IncandescentPrecept
Banned
Please, share what you have with us.
-
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.
The hell is going on with Sony game studios?
- Thread starter sn00zer
- Start date
Please, share what you have with us.
bigboss370
Member
good to know.
I don't think Sony's onslaught of quality games is stopping anytime soon.
Goldenroad
Member
Pure tinfoil hat speculation, but, it seems like Sony has sold way more consoles than anticipated and will continue to with the PS4, hence they don't need as many big first party games to push the console as they did with the PS3. I could be way off base, but it seems like now that I have a PS4, Sony doesn't need to worry about putting out AAA titles to attract me anymore.
With all this talent going to Riot, i'm actually kind of shocked at who they're bringing in.
Amy Hennig
Greg Street
and now Justin Richmond.
Like holy shit, those are some major people.
If anything, half my wonder is about Sony, but the other half wants to know what the hell Riot is prepping for that they're getting people like this.
Amy Hennig
Greg Street
and now Justin Richmond.
Like holy shit, those are some major people.
If anything, half my wonder is about Sony, but the other half wants to know what the hell Riot is prepping for that they're getting people like this.
people need to stop making such uninformed posts... PD can do what they want because they make a lot of money. Same goes for many other studios such as Quantic Dreams or GG.
But if your game does not pass review, if your studio continuously pumps out money losers, then yeah, for the good of the rest of studios, they need to tighten the ship.
Of course, Sony owns many studios who employ many devs, most of them are still hiring because their projects are going well.
They need to kill projects doing bad earlier in the cycle... I am sure they are trying to do the same on the movie side, it is same problem there as well.
Thanks for the FM quotes. THIS is the one that should be stickied if anything. It's hilarious(ly depressing) how many people quoted the first one to say SEE EVERYTHING'S PERFECT SHUTUP!!!!!!!
people need to chill, there is nothing going on out of the ordinary. People leave and restructuring for new types of games etc.
It´s all according to Sony´s plan
The plan is to downsize and more directly oversee projects, so I think it's legitimate discussion, and cause of worry for some, no?
We definitely need more of these posts. Thanks for stopping by.
robertsan21
Member
people need to chill, there is nothing going on out of the ordinary. People leave and restructuring for new types of games etc.
It´s all according to Sony´s plan
It´s all according to Sony´s plan
dragonbane
Member
Uhm, Amy Hennig is not confirmed for Riot at all.
swazzyswess
Member
Correct.
family_guy
Member
Let's be honest though. Everybody talks about how exclusives are what sell consoles but the highest selling games last gen were third party games and the best selling console outside of Wii, was the one that had the least first party exclusives, 360. I don't blame Sony for trimming the fat so to speak, but I don't expect them to have the same output of new ips and take the same risks this gen. As a gamer who likes exclusives, PC and Wii U seem to be the way to go.
IncandescentPrecept
Banned
A gamer who likes exclusives? You like exclusives more than multiplatforms you mean?
PeakPointMatrix
Member
Oh please. Have you even browsed a single page of those recent cancellation/layoff threads? You can't even go five posts before someone declares the death of the Playstation brand/console industry. Don't even get me started on the airheads pissed about a canceled new IP they knew jack shit about, which for all provided evidence was hemorrhaging money, mismanaged, and most importantly, making a game that just wasn't coming together. But boo! It was a new IP! How dare they cancel it! It's infuriating to hear the same thoughtless outrage, and magnifies how little people understand about how a studio system works and handles creative development.
I haven't been in the other threads, no. I don't see any of that in this thread though. The complete (and equally ridiculous) opposite, in fact.
Ol No Bones
Banned
I see you guys saying this is no big deal but I think the lack of a rubber ducky demo is pretty ominous. If there wasn't problems we would have seen it by now.
SlipperySlope
Banned
I don't understand this comment. They got all major 3rd party support last generation. How can you get loads more than "all"?
Is that surprising? LoL is one of the biggest games there is right now.
If this already hasn't been posted, I think Jeff Gerstmann sums it up nicely:
"Seems like a small handful of people who are spread across way different divisions of a company. I wouldnt read too much into it.
But if you had to try to tie some of it together, I feel like their first-party stuff has been in need of a serious shakeup for years. So maybe theyre finally getting it and thats resulting in some people quietly being shown the door or people deciding that its no longer the place for them. Or maybe its a coincidence, the start of a generation is a good time for everyone across all ends of the video game business to take a hard look at whats around them and decide if this is what they really want to be doing.
I dunno, people try to wrap up every single personnel change into some larger narrative, but were talking about individuals who have all kinds of hopes, dreams, and situations. At this point Ive seen people leave jobs for all sorts of personal reasons that have little to do with where they work. Its sort of a waste of time to try to make it all meaningful."
"Seems like a small handful of people who are spread across way different divisions of a company. I wouldnt read too much into it.
But if you had to try to tie some of it together, I feel like their first-party stuff has been in need of a serious shakeup for years. So maybe theyre finally getting it and thats resulting in some people quietly being shown the door or people deciding that its no longer the place for them. Or maybe its a coincidence, the start of a generation is a good time for everyone across all ends of the video game business to take a hard look at whats around them and decide if this is what they really want to be doing.
I dunno, people try to wrap up every single personnel change into some larger narrative, but were talking about individuals who have all kinds of hopes, dreams, and situations. At this point Ive seen people leave jobs for all sorts of personal reasons that have little to do with where they work. Its sort of a waste of time to try to make it all meaningful."
Deadly Joker
Member
Real questions is who is going to actually make the games. Having a bunch of Managers is great. Where are the worker bees?
iceatcs
Junior Member
people need to chill, there is nothing going on out of the ordinary. People leave and restructuring for new types of games etc.
It´s all according to Sony´s plan
Yeah but some have the right to worry. I mean it could change the direction to something we don't want.
But of course over-reaction is purely fanboy thing.
Senor Kami
Banned
Dat first post tho.
People come people go. The concept of someone working their whole life at one company just doesn't exist anymore. If you weren't grandfathered in back in the 1980s, you can either leave first or be fired/laid off whenever the company is in the mood for it or two years before you're eligible to retire.
TheOctodad
Member
Someone should explain to Gerstmann that it's actually because Playstation doesn't make any money.
IncandescentPrecept
Banned
GTA is bigger in the west.
They came out and said that is because they are focusing on Planetside 2, DC Universe, and the Everquest Franchise. I'm pretty sure Star Wars Clone Wars is gone due to licensing (EA deal) and the others due to low player population.
Very true.
What could people like them bring to it now though? People like that are people you bring in to plan big newer things, imo.
Uh...
Edit: Oh wait, I misread names.
KoopaTheCasual
Junior Member
??? I think you may have misread the article? It confirms Justin for Riot, but only stated that Justin and Amy were at one point helming Uncharted 4 together.
Justice_Bolt
Member
thanks Famousmortimer for the clarification. Make sense.
Omnistalgic
Member
Sony needs more gta and skyrim franchises...
Less Motorstorm and star hawk...
There games outside of about 5-7 franchise don't bring in the money, so why not just invest in other Devs like Indy guys and promising exclusives?
Creativity seems to be with only a handful of studios and Indy..I think it's wise for Sony to scale back. And focus on making there top hits 10/10 quality products that maximize sells. (GT Uncharted tlou gow killzone infamous lbp) start a few new Ip, maybe bring back some old favorites like resistance or warhawk and just nurture Indy development. I would also fund the team trying to recreate socom and have a studio (maybe SSM) that just makes smaller games. I would demand at least a 5 game every 5 years output from the team and encourage creativity. Minecraft is proof you don't need the huge budgets anymore for something to catch on.
Hope Sony is doing at least some of this. Blowing resistance warhAwk and socom were some of the biggest screw ups I've ever seen, all 3 had/has potential to be lucrative games. Seriously how did they screw up resistance and warhawk? We just wanted more of the same thing with incremental improvements and the socom community basically spelled out what they wanted in a next gen game. Smh...blown opportunities, along with Sony not snatching up from software and demons souls.
Less Motorstorm and star hawk...
There games outside of about 5-7 franchise don't bring in the money, so why not just invest in other Devs like Indy guys and promising exclusives?
Creativity seems to be with only a handful of studios and Indy..I think it's wise for Sony to scale back. And focus on making there top hits 10/10 quality products that maximize sells. (GT Uncharted tlou gow killzone infamous lbp) start a few new Ip, maybe bring back some old favorites like resistance or warhawk and just nurture Indy development. I would also fund the team trying to recreate socom and have a studio (maybe SSM) that just makes smaller games. I would demand at least a 5 game every 5 years output from the team and encourage creativity. Minecraft is proof you don't need the huge budgets anymore for something to catch on.
Hope Sony is doing at least some of this. Blowing resistance warhAwk and socom were some of the biggest screw ups I've ever seen, all 3 had/has potential to be lucrative games. Seriously how did they screw up resistance and warhawk? We just wanted more of the same thing with incremental improvements and the socom community basically spelled out what they wanted in a next gen game. Smh...blown opportunities, along with Sony not snatching up from software and demons souls.
paradise_circus
Member
The costs for GT 5 were less than 100 million while a 100+ staff was working for 5 years for that single game. I believe that there was probably a huge loss for sony but noway the loss was near 100 million or even near 50 million dollars.
Fox_Mulder
Rockefellers. Skull and Bones. Microsoft. Al Qaeda. A Cabal of Bankers. The melting point of steel. What do these things have in common? Wake up sheeple, the landfill wasn't even REAL!
stay strong Sony
Well with The Order and and SSM's new project, it looks like this is the path they are heading towards...
Current score, -$100 million.
Im sure theyve made plenty back with the high retention rate of PS4s....something like one PS4 w/ single game to be profitable
That was just a wild and crazy suggestion, its not necessarily the whole devs that would move, but directors, designers, the higher ups should surely be tested in other studios.
Maybe developer studio should stick to their genres(I dont like the idea of rigid genres though. But There should be some(a tiny bit) fluidity and adaptability within the development systems at least. You dont just can studios because they are failing you find out why and you fix them.
What is unbelievable is that the higher up management let the situation escalate to that magnitude. Absolutely ridiculous waste of resources.
TechnicPuppet
Nothing! I said nothing!
They release too many games that don't sell well enough, its unsustainable for a company in Sonys financial position.
The thing is though there is no reason to expect only a weaker Sony to come out of this. There is a very good chance they will be leaner and meaner.
The thing is though there is no reason to expect only a weaker Sony to come out of this. There is a very good chance they will be leaner and meaner.
Yeah, I think they'll definitely make money this gen. I'm just very opposed to the AAAA trend, from a vantage of both personal taste and long term fiscal prospects.
I think your observation was an acute one. Movie studios have largely been able to obviate the problem of losing millions on duds by supplementing their income streams with merchandise, subscription services, dvd sales, TV revenues, etc.
This is definitely a path that the industry needs to go down if it's not going to collapse. PS+ is a good first step to generate new revenue streams for shipped software.
jhmtehgamr20xx
Banned
Don't let 'em affect you man, I feel the exact same way. I just got a feeling Sony will be focusing more on select AAA games this gen to try and expand their audience, particularly in the West, and that'll come at the detriment of stuff like Crash, Wipeout, Tomba, Omega Boost, Parappa etc. Or Echochrome, Tearaway etc.
Indies will have to take up that mantle and they'll be on PC anyway. Waiting 'till Morpheus until I decide on any next-gen system now.
dr_rus
Member
Sony exclusives never was about money, they were about filling the gaps between genres which bigger players don't see as interesting. Why would Sony want to compete with Rockstar and Bethesda if Sony is getting royalties from their games sales? 1st party development differs from 3rd party, and this is something that nor Nintendo neither MS seem to understand well enough.
Also - did you just say that Sony doesn't invest enough in smaller indie devs?..
Apophis2036
Banned
Whether it was $75 or $100 million Stig's game cost, it shows everything that's wrong with modern game development.
Why was such a large project even started if they weren't 99% sure of it being a great product ?.
Why was such a large project even started if they weren't 99% sure of it being a great product ?.
You're saying you want AAA game development to be even less risk averse?
That is an opinion that is pretty astounding.