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[ZoukGalaxy]

GOOD. Now kill it !

 

[CJ_75]

Worst idea i’ve ever heard in a long ass time….

Why would you want to infect Insomniac with whatever virus that is running rampart in ND atm???

Some of you are cray cray..

The day Starly left ND is the day ND would never be the same again, and we see why. Neil has messed up that place big time. But in the end i blame Sony the most for what’s happened to ND.

6 Effing years for a stand alone MP game made from a last gen game is now put on ice??? LMAO

Sad day really sad.

Now imagine a scenario where Druckmann is ousted and the leaders at Insomniac take over the well talented developers at ND. And perhaps, even bring back Bruce Straley.

Greatest idea since ever, right?

 

[Flutta]

Now imagine a scenario where Druckmann is ousted and the leaders at Insomniac take over the well talented developers at ND. And perhaps, even bring back Bruce Straley.

Greatest idea since ever, right?

Nahh lets not.

You are basically calling for a civil war to happen. These two studio have been in the game for a long time and during that time they’ve cultivated a studio culture different to one another. Best to let ND fix their own mess.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Kotaku

There you go, next Naughty Dog game coming out in 2028, lmao.

So laying off contractors only…?

 

[semiconscious]

This is not correct. ND has been in the game for a long time we talking crash bandicoot era here. Their first really successful game was Uncharted 2... so yeah it took them a long a very time before getting to where they are.

i'm talking about the mega-success that has been last of us franchise. i'm familiar with the company's history. i even mentioned in my own post 'as established a developer as naughty dog'. yes, their games have been quite successful. but none of them nearly so successful as last of us, which's extended their fame beyond the gaming community, an accomplishment that most game developer never achieve (&, yeah, i know there was an uncharted movie, but, as we both know, it never even approached the cultural impact of the last of us series)...

 

[Kabelly]

It was actually one of my most anticipated games. TLOU2 gameplay in a multiplayer game would have been so good. Such a shame.

 

[SHA]

But you're not saying there won't be a single player exclusive anymore, it's not the same thing.

 

[Brigandier]

This Dev has gone from the pinnacle to a joke imo... How about make some games and release them???

Wherethevideogames

 

[KungFucius]

Ahh so Jim Ryan was forced to retire because all the GaaS shit failed including this enormous waste of resources.

 

[recursive]

Why would severance be offered to contractors? I have never seen that occur.

 

[Majima Everywhere System]

I’d be pissed if Bungie showed up to my studio and shut down my game.

I don’t even think Bungie has an expert opinion here that would supersede a creative trying something out and the community deciding. Communities drive engagement, not roadmaps. Content doesn’t matter if community sees something in your game. It’s completely random hit making, and never content.

 

[Iced Arcade]

Hilarious how Bungie have been appointed as some overseer of GaaS content as if they're actually any good at it, they're constantly fucking up and most fans (including me) have only stuck around for nostalgia/friendships made in-game.

I mean Bungies annual revenue is $300-400 million so they might know a thing or 2

 

[Gamer79]

Kotaku

There you go, next Naughty Dog game coming out in 2028, lmao.

No severance and just laid off and asked to keep quiet?

They could kiss my shitty ass!

 

[Gamer79]

 

[Gamer79]

I hope not...
TLOU 1 was about saving the world.
TLOU 2 was a downgrade to a revenge story.
What would TLOU 3 be about? Ellie breaking a nail?

I hope it's a new IP.

No it's going to be the challenge of Ellie learning to play the guitar with missing fingers. It's a real coming of age story!

 

[midnightAI]

So laying off contractors only…?

They aren't even laying them off, as in cancelling contracts, they are just not renewing them (I know it's similar but just thought I'd mention the distinction)

Also, in regards to keeping quiet, I reckon that's misunderstood (I could be wrong) and that by keeping quiet they are talking about whatever project they were working on (which is normal NDA stuff) and not about keeping quiet about their contract not being renewed

And as far as the game being put on ice, I think I'd need more evidence than 'a source told us', that part I just find to be BS, gives the rest of the article more spice for what is essentially a non article.

 

[kaizenkko]

Well, at least can we presume that NOW Naughty Dog will give up any multiplayer project and start to really work on a single-player game?

 

[ElCasual]

Fuck you jimbo
This is your stupid only GaaS games, future

 

[ByWatterson]

Laying off workers with no severance seems shitty. And it is.

But you know what? Naughty Dog was cranking out bangers when it was a little (or a lot) shittier. Crunchier, more obsessive.

#bringbackcrunch

 

[GustavoLT]

NaughtyDog then:

NaughtyDog now:

 

[Arsic]

Neil would rather fire hundreds of people and ship trash then have to cancel this thing. His pencil dick ego won’t allow it.

Sony is probably so grateful for insomanic to carry the torch that ND left behind to go into cinders now.

 

[Arsic]

The holiday's look weak this year for Sony. What's on the table beside Spider Man 2?

The PSVR2 just came out and already feels unsupported by Sony. They're asleep or what?!

??? They launch every year basically with a spring game and a fall game.

Par for the course. This year they also have vr2 and portal.

This content may not tickle it for you but they’ve gone big this year.

 

[ReBurn]

I imagine part of this story is outrage embellishment to generate outrage clicks. Contractors having contracts end isn't a layoff and they can be held to any NDA they signed while under contract.

 

[HTK]

Watching these idiots in this thread squirm over GaaS and think they know the inner workings is hilarious to me.

 

[skit_data]

I really don't understand why these news blew up to the extent it has. 25 contract workers doesn't seem like a huge deal in light of the over 800 people leaving Epic Games etc.
The games development was pretty much put on hold several months ago so these news seems like some sort of storm in a teapot.

 

[Ceadeus]

??? They launch every year basically with a spring game and a fall game.

Par for the course. This year they also have vr2 and portal.

This content may not tickle it for you but they’ve gone big this year.

The expensive PSVR2 without an exciting holiday release sounds underwhelming aside the brand new, cheaper, all-in-one Meta Quest 3. Also including a free brand new game, backward compatibility and Xbox cloud gaming.

Yes, maybe a couple of people are excited about playing on a cloud handheld. They should sell a couple.

 

[crazepharmacist]

This coinciding with Jim Ryan leaving makes sense

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

It was actually one of my most anticipated games. TLOU2 gameplay in a multiplayer game would have been so good. Such a shame.

Same. Urban guerilla warfare simulator online would've been cool as fuck.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

5 years wasted*

Learn more through failure than you do through success. The last 5 years is invaluable accrued knowledge.

 

[Clear]

I really don't understand why these news blew up to the extent it has. 25 contract workers doesn't seem like a huge deal in light of the over 800 people leaving Epic Games etc.
The games development was pretty much put on hold several months ago so these news seems like some sort of storm in a teapot.

Because there are a lot of fools with axes to grind. Its really that simple.

They just feed it through a pre-existing grievance narrative and try and blow both out of all proportion.

 

[EDMIX]

All hands on TLOU3?

Looks like only QA contractors were let go, so developers likely all redirected to another project.

Who knows.

Based on the number of teams they have, could go to that new IP they are working on, could go to The Last Of Us 3, they could send them to both.

I'm not sure really

 

[Lokaum D+]

NOW FIRE NEIL DRUCKMAMN

 

[supernova8]

They aren't even laying them off, as in cancelling contracts, they are just not renewing them (I know it's similar but just thought I'd mention the distinction)

Also, in regards to keeping quiet, I reckon that's misunderstood (I could be wrong) and that by keeping quiet they are talking about whatever project they were working on (which is normal NDA stuff) and not about keeping quiet about their contract not being renewed

And as far as the game being put on ice, I think I'd need more evidence than 'a source told us', that part I just find to be BS, gives the rest of the article more spice for what is essentially a non article.

Do you have a source for that?

The Kotaku article says:

.."has begun cutting contracts short for dozens of workers."
Their contracts won’t be officially terminated until the end of October and they’ll be expected to work through the rest of the month. Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It certainly sounds (from the wording) that their contracts are being cut short, ie cancelled. Obviously unless we know the term (period) of their contracts (which may all be different if they were hired at different times) it's impossible to say.

It could be that they were due to be contracted until the end of 2023 but have just been told (ie given a month's notice ish) that they are being canned in a month's time (ie end of October).

 

[Gojiira]

OK keyboard warrior, I get it. It looks like you don't like Mr Druckmann. The man has a decent trackrecord, I don't share the hate against him.
Please do let us know what you don't like about him.

Besides being the chief reason Naughty Dog degraded all of its well written and well liked Male Characters?
Or how he is a fan of the utter trite and insulting bullshit that was Feminist Frequency.
Or how he literally pushed out possibly the best writer in all of Videogames (Amy Hennig)…Then started pushing gender politics and other garbage.
He made Naughty Dog commercial but at every turn has pissed on the fanbase and will continue to do so until he has a reality check. I wont deny he knows how to get the most out of Naughty Dog and at a glance he can make compelling games. But he’s a cunt and needs to stay well clear of Insomniac…

 

[Zuzu]

No longer can multiplayer be released as a standard complete entity (with perhaps some general expansions). Now everything multiplayer has to be GASSified and microtransactioned to the hilt in order to be viable to publishers. That's a hard thing to be since very few companies have had success releasing a GAAS.

 

[SABRE220]

This is a new level of incompetence...they have been working on this gaas shit for 6 years when they had an absolutely amazing multiplayer template in tlou1 multiplayer. All they needed to do was just expand on the multiplayer from the first game and it would be brilliant and would be done within 2 years but nope sony,bungie and nd managed to overthink this to the heavens and managed to produce a trainwreck. Its sad as that a massive fan of tlou multiplayer I will never be able to play the sequel because sony just wanted to shove gaas down our throats.

 

[quest]

It seems like just the overall issue with ND. They are great but they have so much going on i can see where things can go sidewise. They had people working on remasters and remakes, factions, new ip, last of us 3 and a tv show. They just need someone in management who can focus the studio into a couple of projects. Maybe even consider carving out the last of as a separate entity so it doesn't take away so much from other projects.

 

[DeadOblivion78]

Besides being the chief reason Naughty Dog degraded all of its well written and well liked Male Characters?
Or how he is a fan of the utter trite and insulting bullshit that was Feminist Frequency.
Or how he literally pushed out possibly the best writer in all of Videogames (Amy Hennig)…Then started pushing gender politics and other garbage.
He made Naughty Dog commercial but at every turn has pissed on the fanbase and will continue to do so until he has a reality check. I wont deny he knows how to get the most out of Naughty Dog and at a glance he can make compelling games. But he’s a cunt and needs to stay well clear of Insomniac…

 

[Topher]

It seems like just the overall issue with ND. They are great but they have so much going on i can see where things can go sidewise. They had people working on remasters and remakes, factions, new ip, last of us 3 and a tv show. They just need someone in management who can focus the studio into a couple of projects. Maybe even consider carving out the last of as a separate entity so it doesn't take away so much from other projects.

I'd bet all those directives for all those projects came from SIE, but that's just a guess. Either way, I think you are right. They are spread too thin.

 

[NikuNashi]

Contractors cannot be laid off. They will either have their contract extended or not. They are temporary employees who are often given a higher salary as the job is a fixed term and has no guarantee of emplyment after the end date.

In the last few years ive seen a growing cry baby attitude to the real world. These man babies just cannot except the reality of business life.

 

[Gambit2483]

GOOD. Now kill it !

Can't kill what already died. The game has been dead for a while now. They are just now admitting it.

 

[ProtoByte]

Now imagine a scenario where Druckmann is ousted and the leaders at Insomniac take over the well talented developers at ND. And perhaps, even bring back Bruce Straley.

Greatest idea since ever, right?

Swearing allegiance to Bruce Straley makes no sense from fan perspective. It's just out of spite for Druckmann.

This Dev has gone from the pinnacle to a joke imo... How about make some games and release them???

Wherethevideogames

It's only been 3 years since they released something. If their next game doesn't come out before 2026, then they clearly had a lot more invested into Factions than they should have... and/or they're making a new IP.

Seriously, you wanna talk about not releasing games, there's a myriad of studios that you can refer to.

 

[Fishels]

Unfortunately, being mechanically solid is not enough for multiplayer games today, especially if you want longevity or to make money.

Well it’s a good start. How else are these other live service games gonna do when when we don’t even know how they play? TLOU2 plays great they should have just released a TLOU BR mode with a PVP mode and kept updating it and called it a day. It won’t do Fortnite numbers but it could be successful

 

[Fishels]

Fuck it I still have a little faith.

isn't this source the same person Jason talked to? Like the game could still be alive they might just come back to it eventually after they finish their single player stuff. I have a hard time believing 3 years is gonna translate to nothing unless they come out and say it explicitly. That blog post they made a few months back for instance, I don’t really think we learned anything new today. Just that contractors were let go and the game is still having troubles/on hold.

TLOU IP is too big not to dip their toe in multiplayer eventuality

 

[Varteras]

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

This is not correct. ND has been in the game for a long time we talking crash bandicoot era here. Their first really successful game was Uncharted 2... so yeah it took them a long a very time before getting to where they are.

You must not have been there if you think prior games were not as successful. Crash Bandicoot was a synonym for Playstation, it was their unofficial mascot. Whoever had a PS1, they had Crash in their catalog. If you are measuring success by metrics, well sure because the install base of PS1 players versus PS1,2 and 3 is significantly higher so more sales would be made. But to say Crash was some little fart in the wind is heavily downplaying it. The game was huge and graced more magazine covers than Uncharted did.

 

[hyperbertha]

“You’re fired and getting no severance, please don’t mention it”

Why would anyone abide by this? Lmao

Seriously. The gall of these companies. Fuck em.

 

[havoc00]

Cuckman is a cancer

 

[bender]

Beyond the respawn system, I really enjoyed TLOU's multiplayer mode. The brutality of the combat was wonderful. I just can't imagine why this is taking so long to come to fruition. Maybe it is collapsing under the weight of being a standalone product rather than a complementary mode to TLOU2. Naughty Dog pipeline has quickly become the inverse of Insomniac's.

 

[Panajev2001a]

7 pages (long pages) for 25 contractors being gone a bit sooner or not renewed, as Clear was saying there are lots of fanboys with an axe to grind with Sony keeping it going / throwing gasoline on the fire and taking a chance to vent their outrage and doom and gloom about ND.

Sure, there might be things production wise not running as smoothly as they normally do there (looking at the actual releases since 2016), but worse news in the green camp generate far far less negativity and vitriol… keep the thread going green friends but remember it next time you play the victim card .