Sony Playstation: First Party Studios & their Current Projects

How so? Sounds like a lot of speculation on your part.

Because the core TLOU creative team were all working on Uncharted 4? You really think they were working full-time on two games at once when they had some hard deadlines for Uncharted 4 (and still had to delay it 6 months)?

Yes, I'm speculating, based on the evidence I have. Same as what you've been doing.
 
It's so weird to me that they could crank out a new Uncharted every two years on the PS3 but there may be more than two years between Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us 2, especially since UC4 was delayed for a while and was originally supposed to come out in 2015 (which means if TLOU2 comes out in 2019, that would have been a four year wait).

I mean, yeah, games are more technically impressive and a lot goes into them, but more people work at Naughty Dog and the PS4 is far easier to develop for than the PS3. A lot of series had 2-year installments on the PS2 and PS3. I'd actually love some interviews about development time differences between generations because I'm totally green on this.
 
People predicting Death Stranding making it out before the next decade makes me laugh. Unless Kojima's scope for the game is small, lol. This game is not going to be out in 201X.
 
There's also a quote out there (can't find it at the moment) of Gustavo Santaolalla confirming the existence of TLOU 2 like WAY back in 2014 I think, and if I remember correctly, he said that he'd be wrapping production at the end of 2018.

Here's a more recent thing of him where he apparently says end of 2018, beginning of 2019. Starts at 11:22. If anyone speaks Spanish by the way, would love a translation of what he says.
 
People predicting Death Stranding making it out before the next decade makes me laugh. Unless Kojima's scope for the game is small, lol. This game is not going to be out in 201X.

Doesn't seem THAT weird:

MGS: 1998
MGS2: 2001
MGS3: 2004
MGS4: 2008
MGS Peace Walker: 2010
MGSV Ground Zeroes: 2014
MGSV Phantom Pain: 2015

And in the middle of that he was producing Zone of the Enders games and working on Silents Hills. Based on what he has said, 2019 seems like a reasonable estimate.
 
My guess is TLOU2 had some pre-production and prototyping done back in 2014 before the majority of the team shifted to Uncharted. It's possible that they had some artists, writers and such doing some work here and there over the past couple of years as well. But it has only recently become the studios main project probably as of this summer. Fall 2018 I'd imagine is their loose target but spring/summer 2019 is probably when it will actually release.
 
we pretty much knew this at this point but Media Molecule confirmed the delay of the Dreams beta

http://www.mediamolecule.com/blog/article/an_update_on_our_dreams_beta

Good for them. If the project is truly that complex (and I have no doubt), taking time out for demo builds etc wouldn't only put them even further behind, but also potentially misrepresent the game with what they could fit in. Not entirely sure dreams will be for me, but still super interested in what comes out of the studio, they're so creative.
 
There's also a quote out there (can't find it at the moment) of Gustavo Santaolalla confirming the existence of TLOU 2 like WAY back in 2014 I think, and if I remember correctly, he said that he'd be wrapping production at the end of 2018.

Here's a more recent thing of him where he apparently says end of 2018, beginning of 2019. Starts at 11:22. If anyone speaks Spanish by the way, would love a translation of what he says.

Two interesting stuff he mentions it

-He said TLoU has sold over 10M copies
-His quote on the date ''we are starting to work on the game now and it will be ready in end of 2018/ beginning 2019''
 
There's also a quote out there (can't find it at the moment) of Gustavo Santaolalla confirming the existence of TLOU 2 like WAY back in 2014 I think, and if I remember correctly, he said that he'd be wrapping production at the end of 2018.

Here's a more recent thing of him where he apparently says end of 2018, beginning of 2019. Starts at 11:22. If anyone speaks Spanish by the way, would love a translation of what he says.
He is confirming to his fans that he has started working on The Last of Us 2 music then the host started to tell him that he would have never associated him with music on video games then he(santaolalla) started talking about his connections with a new generation, a younger generation.

He talks about the difference between creating music for a film and a video game and one of the things that grabbed my attention was when he said that in the first The Last of Us he created the music based on the characters before the game was rendered,animated and the director of the game after he has heard the music created by him (santaolalla) wrote new parts,scenes of the game.

He talks about his son being an avid gamer how proud he is that his dad is making music for The Last of Us

He is basically confirming that the game will be ready by the end 0f 2018 or in the first months of 2019.

He talks a lot more, very interesting guy and he is genuinely excited to be working in music for videos games, specially games with very good stories.
 
Question I want to toss out... Is Santa Monica rolling back their ex-dev division? You know the group that helps out with projects like Journey, Fat Princess, Bound, Here They Lie, Etc.

As of now they do not have a single collaborative project announced and they've actually dropped a few in the last couple of years: Wattam, Edith Finch and Modern Zombie Taxi Co.

So is this just a quiet period for them or are they winding down this operation for some reason? I'm not sure which it is but I'm leaning toward it being a quiet period and they simply don't have anything to show at the moment.
 
Question I want to toss out... Is Santa Monica rolling back their ex-dev division? You know the group that helps out with projects like Journey, Fat Princess, Bound, Here They Lie, Etc.

As of now they do not have a single collaborative project announced and they've actually dropped a few in the last couple of years: Wattam, Edith Finch and Modern Zombie Taxi Co.

So is this just a quiet period for them or are they winding down this operation for some reason? I'm not sure which it is but I'm leaning toward it being a quiet period and they simply don't have anything to show at the moment.

My hope is that they are just all hands on deck for God of War at the moment and will get back to incubating smaller studios nearer to its launch.
 
Question I want to toss out... Is Santa Monica rolling back their ex-dev division? You know the group that helps out with projects like Journey, Fat Princess, Bound, Here They Lie, Etc.

As of now they do not have a single collaborative project announced and they've actually dropped a few in the last couple of years: Wattam, Edith Finch and Modern Zombie Taxi Co.

So is this just a quiet period for them or are they winding down this operation for some reason? I'm not sure which it is but I'm leaning toward it being a quiet period and they simply don't have anything to show at the moment.

SIE Santa Monica is doing Spider-Man and Farsight. Is SIE Foster City still operating?
 
Question I want to toss out... Is Santa Monica rolling back their ex-dev division? You know the group that helps out with projects like Journey, Fat Princess, Bound, Here They Lie, Etc.

As of now they do not have a single collaborative project announced and they've actually dropped a few in the last couple of years: Wattam, Edith Finch and Modern Zombie Taxi Co.

So is this just a quiet period for them or are they winding down this operation for some reason? I'm not sure which it is but I'm leaning toward it being a quiet period and they simply don't have anything to show at the moment.

They are either changing big time the way they work with these devs or they are cutting as a whole

They only kept the projects that would be out in 2016. Their ex-dev director (Nathan Gary) left the company and is working at Annapunna Interactive, a new ''indie-publisher'' that is basically staffed from Santa Monica ex-dev division alumni and is now publishing both 'Edith Finch and Wattam

And yes, maybe they will bring back that style after GoW, but at this point the outlook is not looking great for that.

SIE Santa Monica is doing Spider-Man and Farsight. Is SIE Foster City still operating?

SIE San Mateo is the one helping with Spider-Man and Farpoint.
 
My hope is that they are just all hands on deck for God of War at the moment and will get back to incubating smaller studios nearer to its launch.

Whether or not they incubate other studios or co-produce projects should have no effect on God of War or how many people work on that team. The people responsible for the incubated studios and "second party" teams associated with the studio were producers and the like, not the type of developers that can just switch and start creating stuff for God of War. The production assistance provided by Santa Monica wasn't asset creation and such, but production oversight.
 
It's so weird to me that they could crank out a new Uncharted every two years on the PS3 but there may be more than two years between Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us 2, especially since UC4 was delayed for a while and was originally supposed to come out in 2015 (which means if TLOU2 comes out in 2019, that would have been a four year wait).

I mean, yeah, games are more technically impressive and a lot goes into them, but more people work at Naughty Dog and the PS4 is far easier to develop for than the PS3. A lot of series had 2-year installments on the PS2 and PS3. I'd actually love some interviews about development time differences between generations because I'm totally green on this.

There are a few things that are different to last gen though:

1. They weren't making story DLC/expansions back then. The way I see it isn't that it's three years between UC4 and TLOU2 but more like two years between UC: TLL and TLOU2.

2. Uncharted 3 may have come out two years after UC2 but it needed a delay and we all saw what happened when it didn't get one. Since then, Sony have seemed far more willing to push back games to get them right and that's a good thing. Both TLOU1 and UC4 were delayed, after all.

3. Games are more expensive, more complex and there's more attention paid to detail than ever before. Yes, they have more employees but there's a lot of problems you can't just throw more people at.

People predicting Death Stranding making it out before the next decade makes me laugh. Unless Kojima's scope for the game is small, lol. This game is not going to be out in 201X.

Seeing as he's not building a new engine from scratch this time and has support from Sony, I'd really love to know your reasoning for this.

Whether or not they incubate other studios or co-produce projects should have no effect on God of War or how many people work on that team. The people responsible for the incubated studios and "second party" teams associated with the studio were producers and the like, not the type of developers that can just switch and start creating stuff for God of War. The production assistance provided by Santa Monica wasn't asset creation and such, but production oversight.

Yeah, it's a clear shift in direction for the studio and I hope not one for Sony as a whole. Some of their best games over the last few years have been those low budget first party games like Resogun, Rapture, Helldivers and Bound. It'd be a shame if they got rid of them because I feel like it'd turn into a far more generic "AAA only" publisher.
 
There are a few things that are different to last gen though:

1. They weren't making story DLC/expansions back then. The way I see it isn't that it's three years between UC4 and TLOU2 but more like two years between UC: TLL and TLOU2.

2. Uncharted 3 may have come out two years after UC2 but it needed a delay and we all saw what happened when it didn't get one. Since then, Sony have seemed far more willing to push back games to get them right and that's a good thing. Both TLOU1 and UC4 were delayed, after all.

3. Games are more expensive, more complex and there's more attention paid to detail than ever before. Yes, they have more employees but there's a lot of problems you can't just throw more people at.
Also, ND had that small reboot during development when work with Amy started falling apart.
 
It's so weird to me that they could crank out a new Uncharted every two years on the PS3 but there may be more than two years between Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us 2, especially since UC4 was delayed for a while and was originally supposed to come out in 2015 (which means if TLOU2 comes out in 2019, that would have been a four year wait).

I mean, yeah, games are more technically impressive and a lot goes into them, but more people work at Naughty Dog and the PS4 is far easier to develop for than the PS3. A lot of series had 2-year installments on the PS2 and PS3. I'd actually love some interviews about development time differences between generations because I'm totally green on this.

Being easier to work with doesn't necessarily mean that development will take less time. You may have easier tools, but what you're building is much more complex now. That will still take a lot of time. Just look at the chase sequence in U4. Their setpieces during the PS3 generation generally took place in a defined space. Maybe it was the train in U2 or the boat in U3. Here you start of driving through a town, then you're on a rope hanging above water before eventually being pulled onto land. Then you're alternating jumping across vehicles and driving them. All before you wreck and then get into a Crash-style sequence. The general levels in U4 are also much bigger and wide open than any previous entries. That all takes a lot of time even if it's easier to program than before.

Something Yoshida mentioned during PSX is that with the delays they've had on the PS4 they've simply come to accept that development this gen takes longer. He noted that the process of going from alpha to beta is a longer process now than it has been before. It's why he pointed out that they're going to be a lot more cautious going forward when it comes to release date announcements. You can tell that's the direction they're going in because only Gravity Rush 2, MLB The Show, and Horizon have solid release dates. Everything else is either a generic "2017" or a completely unspecified year.
 
People thinking The Last of Us 2 will be out by 2018 need a reality check.

1. Sony have never been on time or let alone early this generation with games.
2. The entirety of Naughty Dog were on full production for Uncharted 4 since 2014 ever since Amy Hennig left, Neil Druckmann was focused entire on Uncharted 4.
3. They split the team up again with The Lost Legacy, and Bruce Straley will likely be working on a separate project for PS5/late-generation with another team.
4. Neil Druckmann and Naughty Dog will get all the time they need/want from Sony after The Last of Us and Uncharted 4, both games that they delayed.
5. Sony already have God of War, Days Gone, Spider-Man and likely Bloodborne 2 ink-marked for 2018. There's no need to have The Last of Us 2 out by late 2018 when they have big titles coming that year.

Best wishes.
 
People thinking The Last of Us 2 will be out by 2018 need a reality check.

1. Sony have never been on time or let alone early this generation with games.
RIGS MCL dwas announced for 2016 and did get released this year though. But I get your point and I get sony's reasoning to delay their games though
 
People thinking The Last of Us 2 will be out by 2018 need a reality check.

1. Sony have never been on time or let alone early this generation with games.
2. The entirety of Naughty Dog were on full production for Uncharted 4 since 2014 ever since Amy Hennig left, Neil Druckmann was focused entire on Uncharted 4.
3. They split the team up again with The Lost Legacy, and Bruce Straley will likely be working on a separate project for PS5/late-generation with another team.
4. Neil Druckmann and Naughty Dog will get all the time they need/want from Sony after The Last of Us and Uncharted 4, both games that they delayed.
5. Sony already have God of War, Days Gone, Spider-Man and likely Bloodborne 2 ink-marked for 2018. There's no need to have The Last of Us 2 out by late 2018 when they have big titles coming that year.

Best wishes.

Agreed. The Last Of Us Part II is a 2019 along with Death Stranding.
 
Ok, here is my shot on the future schedule

2017

Drawn To Death (Jan)
Gravity Rush 2 (Jan 12)
Horizon: Zero Dawn (Feb 28)
MLB 17: The Show (Mar 28)
PaRappa 20th Anniversary (March)
LocoRoco and Patapon remasters (Summer)
GT Sport (June)
Everybody's Golf (July)
WipeOut Omega Collection (July)
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Aug)
Detroit: Become Human (Sep)
Knack 2 (Oct)
Dreams (Dec)

PSVR 2017

Farpoint
No Heroes Allowed VR
StarBlood Arena

2018

Days Gone (Spring)
Bloodborne "2" (Spring)
PixelOpus new game (Spring)
God Of War (Summer)
Matterfall (Summer)
WiLD (Summer)
Spider-Man (Fall)

2019

The Last Of Us Part II (Spring)
Ratchet & Clank "2" (Spring)
Sucker Punch's new IP (Summer)
Death Stranding (Fall)


Im sure there will be more stuff that is still unannounced like VR games, the Ovosonico project, some Japan Studios stuff and maybe some other 2nd party (Arrowhead, FunBits...) stuff but this is what came to my mind
 
Wonder what other cards Sony have to show this coming E3 (besides the Sucker Punch IP).

All those sweet sweet release date confirmations aha.
 
Wonder what other cards Sony have to show this coming E3 (besides the Sucker Punch IP).

All those sweet sweet release date confirmations aha.

I think another FromSoftware PS4 exclusive will be revealed (probably Bloodborne 2, but definitely another Souls-type game), in addition to Sucker Punch's game.
 
No way Detroit comes out at the tail end of 2017. They're basically sending it to die with Destiny 2 and RDR2 taking up those windows... (Not to mention Battlefront 2). Early 2018 the earliest.
 
Wonder what other cards Sony have to show this coming E3 (besides the Sucker Punch IP).

All those sweet sweet release date confirmations aha.
I think Guerrilla Cambridge will have a new Killzone. Sony Japan announcing their next big game seems unlikely but I think they are working (and have been working) on a new game with TLG and GR2 coming out. They need something else aside from Knack 2 to work on. :P
 
People thinking The Last of Us 2 will be out by 2018 need a reality check.

1. Sony have never been on time or let alone early this generation with games.
2. The entirety of Naughty Dog were on full production for Uncharted 4 since 2014 ever since Amy Hennig left, Neil Druckmann was focused entire on Uncharted 4.
3. They split the team up again with The Lost Legacy, and Bruce Straley will likely be working on a separate project for PS5/late-generation with another team.
4. Neil Druckmann and Naughty Dog will get all the time they need/want from Sony after The Last of Us and Uncharted 4, both games that they delayed.
5. Sony already have God of War, Days Gone, Spider-Man and likely Bloodborne 2 ink-marked for 2018. There's no need to have The Last of Us 2 out by late 2018 when they have big titles coming that year.

Best wishes.

Agreed, the earliest it could be done is Fall 2018 and I don't think Last of Us is a game you release during holiday season. So it will get a "delay" to Spring 2019.

For the same reason I don't see Detroit coming out during Holiday 2017 either, and think it will be delayed until Spring of 2018.
 
No way Detroit comes out at the tail end of 2017. They're basically sending it to die with Destiny 2 and RDR2 taking up those windows... (Not to mention Battlefront 2). Early 2018 the earliest.

How much overlap do you think there is between Detroit, Destiny 2 and RDR2?

I think it'd be a great September game.
 
I hope detroit's a summer game
Mhm, summer or early fall.

Japan Studio is best imo. Always looking forward to whatever they are doing or announcing
I think I am leaning toward Sony Japan as the top studio for me as well. At least in this generation anyway. I look forward to Sucker Punch coming back strong and Guerrilla Games potentially going from irrelevant to me (I don't like FPSs) to top studio.
 
Mm's cards are the only ones rendered in-game!

31657887401_b40c825093_o_d.png
 
For context, FFXV was "playable-from-start-to-finish" during December 2015.

Polishing up the graphics, animation, etc still takes a long time from alpha-to-beta. Soonest is probably still early fall, but this definitely feels like it could be a 2017 game now.
 
I still feel it will get the "launch in 2017, delay to March 2018" treatment but now I wouldn't be surprised if it does hit 2017.

I just wonder how the release would be handled. It obviously isn't going to be before E3 because they need time to hype it up and promote it. Fall seems too stacked with other third party games but God of War may be strong enough to keep up.
 
I still feel it will get the "launch in 2017, delay to March 2018" treatment but now I wouldn't be surprised if it does hit 2017.

I just wonder how the release would be handled. It obviously isn't going to be before E3 because they need time to hype it up and promote it. Fall seems too stacked with other third party games but God of War may be strong enough to keep up.
Even if that's true do they want it to "keep up" or do they want it to blitz ahead...Yeaaa unless it's summer which I doubt I'm sticking with Q1 2017
 
Even if that's true do they want it to "keep up" or do they want it to blitz ahead...Yeaaa unless it's summer which I doubt I'm sticking with Q1 2017
Right, that is why I am hesitant. Why nip at the potential of the game? Youtube is Youtube but all those views for the God of War trailer can't be for nothing. God of War has the potential to reach that next level if handled correctly.

I think Q1 2017 is too soon. They still have to clean it up more than likely and they need to get that big promo going.
 
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