• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Jason Schreier: heads rolling at Sony for the cancellation of The Last of Us Online after 4 years in development

Bernardougf

Member
He made this the most profitable generation in Playstation history despite launching during a pandemic and he retired shortly after closing the 10-year COD deal with Xbox ABK acquisition, which led to the Xbox Business Update back in january

You think he got fired over Factions 2?
All I see is gaas push failure, projects canceled and the worst first party output ever imho ...and them he retired. Take from that what you will, its all speculative anyway. I think he was given a way out. As most are.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Whose heads rolled, J.Cuckster?

Tell us!

I'm looking at the ND LinkedIn accounts and all the studios' leads are still in their current roles.

Herman Hulst who was WWS boss is even being promoted. So pray tell, whose heads have rolled? Or are you just making shit up again to pretend you're some sort of informed insider?
He doesn't want us to look into that. He just wants us to believe his vagaries.
 

IDWhite

Member
Sony PlayStation's entire software strategy has shifted to a model that neither its developers and loyal players were looking for. We will see the consequences as time goes by.
 

Killjoy-NL

Member
All I see is gaas push failure, projects canceled and the worst first party output ever imho ...and them he retired. Take from that what you will, its all speculative anyway. I think he was given a way out. As most are.
Killing Xbox is the mic-drop highlight of his career.
It won't get better than that and Playstation has room to breathe abd reassess their businessplan.

Getting fired over Factions, London Studio and Firesprite doesn't make any sense.
It's not even that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.
 
Last edited:

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Sony PlayStation's entire software strategy has shifted to a model that neither its developers and loyal players were looking for. We will see the consequences as time goes by.
PlayStations most played games are GAAS titles. Their audience overwhelmingly prefers GAAS.

PlayStation would rather do what they've always done (single player). The reason why they've taken the risk & discomfort & cost to change is because the data is so overwhelming that they feel forced to.
 
He said at Sony, not Naughty Dog.

Makes even less sense, because Sony were the ones responsible for encouraging ND to move from TLOU2 online MP as an add on to a full-fledged standalone product. WWS leadership would have brought in Bungie to advise ND and essentially, WWS leadership would have made the decision to scrap the project due to the desire not to sacrifice ND as SP-focused studio.

Even the reasoning for scrapping the project was no-one at SCE WWS or ND's fault. None of them had any idea what a full GaaS needed in terms of dev support until they brought in ND. So, there is no-one in either Sony WWS or ND who failed and thus could be held accountable for the change in direction.

J.Cuckster is spouting his own BS conjecture and pretending it's insider info.
 

IDWhite

Member
PlayStations most played games are GAAS titles. Their audience overwhelmingly prefers GAAS.

PlayStation would rather do what they've always done (single player). The reason why they've taken the risk & discomfort & cost to change is because the data is so overwhelming that they feel forced to.

Although the most played games on its console are GaaS, the brand has built its success on the shoulders of single-player games and the magnificent support for developers both on the hardware and software side.

They are changing a lot of that by trying to do and change too many things at the same time to make quick money.
 

StueyDuck

Member
If it wasn't for him we wouldnt have found out about 100 hour work weeks at Rockstar, the massive divorce rates, and all of the following shit going on over at ND:

- constant meddling with Bend's Uncharted spin-off leading Bend to cancel it
- constant meddling with VSG's TLOU remake forcing VSG leadership to quit leaving ND with a remake
- poor focus testing on Abby's levels leading to many rewrites and delays for TLOU2
- the reason reason for Amy henning's departure... i.e., clashes with Druckmann and Bruce over uncharted 4 forcing her to resign, even though it was her series to begin with

I dont care if he is a little shit. he keeps everyone accountable.
Who gives a fuck.

Little weenie has an axe to grind cause studios don't line up with his viewpoints. Whether Rockstar works alot or not doesn't affect me and I'm not gonna congratulate a weenie for being a weenie.

Dude needs to grow a pair.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Although the most played games on its console are GaaS, the brand has built its success on the shoulders of single-player games and the magnificent support for developers both on the hardware and software side.

They are changing a lot of that by trying to do and change too many things at the same time to make quick money.

The brand has shifted so much since PS1 to PS4. PlayStation has done a wonderful job at reading the market during that time period and serving players what they want.

They're doing the exact same thing with GAAS.

Nothing has changed at PlayStation. They keep giving their audience what they want. Their audience now wants GAAS.
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
PlayStations most played games are GAAS titles. Their audience overwhelmingly prefers GAAS.

...but only a few of them. Not seen anything to suggest that the market can sustain anything more than a handful of successful GaaS, which is why they probably shit-canned this. Too much risk in an uncertain market.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
...but only a few of them. Not seen anything to suggest that the market can sustain anything more than a handful of successful GaaS, which is why they probably shit-canned this. Too much risk in an uncertain market.

You don't have to see it because you have no stake in the game. You're just a single customer with very little information surrounding the matter.

PlayStation sees it. They've built entire departments reading acute data on these trends. A lot is riding on how well they can read the market. They've been really good at doing that since the PS1. Nothing suggests that they all of a sudden got bad at it now.
 
You don't have to see it because you have no stake in the game. You're just a single customer with very little information surrounding the matter.

PlayStation sees it. They've built entire departments reading acute data on these trends. A lot is riding on how well they can read the market. They've been really good at doing that since the PS1. Nothing suggests that they all of a sudden got bad at it now.
Where have you been this generation? 😂
 
Last edited:

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Makes even less sense, because Sony were the ones responsible for encouraging ND to move from TLOU2 online MP as an add on to a full-fledged standalone product. WWS leadership would have brought in Bungie to advise ND and essentially, WWS leadership would have made the decision to scrap the project due to the desire not to sacrifice ND as SP-focused studio.

Even the reasoning for scrapping the project was no-one at SCE WWS or ND's fault. None of them had any idea what a full GaaS needed in terms of dev support until they brought in ND. So, there is no-one in either Sony WWS or ND who failed and thus could be held accountable for the change in direction.

J.Cuckster is spouting his own BS conjecture and pretending it's insider info.
Hes been right about everything with ND. id say earned the right to be trustworthy.

Who gives a fuck.

Little weenie has an axe to grind cause studios don't line up with his viewpoints. Whether Rockstar works alot or not doesn't affect me and I'm not gonna congratulate a weenie for being a weenie.

Dude needs to grow a pair.
it seems you are the one who has an axe to grind against a dude for just doing his job and reporting on the state of the industry.
 

IDWhite

Member
The brand has shifted so much since PS1 to PS4. PlayStation has done a wonderful job at reading the market during that time period and serving players what they want.

They're doing the exact same thing with GAAS.

Nothing has changed at PlayStation. They keep giving their audience what they want. Their audience now wants GAAS.

They have been able to read the market so well that now they have their best studio completely upside down.

A part of the audience will look to play GaaS games, and they may be the most played and most profitable games in the short term, but they are not the ones we all want. All you have to do is see that only a few of these games succeed and it is difficult for them to do so to such an extent that a company like PlayStation can live off their success.

If I have bought a PlayStation console it is for its exclusive single-player games, not to play GaaS multiplatforms. And I'm not the only one.
 
Last edited:
I look at the data. The PS5 generation has been OVERWHELMINGLY the most profitable generation in PlayStation history thanks to GAAS. Don't let the echo chambers online sway your opinion on the matter.
First party is in a state of disarray, Sony HQ are not happy with the divisions performance, candy coat whatever but that's a fact.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Hes been right about everything with ND. id say earned the right to be trustworthy.


it seems you are the one who has an axe to grind against a dude for just doing his job and reporting on the state of the industry.
Hey if you like weenies that's good for you.

He's not really a reporter or reporting on anything. More like a sensationalist journalist.

Just because it's negative doesn't mean it's journalism
 
Last edited:

Killjoy-NL

Member
Although the most played games on its console are GaaS, the brand has built its success on the shoulders of single-player games and the magnificent support for developers both on the hardware and software side.

They are changing a lot of that by trying to do and change too many things at the same time to make quick money.
The brand was built on multiplayer as well. Let's not pretend that games like Socom, Killzone, Resistance, MAG, Warhawk, Motorstorm, Driveclub, GT etc didn't have dedicated fanbases.

It was only during PS4 that Sony really focused primarily on singleplayer games and even then we still have Killzone Shadowfall, GT, Uncharted and Ghost of Tsushima with decent to great multiplayer components.
The only one that got pushed back and ultimately canceled was Factions 2.

All these games are part of what made the Playstation brand strong, but Sony relied more on 3rd party for Gaas last-gen.

They are just picking up where they were slacking with PS4. It's not something new to them.
 
Last edited:

Fafalada

Fafracer forever
Don't know how the fuck you spend 4 years working on an mp mode only to end up not releasing anything.
That's how cancellations work?
Also online games are not cheap to make - eg. GTA:O was a 1000 people for the final 18 months of development (after GTA:5 was out), and it probably continued with a team in the hundreds for the rest of its life (but of course - it's been wildly successful).

Sony: Let's have ND make a GAAS.
ND: Spends 4 years making GAAS.
Bungie: You guys do know you will have to support it for years to come, right?
Yea I wouldn't be surprised if this happened.
Sad part is - this industry wen through an entire cycle of this back in 2010 (with very similar expensive cancellations and more) - and it's all just repeating exactly the same mistakes as if noone ever learns (well - some do - but because of how the industry pays - they go do better things with their life).
 

Stooky

Member
Hes been right about everything with ND. id say earned the right to be trustworthy.


it seems you are the one who has an axe to grind against a dude for just doing his job and reporting on the state of the industry.
nah, he’s about 50/50. half he gets right half gets wrong. his headlines are close. his stories are always off.
 

skit_data

Gold Member
is he saying that it was so bad that, even up to today, those heads are continuing to roll? where can I go to watch them?...
He said "there were some heads rolling" but I guess that thread title wasn't spicy enough and some of the posters ITT seems to think this is ongoing as we speak
 
Last edited:

Muffdraul

Member
As someone who adores TLOU as a franchise but stopped giving two shits about online MP back when Halo 2 was still current, I say: "Meh." ~shrug~
 

IDWhite

Member
The brand was built on multiplayer as well. Let's not pretend that games like Socom, Killzone, Resistance, MAG, Warhawk, Motorstorm, Driveclub, GT etc didn't have dedicated fanbases.

It was only during PS4 that Sony really focused primarily on singleplayer games and even then we still have Killzone Shadowfall, GT, Uncharted and Ghost of Tsushima with decent to great multiplayer components.
The only one that got pushed back and ultimately canceled was Factions 2.

All these games are part of what made the Playstation brand strong, but Sony relied more on 3rd party for Gaas last-gen.

They are just picking up where they were slacking with PS4. It's not something new to them.

Many of these games are single-player campaigns with the addition of multiplayer.

Sony has always had single player games that have been a hit since Ps1 with games like Gran Turismo and Crash Bandicoot.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
It’s mindblowing that they tossed 4 years of development in the trash. They should’ve passed it off to Bend or something at the very least. Yet they loved Concord so much that they bought the studio. Fairgame$ will also be a huge flop.
It was Jimbo and Herman's big push for GaaS that resulted in investments in Concord, Factions, FairGames, the cancelled ex-treyarch project and 7 other GaaS titles they had planned to released by 2025.

What we are seeing now is the direct result of them reducing the investment in single player games in 2022 from 2019 when they shouldve been increasing it instead in order to keep up with the gen on gen increase in development costs. But all that extra cash Sony was making from those single player games went into acquisitions for Live Service studios and games most of which will never see the light of day. By 2025, they were finally set to increase their SP spending but they are going all in on GaaS by next year which means a lot of extra dollars wasted on trash like concord that we havent seen yet. Marathon is focus testing really poorly so thats another failure and why we havent seen it since its announcement at last year's E3. You might have GG working on some GaaS trash as well. Horizon's MP pics were leaked of fat women on crutches with some of the ugliest graphics ever. It will also likely get cancelled. Bend is also working on a GaaS game. if you think Cocord and FairGames are bad, just wait, the worst is yet to come.

i-worry-people-are-misunderstanding-sonys-plan-for-future-v0-dvlfwr30aacb1.jpg


nah, he’s about 50/50. half he gets right half gets wrong. his headlines are close. his stories are always off.
id like to see the receipts. I always see people question his reports when they come out and yet time proves him right. I still remember people clowning on him when he wrote in his book that amy henning was indeed forced out after clashes with neil and bruce, only for the Sully actor to confirm that a few years later. When he broke that news about ND remaking TLOU1, people on this very board refused to believe Sony would commission such a useless remake let alone waste ND's time with it, but he was right once again.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
So either between 18 to 24 or someone seriously lacking people skills.
lets not insult the 18-24 demographic. I havent seen anyone use the term weenie. might be 10-12 at best.

is he saying that it was so bad that, even up to today, those heads are continuing to roll? where can I go to watch them?...
saudi arabia, every friday afternoon in the city square.
 
As someone who adores TLOU as a franchise but stopped giving two shits about online MP back when Halo 2 was still current, I say: "Meh." ~shrug~
Missing the point though, complete mismanagement of ND resulted in many wasted years where they could have been doing what they do best. Singleplayer games are their bread and butter and the choice to expand a small MP component for TLOU2 into a standalone GaaS game was a massive mistake.
 

Killjoy-NL

Member
Many of these games are single-player campaigns with the addition of multiplayer.

Sony has always had single player games that have been a hit since Ps1 with games like Gran Turismo and Crash Bandicoot.
For PS4, sure.

Before that, most of those games were popular due their multiplayer modes that kept people playing. Especially the shooters.
 
Last edited:

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Missing the point though, complete mismanagement of ND resulted in many wasted years where they could have been doing what they do best.
Sony got really lucky this gen. Their consumer base has definitely bailed them out. And right around the time all this stuff was going down, PS+ jumped 30% for no reason. That's the lost money from their failed projects getting recouped at everyone's expense. Jim Ryan raised that on his way out the door.
 
Last edited:

ReBurn

Gold Member
Although the most played games on its console are GaaS, the brand has built its success on the shoulders of single-player games and the magnificent support for developers both on the hardware and software side.

They are changing a lot of that by trying to do and change too many things at the same time to make quick money.
The brand has certainly built its success on single player games, but as we've read time and again those experiences take too long and cost too much to build to support all of PlayStation. It's not quick money they're trying to make. They're trying to create a sustainable recurring revenue pipeline based on GaaS and MTX to keep money coming in while Naughty Dog takes a whole generation to deliver a new game. Helldivers II has been every bit as important to Sony this year as any of their single player games.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Many of these games are single-player campaigns with the addition of multiplayer.

Sony has always had single player games that have been a hit since Ps1 with games like Gran Turismo and Crash Bandicoot.
Yep. This is what they got away from at the end of the PS4 era and they overcorrected by splitting Factions from TLOU2 as if people were going to pay $70 for a online only game.

I hated COD mp in the PS3 gen and was meh on most Battlefield games. Sony games like Socom, Resistance 1-3, KZ2-3, uncharted 2-3, TLOU1 and MAG were my jam. I spent thousands of hours playing those games. And while some of those games were flops, all they had to do was add monetization to them because they all had a very dedicated fanbase. You only need less than 1% of whales that will keep your game profitable through microtransactions and sony games had a very dedicated fanbase. Just launch the fucking mp modes with your single player games like you used to and use smart content drops to keep others engaged.

But no, they went all in on SP leaving out MP from horizon, spiderman, and TLOU2 which left sony with no recurring revenue in between long dev cycles then they overcorrected by signing off on big buget GaaS games like factions and acquisitions and funding of 5 GaaS studios, 4 of which were completely untested. Nah, just create mp teams within those studios and have them work on mp modes like you used to.

Just greed, mismanagement, and lack of good leadership from Neil, Cory, and GG' heads like Herman.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
I think it's pretty clear that "ramping up" to full production means they didn't like what they saw at the end of the ramp. You don't commit resources to the next phase if you don't like what you see at the end of the ramp.

Incubation projects frequently take a long time in the oven. Hello Games released an ambitious game with 10 people. Having ambition starts in the seed phase of a project.

This wasn’t some small time ‘incubation project’. This was Naughty Dog’s Next Big Thing, cited as their most ambitious game yet. They were most certainly in full production, as you’d expect after nearly 4 years of work.

From their statement, it’s easy enough to infer that they were in full production, and if they had something Bungie could review and assess, it insinuates they already had a vertical slice ready.
 

Three

Member
Not only but likely as a result of the GAAS Factions they didn’t include the mp in the part 1 remake.
Na, that would have just delayed the singleplayer and would have taken even longer. The benefit with live service games is that you can release a barebones game and then add content later with content updates. It's not what prevented MP in part 1 remake.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
Sony got really lucky this gen. Their consumer base has definitely bailed them out. And right around the time all this stuff was going down, PS+ jumped 30% for no reason. That's the lost money from their failed projects getting recouped at everyone's expense. Jim Ryan raised that on his way out the door.
I don't think it was luck. What has kept PlayStation going is the 30% rake they get from third party games and MTX. They've called out their dependence on third party revenue as a risk in many of their recent quarterly reports. They've also highlighted decreases in profitability from shrinking first party game sales (because it takes forever to develop and release those games) and costs associated with discounting consoles to hit sell in targets. If they lose significant third party sales they'll be in trouble, which is why they need good GaaS games of their own to keep people engaged and playing. Third party revenue should be gravy for them, not the main course.
 

Muffdraul

Member
Missing the point though, complete mismanagement of ND resulted in many wasted years where they could have been doing what they do best. Singleplayer games are their bread and butter and the choice to expand a small MP component for TLOU2 into a standalone GaaS game was a massive mistake.
Fine. I admit it. I'm have PTSD from all the years of MP obsessed freaks whining about TLOU2 not having MP. I have TLOUMPDS. The Last of Us Multiplayer Derangement Syndrome.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
I don't think it was luck. What has kept PlayStation going is the 30% rake they get from third party games and MTX. They've called out their dependence on third party revenue as a risk in many of their recent quarterly reports. They've also highlighted decreases in profitability from shrinking first party game sales (because it takes forever to develop and release those games) and costs associated with discounting consoles to hit sell in targets. If they lose significant third party sales they'll be in trouble, which is why they need good GaaS games of their own to keep people engaged and playing. Third party revenue should be gravy for them, not the main course.
They're clearly winning, and have the bulk of sales. I guess my point (just my opinion) is that it comes off as luck to me that they are this dominant, because it feels like all of it mostly the result of good will generated last generation, and from an unusually aggressively loyal consumer base. I don't think Sony fans were that loyal at the start of the PS3. I've never seen anything like the loyalty this gen. Games prices up, system price up, and sub price up while game releases have gone down, showcases disappear and trailers never materialize.

There is no change in PS+ at all. Their PS+ consumers are literally paying for Factions 2 but not getting the game. They're paying for Bungie. And they're paying for Concord. Gamepass has raised prices, but you at least see Call of Duty added.

But anyway, Sony has tons of fans who are perfectly happy so I'm not acting like everyone agrees with me. My whole point is that they're still happy, and Sony is lucky to have those fans.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Isa

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
They have been able to read the market so well that now they have their best studio completely upside down.
They don't. Their best studio is deep into their next big AAA SP game. The structure of Naughty Dog has been SP oriented for the past 4 years. The dumbest, clickbait news sources have tried to spin the narrative of "Can you believe Naughty Dog was making a multiplayer game this whole time when they could have been making a SP game?! Apocalypse now!"

They do that because they know that will drive the most clicks.
A part of the audience will look to play GaaS games, and they may be the most played and most profitable games in the short term, but they are not the ones we all want.
Who is "we"? PlayStation just looks at their user data. They don't base their choices on echo chambers online. Your preferences are just as valid as a GAAS gamers preferences to them and...looking at the data...the GAAS gamers are more lucrative.
All you have to do is see that only a few of these games succeed and it is difficult for them to do so to such an extent that a company like PlayStation can live off their success.
PlayStation saw that well before you or I. They know about something as basic as success rate in every genre. PlayStation sees growth potential in GAAS and rightfully so. They believe they're positioned well to take advantage of that growth potential.
If I have bought a PlayStation console it is for its exclusive single-player games, not to play GaaS multiplatforms. And I'm not the only one.
Sony used to make rice cookers before they made audio equipment. If you're into rice cookers then either keep looking at Sony's rice cooking segment, or buy a different product next time. The audio portion of the market is too lucrative to ignore.
 
Top Bottom