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Naughty Dog hiring for senior monetization designer (multiplayer)

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
They had an ad for a similar job ages ago.

I've been telling y'all, Factions 2 is going to be day one PC + F2P.
 

Great Hair

Banned
Excited Two Thumbs Up GIF by Sony Music Africa


They should send an email to Bonnie Ross at 343industriesAThalo.info for tips, on how to monetize the living shit out of your fanbase.
 

Polygonal_Sprite

Gold Member
We already know Sony wants a piece of that market.

I seriously just hope they don't release this for PS5 only...and an full price. Imagine killing a multiplayer game like that...

That said...these news might mean they aren't doing that. The full-price part at least.
It will die in a few months regardless. No one who is interested in mp is playing TLOU or UC mp when there’s the likes of Counterstrike, CoD, BF, Pubg, Fortnite etc on the market. It’s a complete waste of dev time. Sony should stick to what they do best and what saw them through most of the PS4 era - big budget open world / semi open world cinematic games. MP and VR are both a dead end when it comes to console mass market.
 
Is anyone else worried that naughty dog are making a multiplayer only game? They are a studio known for their quality single player games but all of a sudden they making a standalone multiplayer game? We need more studios making quality single players games, not less. Hopefully they reveal a new ip alongside and this will be a stop gap in between.
 
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IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Is anyone else worried that naughty dog are making a multiplayer only game? They are a studio known for their quality single player games but all of a sudden they making a standalone multiplayer game? We need more studios making quality single players games, not less. Hopefully they reveal a new ip alongside and this will be a stop gap in between.

In general different teams handle SP vs. MP, often hiring specific support studios who specialize in map designs for instance. There's really nothing to worry about; the team that was working on TLOU2 multiplayer continued to work on it.. the teams that do their SP games are off.. making SP games.

Then in the middle you have their engine folks, people working on gameplay mechanics, tightening controls, etc. That tech goes into SP + MP, and in reality, having an MP team whose product is super important is only going to encourage more improvement in that area.
 

tmlDan

Member
Factions 2 is free to play with MTX, i say it now.
I wouldn't be surprised and if they go the BR route it's almost needed for sustainability/make money obviously

I honestly don't mind as long as its affordable and not $20/skin like some games....

The tricky part with factions and monetizing is.....how do you make skins and charge for a game so serious and dark, if people are complaining about BF santa skin how can you do it in LoU without breaking that immersion
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
It's just single player gamers who feel threatened by multiplayer and the more competitive business model.
Yeah I see that argument; I should have quoted the post 2 above mine that was more about "multiplayer gamers" being mad.. the one that suggested you are a moron if you "accept it."

I personally don't really see the evidence of that.. we are still getting tons of massive SP games. And a billion indie games that are SP focused too.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
I wouldn't be surprised and if they go the BR route it's almost needed for sustainability/make money obviously

I honestly don't mind as long as its affordable and not $20/skin like some games....

The tricky part with factions and monetizing is.....how do you make skins and charge for a game so serious and dark, if people are complaining about BF santa skin how can you do it in LoU without breaking that immersion
What I can think of is, maybe:
1) something in darker tone like cultist outfit, hockey masks, or even wearable human skin on your character face...
2) military outfits, police officers outfits etc..... and of course normal fashion clothings like different hoodies, tshirts , tank tops, jeans etc....
3) Different accessories like bags, satchels, and maybe weapon skins?

I would not be surprise if ND really sells funny outfits like the santa claus lol
 

jakinov

Member
The industry has learned nothing from the success of Witcher 3.
What is that? That if you can get your community to make memes about your games for years you can continue to get lifetime sales at a lower price? Witcher 3 is anamoly that people kept hyping up and convince people to by. It ends up getting picked up by Google so when you search best PS4/xbox/pc game you see The Witcher. Even CD Projektz Red said that the reason they made Cyberpunk short was because a shit ton of people didn't actual beat the story. And it's not like GTA where people partly buy it for the sandbox experience. A lot of people probably won't buy Witcher 4 immediately. Unless of course you get all those Witcher memes on Reddit/Twitter/Facebook going again telling people to get or how great the game is.

But even with it's success, it doesn't compare to some of the top online games. Witcher 3 has 30 million people who bought their games over several years at varying prices. Some of the top online games bring in BILLIONS of revenue PER YEAR (e.g. LoL 1-2B and Fornite 3-5B). The best case (assuming nobody bought it on sale) for the Witcher 3 is ~$1.8 billion over 6 years but I would think they would have bragged about it generating > $1B in revenue to investors since they brag about profits and copies sold all the time.

You can also just look at revenues of EA and Ubisoft and see that the reason they do MTX is that a big percentage of their revenue comes from it.

Multiplayer gaming is signficantly more lucrative than single player gaming at least in potential. However there's still a lot of money to be made in single player games. But by saying that they learned nothing from the success of the Witcher 3 by trying to make a multiplayer game is absurd. If they think they can make a game people will enjoy, let them try. But don't act like they are missing out on some goldmine of money.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
SONY is afraid to attempt another exclusive multiplayer game outside of of UC4 they weren't close to the PS3, PS2 days of online multiplayer games, if you asked me to be excited about a naughty dog mp game I'd tell you no.
 

Neo_game

Member
I do not play games online may be will try racing sims but I am 100% SP guy so this is of zero interest to me. I am sure they are also developing a proper SP game as well. Though as others said MP is where they can keep the player interest for longer time and make it competitive and try to make it addictive. Sad but true
 
I'm pretty sure ND have learned from the last of us debacle and will want to do a fair system for everyone. I'm not worried, like some for some reason.
 
“Sony needs to make some other than single player narrative games”

“Yuck I cant believe sony is making a multiplayer game thats F2P like very other multiplayer game with mtx, they sold out”
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill

monetization designer​


Something even worse then a divorce lawyer

wow i am surprised..
Hell has a special place for people like this
 

sainraja

Member
Factions 2 is free to play with MTX, i say it now.
Multiplayer being free shouldn't surprise anyone now. Destiny 2 went F2P. Halo is also now F2P. That's pretty much what you have to do in order to compete in that area.
 

kyliethicc

Member
Factions 2 is free to play with MTX, i say it now.
Nah. $70 with MTX.

They will use their paid multiplayer games to sell PS Plus subscriptions. Doesn't work with free to play.

Even Destruction Allstars isn't free to play.

They may give the game away "for free" via PS Plus though.
 

sainraja

Member
It's just single player gamers who feel threatened by multiplayer and the more competitive business model.
At one point I was worried about multiplayer taking away from the single player experience but then Naughtydog released Uncharted 2. So if any one mode ends up being bad, it's not going to be due to the other.
 
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monetization designer​


Something even worse then a divorce lawyer

wow i am surprised..
Hell has a special place for people like this

Hard to believe we went from a time where this kind of thing would've been laughed at or belonged to some in-game parody/satire like in the old GTAs.
 

gradient

Resident Cheap Arse
Microtransaction enabled QTEs as extended content in The Last of Us 2 remastered.

Abby approaches at Joel

"Press Y to club. Press X to peg"
 
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What is that? That if you can get your community to make memes about your games for years you can continue to get lifetime sales at a lower price? Witcher 3 is anamoly that people kept hyping up and convince people to by. It ends up getting picked up by Google so when you search best PS4/xbox/pc game you see The Witcher. Even CD Projektz Red said that the reason they made Cyberpunk short was because a shit ton of people didn't actual beat the story. And it's not like GTA where people partly buy it for the sandbox experience. A lot of people probably won't buy Witcher 4 immediately. Unless of course you get all those Witcher memes on Reddit/Twitter/Facebook going again telling people to get or how great the game is.

But even with it's success, it doesn't compare to some of the top online games. Witcher 3 has 30 million people who bought their games over several years at varying prices. Some of the top online games bring in BILLIONS of revenue PER YEAR (e.g. LoL 1-2B and Fornite 3-5B). The best case (assuming nobody bought it on sale) for the Witcher 3 is ~$1.8 billion over 6 years but I would think they would have bragged about it generating > $1B in revenue to investors since they brag about profits and copies sold all the time.

You can also just look at revenues of EA and Ubisoft and see that the reason they do MTX is that a big percentage of their revenue comes from it.

Multiplayer gaming is signficantly more lucrative than single player gaming at least in potential. However there's still a lot of money to be made in single player games. But by saying that they learned nothing from the success of the Witcher 3 by trying to make a multiplayer game is absurd. If they think they can make a game people will enjoy, let them try. But don't act like they are missing out on some goldmine of money.

Fornite is lightning in a bottle though. That seems to be clear to everyone but gaming execs. Shoehorning Naughty Dog into trying to capture that seems very risky with a low potential for reward. Especially by their own stated goals. There is no way to force millions of people online to role play enough for an MP game to feel cinematic. The only option would be to limit the locomotion to the point that it wouldn't be appealing to the people who give Epic billions for Fornite merch.

Witcher 3 is just an example of making a traditional single player game and have outstanding success on a cultural level. It's just a smarter target.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
What did I say...... the minute PS games started going to PC it became about making money directly from 1st party, say good bye to any artistic integrity.
Exclusives are centerpieces to attract gamers to a platform but now they are just products like any 3rd party game...

You can see how things are pivoting under Ryan....paid upgrades, demos in PS+, multiplayer and online only games (GT7) and now here come the MTX in everything.

As in Hamlet, when the King is poison, he poisons all below him.
The whole of PS is turning to shit onfront of my eyes TBF.

Jim Ryan is the worst think to happen to it ever...
Drama Reaction GIF
 

jakinov

Member
Fornite is lightning in a bottle though. That seems to be clear to everyone but gaming execs. Shoehorning Naughty Dog into trying to capture that seems very risky with a low potential for reward. Especially by their own stated goals. There is no way to force millions of people online to role play enough for an MP game to feel cinematic. The only option would be to limit the locomotion to the point that it wouldn't be appealing to the people who give Epic billions for Fornite merch.

Witcher 3 is just an example of making a traditional single player game and have outstanding success on a cultural level. It's just a smarter target.
Fornite is only at the top. League of Legends brings in billions in revene per year too. Valorant, Apex, PUBG, Warzone, CS:GO DOTA2, TF2 who have generated at least hunderds of millions per year in revenue and have idividually since release each generated multiple billions of dollars in lifetime revenue. We haven't even started taling about the games have millions of paid monthly subscribers like World of Warcraft and Final fatasy or Asian F2P games. Multiplayer is where the money is at.

For it to be cinematic, all they need is scripted events and cutscenes integrated which we've seen in games like Destiny, MMOs, The Divsion and other games. That's all there is to single palyer games when people call it cinematic.

Witcher 3 is more a lighting in a bottle becaus most single palyer games dont' get that kind of sales numbers or that knd of community on the developers dicks. There were poitns where Witcher 3 posts on REddit and twitter would trend daily about how great the game and how not evil the company is. And again even wtih those sales number the revenue/profits aren't that great. Looking at CDPR's revenue for the entire company itself since 2015 we're looking at around ~$1.278B but that includes GOG, old witcher sales, Gwent, Thronbreaker and Cyberpunk 2047 (13.7M copies in 2020) across 5 years. So again even with all that the Witcher 3 lifetime revenue is not that great especially over such a long period of time.

Going single player isn't a smarter target it's a safer one. With safer low risk = low reward.
 
Fornite is only at the top. League of Legends brings in billions in revene per year too. Valorant, Apex, PUBG, Warzone, CS:GO DOTA2, TF2 who have generated at least hunderds of millions per year in revenue and have idividually since release each generated multiple billions of dollars in lifetime revenue. We haven't even started taling about the games have millions of paid monthly subscribers like World of Warcraft and Final fatasy or Asian F2P games. Multiplayer is where the money is at.

For it to be cinematic, all they need is scripted events and cutscenes integrated which we've seen in games like Destiny, MMOs, The Divsion and other games. That's all there is to single palyer games when people call it cinematic.

Witcher 3 is more a lighting in a bottle becaus most single palyer games dont' get that kind of sales numbers or that knd of community on the developers dicks. There were poitns where Witcher 3 posts on REddit and twitter would trend daily about how great the game and how not evil the company is. And again even wtih those sales number the revenue/profits aren't that great. Looking at CDPR's revenue for the entire company itself since 2015 we're looking at around ~$1.278B but that includes GOG, old witcher sales, Gwent, Thronbreaker and Cyberpunk 2047 (13.7M copies in 2020) across 5 years. So again even with all that the Witcher 3 lifetime revenue is not that great especially over such a long period of time.

Going single player isn't a smarter target it's a safer one. With safer low risk = low reward.
Can you think of any true 9/10 single player games that released recently that didn't exceed sales expectations? I think it's an easier lightning to bottle then MP and requires much less investment. No one ever went broke making a small profit.
 
This might be a dumb question, but is it really so much of a skill to figure out ways to fleece customers for money that a "senior monetization designer" is a distinct job position? Like, couldn't this normally just be something the executive producer or publsher of a game does or something?
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Fornite is lightning in a bottle though. That seems to be clear to everyone but gaming execs. Shoehorning Naughty Dog into trying to capture that seems very risky with a low potential for reward. Especially by their own stated goals. There is no way to force millions of people online to role play enough for an MP game to feel cinematic. The only option would be to limit the locomotion to the point that it wouldn't be appealing to the people who give Epic billions for Fornite merch.

Witcher 3 is just an example of making a traditional single player game and have outstanding success on a cultural level. It's just a smarter target.

Actually, Fortnite was a quick copy of PUBG, which is in itself one of the most profitable games in history. Then Apex Legends hit and became, by order of magnitude Respawns most profitable game. Then Warzone came out and is competing with Fortnite right now for most popular console game.

This isn't "lightning in a bottle". This is an extremely crude version of a completely new thing. It would be foolish not to advance the formula.
 

jakinov

Member
Can you think of any true 9/10 single player games that released recently that didn't exceed sales expectations? I think it's an easier lightning to bottle then MP and requires much less investment. No one ever went broke making a small profit.
How many games are actually true 9/10 games? For recent games, I haven't really heard of many games that have said they beat sales expetations? A lot of companies have been pretty silent about their numbers. The highest rated single player game that came to my mind was Deathloop which got "perfect" scores from the two of the most popular gaming sites and I 've heard nothing about sales being crazy.

Arguably MP can be a a lot cheaper than single player games i.e. smaller investment. For the average MP game, you aren't wasting money hiring voice actors to perfomr long dialogues, doing complex mocap, hiring writters, fancy music, creating a bunch of NPCs and large high detailed play areas. The downside of average MP game is not that it's a big invesment. It's that it can be hard to maintain a community of players. Unless we're talking about MMOs, you never really hear about many MP games that spend multiple years in development. GaaS models also let MP games offer a minimum-viable-product, improve over time or fail fast. Instead of spending a bunch of money for 5 years just for a game to flop.

If you aim for small profits, you might as well not even make games. The cash a company has to spend on a project has to at least exceed the reward of if they just put their money into blue-chip stocks, etfs, mutual funds or whatever. Because you risk a lot of money in a high risk project you better get some high reward.
 

Kabelly

Member
the gameplay of TLOU2 without the fluff and bad pacing has me very interested in the multiplayer .

Also since they've updated TLOU2 with gyro , TLOU2 multiplayer could be Splatoon level fun.
 
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