Sony’s Obsession With Blockbusters Is Stirring Unrest Within PlayStation Empire
A small team had big ambitions for a Last of Us remake, but Sony handed the work to star studio Naughty Dog.
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Sony Prioritizing Blockbuster Studios, Smaller Studios Become Support Creating Unrest Within
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He figuratively bends over for Sony, so if it's negative news about Sony, then I actually do trust it.
It’s sad Sony’s vaunted worldwide studios is turning into a soul crushing, crunch heavy work environment where only games with huge blockbuster potential get approved.
Sony’s Obsession With Blockbusters Is Stirring Unrest Within PlayStation Empire
A small team had big ambitions for a Last of Us remake, but Sony handed the work to star studio Naughty Dog.
He just loves going after Sony doens't he, not too long ago he had a piece out about naught dog. It's funny that he talks about them not wanting to do small games, who published dreams, concrete genie, sackboy's big adventure and destruction allstars in the last 2 years? I am not happy with Hulst not greenlighting a new Days Gone but that's just how things go sometime, I'd love to see what happens with those characters down the road. That being said Sony focuses on single player story driven games, those take big bucks to make the right way and by and large they've all been hugely successful for PlayStation. We got new IP with Horizon, Days Gone, Ghost of Tsushima and they had the guts to reboot god of war.
Yes I know a lot of that stuff happened before the new people were in charge but they also haven't had time for their new projects to release yet. Hulst has only been in charge of their game studios for a year and a half so it's silly to try to judge how he's doing now, hell most gaming journalists praised his promotion at the time. Ryan will always have a bad reputation for some of the silly things he's said although to be fair if you go back and actually read the full statements he's made they aren't nearly as bad as the edited out of context stuff that gets printed.
I would much rather have big AAA games than a bunch of little AA stuff and if I'm being honest I'm getting sick and tired of hearing how bad game developers have it. Let's talk about the people who build the machines we all play on and how many hours they work and what their compensation is if we are going to pretend to give a s*** about that stuff. I'd love to hear a game dev go whine to a coal miner or someone in the military who's been deployed for 6 months or longer spending most o f their time in a desert or on a ship how hard it is to sit a ta desk in an airconditioned room and work on games. Yes I'm sure it takes a lot of personal sacrifice but a lot of people have it worse but you'd never know it if you followed some of the more outspoken devs on twitter.
There are more examples of that, Schreier went on to say on twitter his piece was more about the people working on the games than the games themselves.
He is very credible but its obviously sensationalized. The Sony Bend part is framed as this horrible thing but they are working on a new IP instead of Days Gone 2 and that kind of contradicts the overall plot there.
min surprised Sony San Diego is being overlooked, on their site they’re looking for people to work on an open world game
People are trying to make it a "Sony is losing their Japanese roots" thing since everything has to be about race and heritage these days, it doesn't matter to them that Sony is based in Japan but an international company that makes most of it's money from other parts of the world. The only people really upset about this are the ones who buy those niche Japanese games that always look a generation behind graphically.
Well its understandable why they would be moving away from games geared towards an audience that doesn't buy consoles anymore if you want those games you are understandably going to be disappointed and you aren't going to feel better about whether its smart business wise. No reason to dismiss it as something race related when it has nothing to do with anything.
I love it anytime Sony takes some flak, but this seems like manufactured internet drama to me. With games taking longer and longer to come out, and constant delays, focusing resources sounds like a good thing.
Part of those delays is the current state of the environment with Covid-19, we’re seeing it with other forms of media, Raya was finished from home.
And having smaller studios support the larger one ms makes sense. Sony here is just having their internal teams help out instead of seeking outside help (even though they source a lot of contract work). Which I guess may be why some projects/teams got placed on hold or canned with their “restructuring”.
I feel we’re gonna get GT and Horizon next year....spring, perhaps
I'm not dismissing it as race related I'm responding to the things I read saying as much, just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it's not out there. As usual it's probably mostly white people making a stink about them not focusing on Japan more.
I get if someone is disappointed that a specific series they loved isn't likely to continue from Sony first party although I can't think of any games right now that are full on Japanese titles that Sony has published over the last gen other than maybe The Last Guardian which wasn't all that great and of course Ghost of Tsushima which many of them discount because it was made by an American studio, it doesn't matter to them that Japanese developer praised the game.
Made Schreier's article seem a bit suspect in areas for sure, this is a guy who left Sony on his own and other than some things covered in an NDA could have chosen to be harsh but he wasn't, he was very complimentary to the people running the show over there and Schreier even attacked him a bit after as well as people who dared to question his version of things. Ross tweeted later that Schreier is a credible reporter and that he himself wished he could be more forthcoming but that's only because he couldn't answer some questions people were asking in the chat not because he made stuff up.
Ghost of Tsushima does the setting well but its definitely a very western game. I agree that this change in their first party happened a long time ago. The only notable change now is Japan Studio going away but they haven't been much of a factor in awhile.
And even then they kept the Astro team which isn't also doesn't really vibe with the premise of the article.
I've just been catching up on this. It seems very much in the vein of "you can make/keep everyone happy".
I can understand the smaller support studio being less than enthused about not being able to show what they can truly do. But Sony has to juggle creativity against costs. If the support house, in this case Visual Arts Service Group is not happy they can walk. Its harsh but that's the reality when someone else is paying your bills. Support Studios are vital and most large publishers have them and its important to keep them happy but also remain fixed on the larger picture. And that is AAA development is expensive and too many flops means the whole operation can come to a halt.
I feel for the support studio but perhaps they should seek work elsewhere. A place that will allow them to spread their creative wings. On the other hand, what in the heck is going on with Sony? I don't understand the thinking behind a Last of Us remake. Unless they are trying to capitalize on its resurgent popularity with the HBO show being created. Even with that, I'd much rather see Naughty Dog work on something new. It just feels like they've been on that one franchise for too long.
I can understand the smaller support studio being less than enthused about not being able to show what they can truly do. But Sony has to juggle creativity against costs. If the support house, in this case Visual Arts Service Group is not happy they can walk. Its harsh but that's the reality when someone else is paying your bills. Support Studios are vital and most large publishers have them and its important to keep them happy but also remain fixed on the larger picture. And that is AAA development is expensive and too many flops means the whole operation can come to a halt.
I feel for the support studio but perhaps they should seek work elsewhere. A place that will allow them to spread their creative wings. On the other hand, what in the heck is going on with Sony? I don't understand the thinking behind a Last of Us remake. Unless they are trying to capitalize on its resurgent popularity with the HBO show being created. Even with that, I'd much rather see Naughty Dog work on something new. It just feels like they've been on that one franchise for too long.
Its what the devs wanted to do according to the article but I don't get why Sony gave it the go ahead or why they feel committed to it to the point where Naughty Dog is doing it. Although a TLOU remake+TLOU 2+MP bundle for PS5 would be appealing and if that is what they are doing then I would say that sounds fine. TLOU remake for $70? Big time pass and I would imagine that is how most would feel. Also if they were bundling them together I would think that would happen way before the HBO show hits so the timing is odd.
From what I've read the support studio had taken the lead of the Last of Us remake. And then Sony put Naughty Dog in charge which started a brain drain of talent from Visual Arts Service Group. They in turn asked to be removed from the project which Sony obliged. And didn't we get a remaster of sorts of Last of Us for the PS4 Pro debut? At least that's how I remember it and while a great game I'd rather Naughty Dog bring us something new.
As far as Sony Bend is concerned. I'm bummed they will not be able to continue the story in Days Gone. It ends on a cliffhanger and now we won't get any closure. But, Sony did put them on another project so that's good. I think they have a lot of talent and it showed in their approach to the crowded zombie genre.
This whole thing seems to me to be a nonstory. Or, rather seems to be another example of J. Schreier injecting his agenda. I used to like his reporting, when it felt like reporting. Now his stories feel more like screwing the facts to support his agenda.
I get the impression that it probably wouldn't really require that much of an investment from Naughty Dog and I would assume they would do TLOU 3 before moving on to a new IP anyway.
I definitely think the reporting is accurate but there is no question he got clickbaity with some of the framing especially with Sony Bend. You would get the impression that some of the devs supporting between projects was something sinister when its not uncommon under a Publisher but Schreier doesn't make that clear. I'm sure console warriors are attacking him because he was negative towards and that is obviously idiotic and he is right to be defensive because of that but he still made a mountain over a mole hill here.
That's the problem though, he keeps trying to create these stories in the name of sticking up for developers when in reality he's just hearing from a few unhappy people and creating his own narrative, even leaving things out that would likely contradict the image he's trying to paint. The guy has connections nobody should dispute that but when he's talking like he knows more about what's going on at Bend than Jeff Ross it's kind of comical.
J. Schreier certainly has made himself as the go-to reporter to contact to air any developer grievances. And I applaud his attempts to bring attention to crunch culture and some other negative employment practices. But I liked how in the past he would just present the facts he uncovered or report based on his contacts. It just seems that lately he's tried to spin the narrative to suit some sort of message. And I've read from a few that if you disagree with him he won't even engage in conversation. Instead he'll just shut you down by blocking you. One would think he'd be willing to atleast hear the other side or talk and take in differing opinions. Perhaps he's been subject to toxicity which is why he doesn't bother to debate all that much if at all anymore.
On the other hand, Days Gone director Jeff Ross recently spoke on a stream with David Jaffe and said that there's a chance a sequel could happen, just not any time soon. "Never say never to anything, it's just maybe not right now," said Ross. He also went on to commend the initial report from Jason Schreier, stating on Twitter that the journalist is able to convey things much more honestly than Ross due to a lack of NDAs.