Probably the most famous gaming journalist of today, Jason Schreier, has released another major into the world article, revealing behind the scenes of game development. This time, it focuses on the way Sony has managed and prioritized its key gaming blockbusters and large studios at the expense of smaller ones in recent years. Eight former and current developers, who are directly affected, interviewed about this topic. As part of detailed information about behind-the-scenes events over the past three years, we learned, for example, that Naughty Dog is working on a remake of the first part of The Last of Us from 2013, but also on another game under the Uncharted brand (It is not clear whether this is a remake of the first part, which was previously sought by the VASG studio). On the contrary, the development of Days Gone 2 was canceled or suspended, which Bend Studio worked on.
On the contrary, the development of Days Gone 2 was canceled or suspended.
Sony’s California studio called Visual Arts Service Group (VASG) has been a secret hero behind many PlayStation titles for several years, helping with previews, animations and movie sequences in particular – you could see their work in Uncharted or Spider-Man, for example. . For about three years, however, the key players in this studio wanted to become independent and start developing their own title, even if it were to be a remake or continuation of an already popular brand. Similarly, narrative / expensive games always pose a risk, which is why a well-established brand is a certain certainty.
Michael Mumbauer, who founded VASG in 2007, brought together about 30 developers for his own project (internally from other Sony studios). Their goal was either to expand existing brands (for example, with additional titles of another genre or even a CG animated series), for which they eventually chose a thoroughbred remake of the first part of The Last of Us from 2013. But Sony itself never provided full support for this. project. Instead, the parent company later decided to transfer the management of the TLOU1 remake directly to the Naughty Dog studio. The disappointed Mumbauer then left the company altogether, as did many others on his team. Mumbauer and Sony declined to comment on Schreier’s article.
The parent company transferred the management of the TLOU1 remake to the Naughty Dog studio.
The incident reveals Sony’s internal hierarchy and conservative approach to game development for the PS5. The company owns about a dozen studios around the world under the PlayStation Studios brand, but in recent years has significantly favored the most successful of them. These include the Santa Monica branch, the California Naughty Dog and the Guerrilla Games in Amsterdam. Sony is investing tens of millions of dollars in the development of their games in the hope that the profits will pay off several times over. And it usually works. Exclusive titles for PlayStation 4 such as God of War from 2018 or The Last Of Us Part II helped Sony sell 114 million of this console. Instead, competing Microsoft focuses on a wide range of studios and games, which it offers on its platform in the form of a monthly subscription to the Xbox Game Pass, reminiscent of Netflix, for example, with its varied offer.
Sony’s focus on exclusive blockbusters is at the expense of smaller “niche” teams and studios within the PlayStation organization, leading to high staff turnover and fewer choices for players. The reorganization of Sony’s Japanese subsidiary caused the mass exodus of people who worked on lesser-known but popular titles such as Gravity Rush or Everybody´s Golf. The company informed its developers that it no longer wanted to produce smaller games that are only successful in Japan. However, focusing on hit makers also hurts other studios in Sony’s portfolio. Ore Studio from Oregon, behind 2019’s Days Gone, tried to offer a sequel that year. However, although the first game was profitable, its development was lengthy and the reviewers’ reaction mixed, so Days Gone 2 was not approved.
Days Gone was lucrative, but development was lengthy and reviewers’ reactions mixed.
Instead, one team inside the studio was assigned to support a multiplayer game for Naughty Dog, and the other group was assigned a job for the Uncharted title, again under the direction of Naughty Dog. Some Bend Studio employees, including some executives, were dissatisfied and left. The management of the studio began to fear their full inclusion in Naughty Dog and asked if they could be excluded from the Uncharted project. They were satisfied last month and are now working on their own game.
Why did VASG choose the TLOU1 remake? Aware of Sony’s management concerns about risky projects, they wanted to play it safe. Inventing and developing a new game from the ground up is much longer and more expensive than making a modern remake of an existing title. In addition, it is possible to sell the game thanks to nostalgia to the original fans, as well as to completely new customers. The team originally wanted to make a remake of the first part of Uncharted from 2007. However, given the age of the game, it was too expensive to modify, so they ended up with a TLOU1 remake. At that time, Naughty Dog were working on the second part with much more modern graphics and improved gameplay. Mumbauer planned to achieve a similar quality in the remake of number one, so that both games could be packaged and sold together. His goal then (after a successful outcome and gaining the trust of Sony) was to return to the Uncharted 1 remake and then move on to his first brand new game.
The VASG team originally wanted to produce a remake of the first part of Uncharted from 2007.
But the transition from remakes to your own work is not easy, because the team at once “Must compete with hundreds of other teams from around the world, with a diverse range of experience and success”, said Dave Lang, founder of Iron Galaxy Studios, working as a support team for other companies. “Investors avoid risks, and if they have to choose between someone who is trying to create their own game from scratch for the first time and someone who has already done it successfully, they usually prefer the second option.” he said. That’s exactly what Sony did. The project, nicknamed T1X, was preliminarily approved but kept secret and on a limited budget. Nevertheless, at the end of 2019, they managed to complete a part of the game, showing its final appearance and functionality.
But just when VASG wanted to start the actual production of the game, another big Sony project was delayed. TLOU2 was postponed from 2019 to 2020 and VASG was called in to help complete the game. It affected most of Mumbai’s team, as well as about 200 other VASG employees. At the time, Sony was undergoing a change of leadership and the new boss was not impressed. Hermen Hulst, former director of Guerrilla Games, became the director of PlayStation Worldwide Studios in November 2019. From the beginning, he didn’t see the required T1X budget and asked why it was so high compared to Sony remakes in the past. The reason was a brand new graphics engine for the PS5. Mumbauer needed to hire more people to dig up the graphics and redesign the game mechanics. But Hulst was not convinced.
Sony was undergoing a change of leadership and the new boss was not impressed.
Then the roles were reversed. Sony has decided to involve some developers in the project directly from the Naughty Dog studio. Mumbauer’s team saw this as the end of their brief independence – they were joined by developers who had originally worked on the first TLOU, and their word had more weight. In addition, the project was organizationally transferred to the Naughty Dog budget, giving the company generally more leverage. The dynamics thus returned to VASG where they had been for years: they supported other developers instead of working on their own project. From Sony’s point of view, the change made sense. According to analyst Matthew Kanterman of Bloomerg “Naughty Dog has always been one of the key studios for Sony, and Sony’s competitive advantage over Microsoft has always been exclusive content. More games and remakes of classic titles from such a famous team could help demand for the PS5. “ The T1X project thus remains in development in the Naughty Dog studio after the departure of Mumbauer’s group, with the assistance of VASG.
With his article, Jason Schreier is strongly on the side of Mumbauer’s team and strongly criticizes Sony for the way it treats small teams and the diversity of its portfolio. But if I look away from this tangible political stance, which of course has its justification from the point of view of individuals and smaller teams, I don’t find anything too surprising or wrong about Sony’s behavior. As game development becomes more complex and expensive with each generation, PlayStation has long focused on producing the biggest blockbusters. It is logical that he chooses investments of this caliber very carefully and does not dare to put them in the hands of someone.
PlayStation has long focused on producing the biggest blockbusters.
It also makes good sense to take care of their “classic titles” in the form of high-quality remakes, such as Shadow of Colossus or Demon´s Souls. As a person who has worked for a large development corporation for many years, I am well aware that this is often a daunting job, even at the expense of personal development. At the same time, I don’t think that the biggest titles, requiring the involvement of hundreds of developers and a huge financial investment, can arise in some other way. On the contrary, many game developers will confirm to you that (at least until some stage of their career) on the contrary, it is a great honor and professional advantage to participate in something so important. At the same time, it would be unfair to criticize Sony for being too cautious, as evidenced by bold “experiments” such as Death Stranding or Horizon: Zero Dawn (a surprising open world game from a third-party perspective by their otherwise traditional linear FPS shooter developer), not to mention the unexpectedly bold scenario The Last of Us Part II.
–
