UC4 Game Director Justin Richmond Leaves ND (And famousmortimer leaves GAF #1393)

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Do you think Druckmann fires everyone individually or does he just send them texts saying dont come back to work

edit: I love the implication that no one could choose to go join Riot Games and work on the world's biggest game right now because they WANT TO WORK ON THE WORLD'S BIGGEST GAME


it must be SOMETHING NEFARIOUS

The text goes

"Hey its casul friday, and also your fired lol"
 
Casualties List:

Amy Hennig (Creative Director) of Naughty Dog
Justin Richmond (Creative Director) of Naughty Dog
Col Rodgers (Creative Director) of Evolution Studios
Stig Asmussen (Creative Director) of Sony Santa Monica
Jaime Griesemer (Lead Designer) of Sucker Punch
60+ Employees of Sony Santa Monica
Jack Tretton as President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America

Nope, nothing to see here guys, standard turnover. Not a trend.

Oh and also various people of unknown number from Evolution Studios, Guerrilla Cambridge & SCE London Studio. It's starting to be hard to keep track. Also sadly I doubt this is the last we've seen this of this situation.
 
Do you think Druckmann fires everyone individually or does he just send them texts saying dont come back to work

edit: I love the implication that no one could choose to go join Riot Games and work on the world's biggest game right now because they WANT TO WORK ON THE WORLD'S BIGGEST GAME


it must be SOMETHING NEFARIOUS

He probably uses these guys

got-three-eyed-crow.png
 
Casualties List:

Amy Hennig (Creative Director) of Naughty Dog
Justin Richmond (Creative Director) of Naughty Dog
Col Rodgers (Creative Director) of Evolution Studios
Stig Asmussen (Creative Director) of Sony Santa Monica
Jaime Griesemer (Lead Designer) of Sucker Punch
60+ Employees of Sony Santa Monica
Jack Tretton as President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America

Nope, nothing to see here guys, standard turnover. Not a trend.

Are you being sarcastic?

I feel there's solid ground to be skeptical about what's going on at Naughty Dog.... But it's a little bit conspiracist to think of it as a trend spanning SCE internationally and in totally different departments.
 
Casualties List:

Amy Hennig (Creative Director) of Naughty Dog
Justin Richmond (Creative Director) of Naughty Dog

These are weird but I am guessing creative differences on UC4.

Col Rodgers (Creative Director) of Evolution Studios
Edit: We now know what this is about.

Stig Asmussen (Creative Director) of Sony Santa Monica
60+ Employees of Sony Santa Monica

These are directly related to Stig's game being cancelled. This is not strange at all if my big creative project was shitcanned I would probably leave as well.

Jaime Griesemer (Lead Designer) of Sucker Punch
Finished Infamous decided to do something different not that weird.

Jack Tretton as President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America
This one is weird. Maybe he just wanted to do something else.
This is my take on it.
 
That is all true, but Sony needs to give these moves some context so that the internet doesn't go off the deep end with speculation. They went a little in that direction yesterday by talking about Driveclub but I think at some point a sit down interview with someone would be nice as they could go at length and really frame what is going on.

I think them contextualizing their employees' decisions to stay at or leave a company would be highly inappropriate and probably a violation of right to privacy.
 
Do you think Druckmann fires everyone individually or does he just send them texts saying dont come back to work

edit: I love the implication that no one could choose to go join Riot Games and work on the world's biggest game right now because they WANT TO WORK ON THE WORLD'S BIGGEST GAME


it must be SOMETHING NEFARIOUS

I heard he just leaves a pug made of origami paper on people's desks.
 
Hmm. My guess is that there was a conflict of interest in channelling the old ones, Druckmann and Straley desiring to speak tongue with the dead by evoking the nameless black, Richmond and Hennig preferring the ancient talisman's energy be put towards the deciphering the riddles of foresight. Unfortunately the prophecy requires four chosen souls to bridge our world with theirs, and because of their differences they all end up losing. Perhaps for the best, for the true will of the old ones is impossible to grasp with limited cognitive power of a mere human bound by flesh and mortality.

Based on the limited information available, that is my theory. I suspect there may also be a fifth chosen one that has yet to reveal themselves.

I would watch/play this movie/game
 
Casualties List:

Amy Hennig (Creative Director) of Naughty Dog
Justin Richmond (Creative Director) of Naughty Dog
Col Rodgers (Creative Director) of Evolution Studios
Stig Asmussen (Creative Director) of Sony Santa Monica
Jaime Griesemer (Lead Designer) of Sucker Punch
60+ Employees of Sony Santa Monica
Jack Tretton as President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America

Nope, nothing to see here guys, standard turnover. Not a trend.

"They're just cutting the fat, no need to worry" they said.
 
I would love to hear some insider talk about this as I'm guessing it's a natural consequence from the falling out with Henning. I could see Straley and Druckmann taking over UC4, Richmond getting demoted, and Richmond getting an offer and deciding to leave.
 
I think them contextualizing their employees' decisions to stay at or leave a company would be highly inappropriate and probably a violation of right to privacy.

Absolutely. People who expect a fully transparent play-by-play about why someone left a company/position come across as unfamiliar with the job world.
 
Bruce was a director on UC2, and Neil was lead designer, the idea that UC4 under them would be some TLoU style bleak experience is really unfounded.

I think it's actually due to the fact that Druckman is on record in saying that he wanted to kill Elena at the end of Uncharted 2 and Hennig was very much against it.

So it's not without complete merit.
 
I am dead serious.
Neil Druckmann is the Lead Designer of Uncharted 2 and the Narrative Director of The Last of Us.
I think it's actually due to the fact that Druckman is on record in saying that he wanted to kill Elena at the end of Uncharted 2 and Hennig was very much against it.

So it's not without complete merit.
Killing a character doesn't inherently make a game darker. UC3's thematically a lot darker than the first two.
 
Woooahhh.

Maybe I'm over reacting but maybe the golden era of naughty dog is over. BC behind the scenes can't be good.
 
The CEO of QD was in Santa Monica a week ago just around the corner of ND. Quantic Dream to take over Uncharted confirmed!
From what I played on Uncharted 3 I wouldn't be surprised. There's not much difference between a game that plays itself and one that gives you the illusion of agency and then fails you out whenever you try and employ some.

Yes, I stopped playing after the the young Drake rooftop chase.

I can only hope whatever creative issues are at play with Uncharted 4 lead to something less tyrannically directed than the last one.
 
I'd imagine everyone is. All these people leaving is far more than just "Sony is cutting the fat guys!!! No need to worry"

Weird how their first party studios are shrinking when the PS4 is dominating the market. PS4 needs more AA and AAA games, not less :|

Dominating the market is probably the exact reason they're cutting back on first party stuff. They're selling more consoles and have the superior version of multiplatform games, no reason to try as hard when they can pretty much coast through this gen.
 
Maybe they enjoyed the SpaceX tour so much and made Sony so much money that they asked for a trip to space as a reward and Shu said "No.".
 
Why do people think it's something larger at Sony? The SSM thing was certainly its own thing in that it was probably the heads of SSM that decided to axe the Stig project. Here there was possibly some internal politics, Henning left, and Richmond left on his own accord later.

It's not some big global conspiracy or anything.
 
Dominating the market is probably the exact reason they're cutting back on first party stuff. They're selling more consoles and have the superior version of multiplatform games, no reason to try as hard when they can pretty much coast through this gen.

That's a terrible theory, how could anyone believe what you are saying right now? Sony prides themselves on their big franchises.
 
I love the Uncharted games but they're not groundbreaking.
I don't think anybody has ever really made that argument that the products they put are groundbreaking. I think making cinematic gameplay a thing, along with their high production values are what rightfully earn them their respect and admiration.
 
Casualties List:

Amy Hennig (Creative Director) of Naughty Dog
Justin Richmond (Creative Director) of Naughty Dog
Col Rodgers (Creative Director) of Evolution Studios
Stig Asmussen (Creative Director) of Sony Santa Monica
Jaime Griesemer (Lead Designer) of Sucker Punch
60+ Employees of Sony Santa Monica
Jack Tretton as President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America

Nope, nothing to see here guys, standard turnover. Not a trend.

I think they all left for very different reasons having nothing to do with some horrible secret Sony is trying to hide, but nevertheless the net result is a big, huge bucket of SUCK for Playstation.
 
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