Jason Schreier: Sony’s Obsession with Blockbusters is Stirring Unrest in the PlayStation Empire

Started by Xevross, Apr 09, 2021, 11:28 AM

previous topic - next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Xevross

Era thread: https://www.resetera.com/threads/jason-schreier-sony%E2%80%99s-obsession-with-blockbusters-is-stirring-unrest-in-the-playstation-empire.407232/



Main points:

Bend not allowed to make Days Gone 2 despite financial success. Forced to split into two teams both supporting Naughty Dog. One supported a multiplayer game (factions) the other was supporting a new Uncharted game.

Devs at Bend were unhappy about this, many left and had to be replaced. Just one month ago Bend finally got their wish and have been moved off the Uncharted game. It is unknown if the Uncharted game is still being made.

The new VASG studio that has been rumored for a long time formed itself but was never supported by Sony and has since been shut down after starting work on TLOU Remake that got moved to Naughty Dog.

Quote
Sony Corp.'s Visual Arts Service Group has long been the unsung hero of many hit PlayStation video games. The San Diego-based operation helps finish off games designed at other Sony-owned studios with animation, art or other content and development. But about three years ago, a handful of influential figures within the Visual Arts Service Group decided they wanted to have more creative control and lead game direction rather than being supporting actors on popular titles such as Spider-Man and Uncharted.

Michael Mumbauer, who founded the Visual Arts Service Group in 2007, recruited a group of about 30 developers, internally and from neighboring game studios, to form a new development unit within Sony. The idea was to expand upon some of the company's most successful franchises and the team began working on a remake of the 2013 hit The Last of Us for the PlayStation 5. But Sony never fully acknowledged the team's existence or gave them the funding and support needed to succeed in the highly competitive video game market, according to people involved. The studio never even got its own name. Instead, Sony moved ownership of the The Last of Us remake to its original creator, Naughty Dog, a Sony-owned studio behind many of the company's best-selling games and an HBO television series in development.

Deflated, the small group's leadership has largely disbanded, according to interviews with eight people familiar with the operation. Many, including Mumbauer, have left the company entirely. Mumbauer declined to comment and others asked not to be named discussing private information. A representative for Sony declined to comment or provide interviews.

.....


Just when it hoped to enter production on the remake of The Last of Us, Mumbauer's team got called in to help when another big game fell behind. Release of The Last of Us Part II had been pushed to 2020 from 2019 and Naughty Dog needed the Visual Arts Service Group to polish it off. Most of Mumbauer's team, along with some of the 200 or so other staff at the Visual Arts Service Group, was assigned to support Naughty Dog, slowing down progress on its own game.

Then, the roles got reversed. Sony sent word that after the completion of The Last of Us Part II, some people from Naughty Dog would help out with T1X. Mumbauer's team saw this as their short-lived autonomy being stripped. Dozens of Naughty Dog staff were joining the project, and some had actually worked on the original The Last of Us, giving them more weight in discussions about T1X's direction. The game was moved under Naughty Dog's budget, which Sony gave more leeway than the Visual Arts Service Group. Soon it was apparent that Naughty Dog was in charge, and the dynamics returned to what they had been for the last decade and a half: The Visual Arts Support Group aiding another team of developers rather than leading.

To Sony, the move made sense. Naughty Dog is "one of the key studios" for Sony's ability to sell PlayStations, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matthew Kanterman. "Sony's competitive advantage has always been exclusive content over Microsoft and more new games as well as remakes of classic titles from such a storied team can help sustain demand for PS5."
But those who had wanted independence were disappointed. By the end of 2020, most of the T1X team's top staff had left, including Mumbauer and the game's director, David Hall. Today, the T1X project remains in development at Naughty Dog with assistance from Sony's Visual Arts Support Group. The future of the remainder of Mumbauer's team, which has come to be jokingly referred to as Naughty Dog South, remains unclear.
Quote
This fixation on teams that churn out hits is creating unrest across Sony's portfolio of game studios. Oregon-based Sony Bend, best known for the 2019 open-world action game Days Gone, tried unsuccessfully to pitch a sequel that year, according to people familiar with the proposal. Although the first game had been profitable, its development had been lengthy and critical reception was mixed, so a Days Gone 2 wasn't seen as a viable option.

Instead, one team at the studio was assigned to help Naughty Dog with a multiplayer game while a second group was assigned to work on a new Uncharted game with supervision from Naughty Dog. Some staff, including top leads, were unhappy with this arrangement and left. Bend's developers feared they might be absorbed into Naughty Dog, and the studio's leadership asked to be taken off the Uncharted project. They got their wish last month and are now working on a new game of their own.

Xevross

Apr 09, 2021, 11:30 AM Last Edit: Apr 09, 2021, 11:49 AM by Xevross
No no no no no no Sony for fudge sake what are you doing.

The full article is pretty damning, Sony want 0 risk. They're resting on the laurels of their past work with Playstation and its gonna bit them in the dog hard.

Also why are Naughty Dog working on a TLOU remake now? Who wants that?

BananaKing

Apr 09, 2021, 01:27 PM Last Edit: Apr 09, 2021, 01:44 PM by BananaKing
What the fudge. Sony bend regulated to doing ND support? What the flying fudge?

I know they been focusing on bigger games lately, but fudge this zero risk battleship sony has. Games are risk, new IPs are risk, and they reached where they are with taking these risks. Yeah, jimbo needs to go

Sonys fuckery with Sony bend is baffling. They regulated them to PS Vita, had them work on pitches for vita games for 2 years only to deny them all. Then they made days gone. It was profitable. It sold well. Yes, it wasnt the best game, but it did its part. But instead if trusting the studio and letting them do days gone 2, or a new ip. They wanted them to make a new uncharted when the studio didn't want to. Wtf.

Let them do their own work, and stop denying them their pitches. They proved they can be profitable. I liked days gone, and a sequel would have had much better potential. Lets hope they actually give the studio enough support to make this new IP. And not fudge them over like they did Japan studio and guerrilla Cambridge.

When MS is being so aggressive with building new content youd assume sony wouldnt be so stingy about creating more content of their own. And when they are the most profitable they ever been, by far, you'd assume they would be more willing to take some risks, specially when taking risks has paid of for them in the PS4 era.

This Sony is coasting off the brilliant work of the PS4 era management.

darkknightkryta

All it takes is one of these projects going wrong to sink the entire studio.  Santa Monica got lucky with the new God of War, cause the franchise was on ice after Ascensions.  Naughty Dog also got lucky, since Uncharted 4 managed to get salvaged.  Will they be so lucky now that The Last of Us 2 got such a polarizing response?  I guess we'll find out next time on Dragon Ball Z (Insert american DBZ next time on music).

the-pi-guy

All it takes is one of these projects going wrong to sink the entire studio.  Santa Monica got lucky with the new God of War, cause the franchise was on ice after Ascensions.  Naughty Dog also got lucky, since Uncharted 4 managed to get salvaged.  Will they be so lucky now that The Last of Us 2 got such a polarizing response?  I guess we'll find out next time on Dragon Ball Z (Insert american DBZ next time on music).
@bold what are you talking about?  ND has been doing great since Uncharted 2.

darkknightkryta

@bold what are you talking about?  ND has been doing great since Uncharted 2.
You do realize Uncharted 4 was a mess before Druckmann came back from vacation and had to salvage the project?  Amy Hennig didn't get fired over nothing.  Jack Tretton didn't get fired over nothing (The failed Santa Monica project was most of that reason)  

Legend

I don't understand why there needs to be a tlou remake. It already has the remaster and what could a remake add? The game was already near perfect.

the-pi-guy

- Sony Bend was delegated to being support for ND.
- Second San Diego studio decided to try remaking a game, and went with The Last of Us as it would be cheaper.  This studio has since been laid off.
- Naughty Dog was assigned the TLOU remake.  

One out of 3 mistakes were rectified.  Sony Bend is now working on its own game.

Naughty Dog is apparently finally working on nothing that I will be buying.  Which is the biggest mistake they could have made.  

I don't understand why there needs to be a tlou remake. It already has the remaster and what could a remake add? The game was already near perfect.
The studio just thought it would be cheap and a good way to prove themselves, and Sony opted to have Naughty Dog take over.  

the-pi-guy




Legend

I miss Shawn so much. Him and Jack were great public faces.

Xevross

I miss Shawn so much. Him and Jack were great public faces.
Shawn was fantastic, you could tell he really cared about games and he was a genuine speaker. Jim just feels all corporate.

Xevross



This is the real problem

darkknightkryta



This is the real problem
Yup.

the-pi-guy


the-pi-guy

I haven't watched too much yet, but the ND bit makes me feel a lot better about The Last of Us.

A large portion of the team had nothing to work on yet, as their next project was still too early.  

Some people were convinced that this SAVG remake was not green lit and was being done without permission. Jason confirms that wasn't the case.  Naughty Dog was helping work on the game since day 1.