for it? In fact they should have done it two years ago. The fact they let it go this far is a testament to how much they believed in him after GoW 3.


And all of this is happening before the fiscal year ends. Is sony trimming fat? Of course. Sony corporation is not in a great spot. So they are tightening up a bit. But a lot of people are connecting dots that don't need to be connected. Hennig/Richmond is about creative differences and ego. Stig is about wasted money and time. Col Rogers (driveclub) is about failing to deliver. Taken on their own they all make sense. Combine them together and you get glenn beck with a chalkboard.


And Jack Tretton was about money and inability to move up. He will make more money and have more power somewhere else - something Sony simply could not offer him. Shit happens.


It's the same with the xbox department guys. People move around. People leave for other companies. Shit happens.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. It may look iffy, but if anything, it's normal business and things that are expected to do well, will do well.
 
From what I played on Uncharted 3 I wouldn't be surprised. There's not much difference between a game that plays itself and one that gives you the illusion of agency and then fails you out whenever you try and employ some.

Yes, I stopped playing after the the young Drake rooftop chase.

I can only hope whatever creative issues are at play with Uncharted 4 lead to something less tyrannically directed than the last one.
Haha. I hope you will like the next game from both studios more then. They are aware of the shortcomings ;) Not to mention that both titles were more expensive than their predecessor, but had to be developed with much less time available (extreme rushing).
 

repeater

Member
Guerilla Cambridge is working on a vita game that is shit and won't sell. They slim down as they retool for another project.
Do you have any more info to share on this? (Or have you already talked about this in some other thread? Or has anybody else?) Guerilla Cambridge did such a wonderful job on Killzone: Mercenary and I was really hoping that we'd see more from them. Having them do a new IP would be cool, but I wouldn't have minded them assuming stewardship over the Killzone franchise as Guerilla Amsterdam move on to other stuff.. Any more info about their fate or what they have been up to since handing in Mercenary would basically be much appreciated!
 
Connecting dots where they don't need to be connected.



Stig and his team spent almost 100 million dollars on a game that failed every QA test that took. The game sucked. They shitcanned the game and a lot of the people involved. They offered stig a spot on barlog's project - he didn't want to go from game director to something lesser so he quit.

This makes sense, right? Shitty game, money wasted, people fired, head guy leaves out of ego? I mean that all makes sense.


Amy Hennig has creative differences about the direction that UC4 should go in. Egos swell, she leaves. She's happy, she will make another studio much better when she gets there. Justin Richmond, an ally of Hennig's, gets an offer he can't refuse from Riot. He leaves.

These things happen. Naughty Dog is going to be fine. UC4 will still be awesome. Riot will be better with the pickup of Richmond and whoever gets Hennig will be better off. The sky isn't falling.


Guerilla Cambridge is working on a vita game that is shit and won't sell. They slim down as they retool for another project.

Again - this isn't new. This happens a lot.


The director of Driveclub doesn't deliver the game on time. Given more time the game still needs work. He is replaced.



Wouldn't you replace him? Wouldn't you shitcan stig's project that cost them almost 100 mil and had nothing of value to show for it? In fact they should have done it two years ago. The fact they let it go this far is a testament to how much they believed in him after GoW 3.


And all of this is happening before the fiscal year ends. Is sony trimming fat? Of course. Sony corporation is not in a great spot. So they are tightening up a bit. But a lot of people are connecting dots that don't need to be connected. Hennig/Richmond is about creative differences and ego. Stig is about wasted money and time. Col Rogers (driveclub) is about failing to deliver. Taken on their own they all make sense. Combine them together and you get glenn beck with a chalkboard.


And Jack Tretton was about money and inability to move up. He will make more money and have more power somewhere else - something Sony simply could not offer him. Shit happens.


It's the same with the xbox department guys. People move around. People leave for other companies. Shit happens.

Either WWS is horribly mismanaged or Sony has terrible luck. Jeez.
 

Bigfoot

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I'd imagine everyone is. All these people leaving is far more than just "Sony is cutting the fat guys!!! No need to worry"

Weird how their first party studios are shrinking when the PS4 is dominating the market. PS4 needs more AA and AAA games, not less :|

Sony is probably thinking that they have this gen locked up so there isn't a huge need for console exclusives anymore. Everyone knows multiplatform is the smart way to go anyways if you want to make money.
 
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