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

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There are reasons why Sony lost a lot of money during the PS3 years. They are trying not to repeat that.


People losing jobs sucks. I feel for the SSM guys and everyone else. But Sony needs to run a tighter ship if they want to make money. They can't allow teams to piss around for years with nothing to show. That's why they completely restructured Japan Studio. Those guys had dozens of games that were going nowhere. It's why they shuttered Zipper. MAG, while amazing - imo, was an expensive failure. Socom 4 was an expensive failure. They closed them down.

Now they are tightening up on teams that aren't delivering. It sucks - but it makes sense. The playstation division is in strong state right now. The PS3 is finally making money for them, the PS4 is off to best start in console history, and they are correcting the money-wasting mistakes of the prior generation. I'm not saying we should have a party now - there are clearly hurdles to overcome. Stig's game being gone created a giant hole in their lineup. The driveclub delay is the cause of enormous worry for many PS4 fans. The timing of these things has tinfoil hats flying everywhere. Sony corporate has very big problems it needs to handle. Shit isn't all rosy at sony - i'm not trying to say that. But it's not doom and gloom either. These are all separate events that happened for very logical reasons when you look at them individually.
'Mort with that level head. Makes complete sense. What doesn't is that this guy is choosing to go to Riot ha. Whatta riot that is
not ashamed of that at all...
 
does this really surprise anyone? western gaming culture lacks the honor, and sacrifice, of the east. this wouldn't happen in japan as it would bring shame to the family. i don't care who you are in a company, mail guy or top executive. you don't abandon your company, you move up in the ranks when the opportunity is given to you.

Nice.
 

Yawnier

Banned
does this really surprise anyone? western gaming culture lacks the honor, and sacrifice, of the east. this wouldn't happen in japan as it would bring shame to the family. i don't care who you are in a company, mail guy or top executive. you don't abandon your company, you move up in the ranks when the opportunity is given to you.

Are you an expert on Japanese culture? Do you also agree that honor and shame are huge parts of it?
 
does this really surprise anyone? western gaming culture lacks the honor, and sacrifice, of the east. this wouldn't happen in japan as it would bring shame to the family. i don't care who you are in a company, mail guy or top executive. you don't abandon your company, you move up in the ranks when the opportunity is given to you.

Nice twist on that meme lol.
 
does this really surprise anyone? western gaming culture lacks the honor, and sacrifice, of the east. this wouldn't happen in japan as it would bring shame to the family. i don't care who you are in a company, mail guy or top executive. you don't abandon your company, you move up in the ranks when the opportunity is given to you.

Very nice
 

Melchiah

Member
Sony is very lenient with their studios, which gets us stuff like The Last of Us and Puppeteer, but it also can bite them in the ass. Stig bit them in the ass.

I hope the recent happenings won't change their stance, as playing it safe would certainly diminish the quality and variety of their games.
 

Duxxy3

Member
So is it reasonable to think there will be PS4 ports of select PS3/Vita titles, to fill in the gaping holes in the lineup?
 

Capella

Member
Non-numbered sequels typically don't sell as well for whatever reason. Take a look at the massive spike in sales when Halo 4 was released versus ODST and Reach.

I doubt they'll can the God of War series, even though I wish they would move on from Kratos and do something else. Maybe a different setting is enough to refresh the series a bit... Norse Mythology or something.
I'm kind of burnt out on God of War but if it's a reboot in a different setting + new gameplay then I'm interested.
 
Guerrilla Games will be untouched by the house cleaning, and other studios will suffer because Shadowfall sold well thanks entirely to aggressive bundling.

They've never delivered on the promise of what a first party FPS franchise like Killzone could be, yet for some reason Sony still give them a AAA budget to ship a middling 2 million units for their games. Being technically capable isn't enough when you're going to be compared to Battlefield, Call of Duty and Halo.

They should've shuttered the place and flushed Killzone down the toilet at the end of the last generation. Guerrilla Cambridge's vita game was the best entry that franchise has ever had, they should expand that studio instead.



The thing is... guerilla does what they do for relatively cheap. They also work directly with the ICE team to help with tools. They also haven't released a game that has lost money.


While I agree with you about the quality of killzone, i don't agree with the rest. You don't fuck with a team doing that much for you.
 

StuBurns

Banned
You never know what sort of planning is going on behind the scenes for each and every project. But there is planning.
Yeah, of course, and I appreciate that, but I also think a company should still roll with the punches.

To take the VR example again, Shu was openly mocking the fact everyone at the presentation knew what it was about, despite being a 'secret'. Even they know it's stupid to pretend this stuff is a secret.

I understand not confirming TLG for PS4, that'll be a nice reveal for them, or not confirming Until Dawn for Morpheus, but once a Sony staff member directly comments on the existence of a project, I think it's the best thing to just come out and say "Yeah, we'll have the official reveal in the coming weeks" or whatever.
 
does this really surprise anyone? western gaming culture lacks the honor, and sacrifice, of the east. this wouldn't happen in japan as it would bring shame to the family. i don't care who you are in a company, mail guy or top executive. you don't abandon your company, you move up in the ranks when the opportunity is given to you.

Exactly. You sound like an expert.
 

m@cross

Member
does this really surprise anyone? western gaming culture lacks the honor, and sacrifice, of the east. this wouldn't happen in japan as it would bring shame to the family. i don't care who you are in a company, mail guy or top executive. you don't abandon your company, you move up in the ranks when the opportunity is given to you.

Japanese business style promotes companies as a part of your family and includes expectations of great dedication to the company as a result, it is not a gaming thing.

US business style promotes climbing the ranks and using companies as stepping stones to greater money and success. Companies are a means to an end and they are ok with that.

Both styles have positives and negatives, one could easily argue the stagnation in Japanese gaming is due to employees not being willing to leave lame duck companies to form new ones that might revive it.
 

Paracelsus

Member
There are reasons why Sony lost a lot of money during the PS3 years. They are trying not to repeat that.


People losing jobs sucks. I feel for the SSM guys and everyone else. But Sony needs to run a tighter ship if they want to make money. They can't allow teams to piss around for years with nothing to show. That's why they completely restructured Japan Studio. Those guys had dozens of games that were going nowhere. It's why they shuttered Zipper. MAG, while amazing - imo, was an expensive failure. Socom 4 was an expensive failure. They closed them down.

Now they are tightening up on teams that aren't delivering. It sucks - but it makes sense.
The playstation division is in strong state right now. The PS3 is finally making money for them, the PS4 is off to best start in console history, and they are correcting the money-wasting mistakes of the prior generation. I'm not saying we should have a party now - there are clearly hurdles to overcome. Stig's game being gone created a giant hole in their lineup. The driveclub delay is the cause of enormous worry for many PS4 fans. The timing of these things has tinfoil hats flying everywhere. Sony corporate has very big problems it needs to handle. Shit isn't all rosy at sony - i'm not trying to say that. But it's not doom and gloom either. These are all separate events that happened for very logical reasons when you look at them individually.

Yes, indeed. When I said the same thing not too long ago, I was nearly insulted for it.
 
How? Because some layoffs occurred and no announced projects were affected?

Well, the "how" is explained in depth in the part of my post that you left out of the quote. So, I'll simply re-post it below. If you don't see how this collection of events makes for one of the most disappointing months in recent times for PlayStation fans, then I'm baffled.

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.
 
The thing is... guerilla does what they do for relatively cheap. They also work directly with the ICE team to help with tools. They also haven't released a game that has lost money.


While I agree with you about the quality of killzone, i don't agree with the rest. You don't fuck with a team doing that much for you.

thank you for this post


some people just believe Sony should hack at a Studio because the story in their games are sub-par

there is always a bigger picture
 
At E3 Neil is going to pretend to unveil a new Uncharted trailer, but instead he'll rip off his face like a Scooby Doo villain and we'll learn that he's been an enraged Ken Kutaragi this whole time.
 

CLEEK

Member
does this really surprise anyone? western gaming culture lacks the honor, and sacrifice, of the east. this wouldn't happen in japan as it would bring shame to the family. i don't care who you are in a company, mail guy or top executive. you don't abandon your company, you move up in the ranks when the opportunity is given to you.

You should listen to this guy. He's obviously an expert in Japanese culture.
 

iNvid02

Member
not surprised by sony ignoring tlou ps4 thing, pubs want complete control of the information flow. why come out now and admit it when you can make a big ass splash at E3 with maximum media presence and create a killer first impression.

the only reason i think ubi put out unity trailer was because ~march has been the "next AC reveal" period for a couple of years now.

so daryll is the next person to die?

i dont see no daryll anywhere

sbkvw2hflk5u.png
 

Paracelsus

Member
The thing is... guerilla does what they do for relatively cheap. They also work directly with the ICE team to help with tools. They also haven't released a game that has lost money.

While I agree with you about the quality of killzone, i don't agree with the rest. You don't fuck with a team doing that much for you.

GG went to hell and back because of Killzone 2, they were forced to step up their game and benefitted from it. Sony would be insane to drop these people right now of all moments.
 
Riot Games innovative? Now I have seen it all.

Yeah, they only created the world's most popular videogame, as well as the world's most popular professionally played and watched videogame. The last big League of Legends event had over half a million people watching live on Twitch, no innovation needed there!
 
The thing is... guerilla does what they do for relatively cheap. They also work directly with the ICE team to help with tools. They also haven't released a game that has lost money.


While I agree with you about the quality of killzone, i don't agree with the rest. You don't fuck with a team doing that much for you.

Also it seem GG can get stuff done on time which is a plus .
I really looking forward to GG next game .
Rumor was it suppose to be a RPG i just hope it not first person , GG tech and Art for RPG would be so fucking good.
 

StuBurns

Banned
Yeah, they only created the world's most popular videogame, as well as the world's most popular professionally played and watched videogame. The last big League of Legends event had over half a million people watching live on Twitch, no innovation needed there!
Are you confusing the word innovation with success?
 
Yeah, of course, and I appreciate that, but I also think a company should still roll with the punches.

To take the VR example again, Shu was openly mocking the fact everyone at the presentation knew what it was about, despite being a 'secret'. Even they know it's stupid to pretend this stuff is a secret.

I understand not confirming TLG for PS4, that'll be a nice reveal for them, or not confirming Until Dawn for Morpheus, but once a Sony staff member directly comments on the existence of a project, I think it's the best thing to just come out and say "Yeah, we'll have the official reveal in the coming weeks" or whatever.

I'm with you, same with the Halo 2 Anniversary edition or whatever being the big 2014 Holiday title for the X1. Everyone knows about it now, but you do not see anyone from Microsoft saying, " yup that is a real thing, we will talk about it in a few weeks "

Don't ask me why companies act like this. I am not 100% sure all the time either. Sometimes there is no reason except they do not want to give the competition any information whatsoever on their plans during a year until the last possible moment when there cannot be a counter to it. Like Sony may of been playing TLOU all along for the summer directly after E3 as a counter to anything Microsoft had planned for E3 when it comes to " remakes ", but did not want MS to know just in case MS made some plans to cut a presentation for E3 in favor of a later date closer to that products release.

You see, so many possibilities to everything, it is impossible to know why the company reacts, or doesn't, for any particular leak. I have seen in the past where a leak happens and its a " ooo man you got us " type thing and it is then official, but a lot of times they try to give as little publicity to leaks as possible. Especially if true and they had plans for that announcement / strategy for the timing.
 

Corto

Member
Uncharted 4 back to the drawing board. That Famousmortimer post of Stig's game burning through 75+ millions is disheartening. Such a waste. That's an absolute mismanagement of resources. Maybe Sony should lose even more studios from its first party stable. It's clear that their current structure can't manage them effectively.
 

Sweep14

Member
what a waste, Shuhei has some explaining to do...URG!!

Unless your a big shareholder within WWS (which is not possible btw), he doesn't owe you any explanation. Those restructurations at WWS and in studios in general are a necessity and it's a good thing it's happening at the early days of the new platform
People leave, other guys are promoted, new workers are hired etc...
 
Also it seem GG can get stuff done on time which is a plus .
I really looking forward to GG next game .
Rumor was it suppose to be a RPG i just hope it not first person , GG tech and Art for RPG would be so fucking good.

Totally agree, and I also hope it's not first person. Would love to see their stuff in an RPG.
 
My theory:

Druckman wanted Uncharted to go for a darker, grittier tone for the next generation, the co-presidents agreed and asked Richmond and Henning to comply. Richmond and Henning complied originally but as time went on they become more and more disillusioned with the idea, eventually they left.
 
Can this be on the front page of GAF? Please? This made me feel relieved to read through.

You're relieved that a single game with a name director burned through $75-100 million (assuming you believe that post) and was then canceled? This causes relief for you?

Holy fucking shit. If that is even remotely true, that is a huge fail. A bigger fail than all the crap Gran Turismo went through last generation for example.
 

Gestault

Member
It always amazes me the conclusions people jump to.

Let's wait for the game to come out and see what it's like.

I think discussion based on the signals we're getting is totally justified. That being said, I doubt the game was far enough along to be fundamentally undermined by the staffing shifts we're seeing. The "why" of it all is interesting, but we may never get to know that.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
My theory:

Druckman wanted Uncharted to go for a darker, grittier tone for the next generation, the co-presidents agreed and asked Richmond and Henning to comply. Richmond and Henning complied originally but as time went on they become more and more disillusioned with the idea, eventually they left.
Druckmann has been doing nothing but TLoU since Uncharted 2 shipped up through the release of Left Behind.
 

NervousXtian

Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
What studio would throw 100M at a project, when it continuously failed (3 times by your accound)? Shouldn't only a select group of MAYBE 10-25 people prototype the thing to make sure it was good/fun/working before throwing 100 people behind the project?

How did it make it out of pre-production is the question... 100M is a LOT of money for a game, let alone one that never came out.

Well, that's the thing that's more bothersome than the layoffs. If what Mort says is true about Stig.. who the hell is watching over shit there?

How did his projects get greenlit past prototyping if they were awful? I get a reboot once, as sometimes shit just doesn't come together.. but did they learn nothing from the first 2 times through?

Someone other than Stig should be fired if this is all true... because greenlighting something a 3rd time and having it fail? That's more than just Stig and the team.. thats on whoever gave him the green light as well.
 

Kyoufu

Member
My theory:

Druckman wanted Uncharted to go for a darker, grittier tone for the next generation, the co-presidents agreed and asked Richmond and Henning to comply. Richmond and Henning complied originally but as time went on they become more and more disillusioned with the idea, eventually they left.

I'd have thought Druckmann would be planning his next project rather than meddling with Uncharted.
 
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