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Meta shuts down developer Ready at Dawn (Lone Echo, The Order 1886, GoW Chains of Olympus/Ghost of Sparta, Daxter)
- Thread starter adamsapple
- Start date
Mister Wolf
Member
The God Of War games were their best work. Was a great experience playing them in stereoscopic 3D.
BobLeeSwagger
Banned
Shocker, VR games don’t sell.
Smart move on Meta to be honest
Smart move on Meta to be honest
Chuck Berry
Gold Member
It still looks pretty fuckin nuts
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
Same division that has been $20 Billion in the red and that otherwise is still spending like no tomorrow… sure… sigh…
nowhat
Member
But The Order was never first-party? There have been plenty of third-party exclusives this gen. This year, even.
Physiognomonics
Member
Yep. You just don't go full cinematic.
This killed them. They should have focused on gameplay first.
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Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Man, this news really sucks. I loved The Order 1886, and Ready At Dawn legit deserved another chance with a sequel, especially since they had a great track record with all the God of War PSP titles prior to releasing The Order 1886...
I'll never forgive the Sony execs who decided not to pursue another collaboration with them.
That being said, hopefully all the affected devs will land on their feet.
nial
Member
I mean, if you think The Order 1886 is first-party (which is correct), then Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade are too.
Also, why are we bringing up Sony here? They stopped collaborating with Ready at Dawn almost a decade ago, literally nothing to do here.
daninthemix
Member
The Order was a good looking game. In a 'low res but we'll hide it behind lashings of depth of field' kind of way.
sncvsrtoip
Member
Enjoyed The Order more than Hellblade 2, imo Sony should bought it before meta and force them to focus in next title more on gameplay.
yurinka
Member
It's a shame. I'd have loved to see them working for Sony again. Loved all the stuff they did for Sony, it was one of my favorite studios of the ones who back then were working for Sony.
Even The Order, which had some flaws but in many areas was top tier and I think they'd have fixed the issues in a sequel that I think we'll never see due to maybe sales and reviews.
Maybe it isn't a good moment for Sony to create a new studio for them, since they are already starting multiple new studios and recently acquired several of them to the point that they are taking a break of acquisitions to complete the payments related to recent acquisitions.
So I think maybe Sony's studios in California (ND, SSM, San Diego, Creative/Visual Arts, the new ex-Deviation devs studio, etc..) could hire at least some of the remaining key talent there.
Even The Order, which had some flaws but in many areas was top tier and I think they'd have fixed the issues in a sequel that I think we'll never see due to maybe sales and reviews.
Maybe it isn't a good moment for Sony to create a new studio for them, since they are already starting multiple new studios and recently acquired several of them to the point that they are taking a break of acquisitions to complete the payments related to recent acquisitions.
So I think maybe Sony's studios in California (ND, SSM, San Diego, Creative/Visual Arts, the new ex-Deviation devs studio, etc..) could hire at least some of the remaining key talent there.
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yurinka
Member
The Order was first party because it was published by the platform holder.
The lead dev studio wasn't owned by Sony, which means that in addition to being first party it was also 2nd party.
But not third party, because 3rd party games are those not published by the platform holder.
Ronin and Stellar Blade are also first party because they also have been published by the platform holder.
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BobLeeSwagger
Banned
Well they are trying to cut down their budget by 2026. So again, this makes sense
Rat Rage
Member
...said no one ever, lolmao! The Order 1886 was one of the worst games ever created. The audacity both Ready at Dawn and their mangement had to really think such a non-game (all fancy presentation with literally NO substance) would resonate with gamers was unbelievable. I think many people didn't even consider them to be an actual game developer, but rather just a bunch of graphics and cutscene artists.
Honestly, the studio was already dead as soon as they released that pseudo-game.
Nothing of value has been lost. Back in the day, I was actually proud of my fellow gamers out there that they didn't eat that shit up. If anything, it proved, even the casualest of the casual gamers, had more sense than that.
So, in order to celeberate this joyful occasion. I present you the legendary "interview with a "Ready at Dawn" developer", which made all the headlines back in the day.
Enjoy!
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TrebleShot
Member
Idiots
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
I remember people saying they beat the game in 5 hours and 2 of those hours were cutscenes. And some acts in the game are 100% cut scenes. Talk about odd. Also, the final boss wolfman or whatever was a rehash of the same boss earlier in the game.
I cant remember any action game which had distinct acts/levels and some of them were literally just cut scenes.
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Buggy Loop
Member
WTF, Zuck could not find cheap change in his sofa? Lone echo series was amazing, I felt the developer had finally found its place
fart town usa
Member
Because Sony is buying up shit and Ready at Dawn was a solid 2nd party studio who was dropped. They never should have been with Meta in the first place.
nowhat
Member
Sony is "buying up shit" now (although given recent developments, this trend is unlikely to continue), but they weren't doing so in 2020 when Meta bought the studio.
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
Sucks for VR.
nial
Member
I mean, what was anyone expecting? No disrespect for fans of the game, but The Order 1886 was an expensive flop with a 63 Metacritic, no way they were getting another chance after that happened.
Also, bolded; why? Meta had been funding all of their VR projects from the very first one (Lone Echo) in 2017.
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squidilix
Member
Blame it on Ready at Dawn. They refused to be acquired by Sony instead of Meta.
I mean, even Insomniac doing some VR Project before Spider-Man. Maybe Sony calling for a project, but RatD direction say "nah, we fine with our shitty VR project"
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Chuck Berry
Gold Member
I mean, everyone that played it and liked it pretty much expected a gigantic leap in quality and gameplay with a sequel. It seemed inevitable.
For a long time people called it a blueprint, much like we did with AC1 back in 2007. Hopes were super fuckin high.
balls of snow
Member
Short sighted Sony thought they could rely on the staple for hits year in year out. Now they have shit all for about 1.5 years. Should have cultivated RAD, bought Supermassive Games and even arguably Quantic Dream back then.
Sad news.
Sad news.
Red Crayon Aristocrat
Member
I will never understand why people rejected The Order 1886 as hard as they did, I legit think it's one of the coolest settings ever conceived for video games.
All of the criticisms were overblown, it's short but it's not that short, it's shallow but it's not that shallow, the good about the game way, way overshadows any flaws.
It's not even remotely fair it wasn't given a second chance, we kind of deserve the shitpile gaming is now almost ten years later for rejecting so many cool things.
All of the criticisms were overblown, it's short but it's not that short, it's shallow but it's not that shallow, the good about the game way, way overshadows any flaws.
It's not even remotely fair it wasn't given a second chance, we kind of deserve the shitpile gaming is now almost ten years later for rejecting so many cool things.
It seems like acquisition then closure. It's mostly because people have started to moan about the games rather than buy and play them. Even the critically acclaimed ones while GaaS games seem to be overtaking everything.
alphachino
Member
I will never forget being told in GameStop that they had a new scheme going where you could buy a used game, play it and then return it for 100% value within a week. (my memory of the exact terms of the deal are a little fuzzy to be honest) The manager told me that he and the staff were treating it like a rental service and that I should try it out myself.
I went ahead and bought The Order: 1886, platinumed it within 2 days and went back to the shop to get my refund/trade for another. I spoke to the same fucking manager and he tried to shame me for returning the fucking game. What a prick.
I actually really like GameStop, have loads of shares in the company and everything, and I think the future is looking bright for them if they can successfully pivot to something else... but fucking hell, that particular manager was a prick. I'm glad his location was shut down.
I went ahead and bought The Order: 1886, platinumed it within 2 days and went back to the shop to get my refund/trade for another. I spoke to the same fucking manager and he tried to shame me for returning the fucking game. What a prick.
I actually really like GameStop, have loads of shares in the company and everything, and I think the future is looking bright for them if they can successfully pivot to something else... but fucking hell, that particular manager was a prick. I'm glad his location was shut down.
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nial
Member
Hoy shit guys, this. I mean, who fucking cares about shit like Stellar Blade and Astro Bot? The Quarry and Beyond Two Souls-tier games is exactly what we need in such a dire year like this!
fart town usa
Member
Because Sony sound have bought them based on the strength of their PSP output. I never played The Order.
nial
Member
It wouldn't have been a bad idea at the time, but I don't think you should acquire every developer you work with, even if they make good games. And then, most of the complaints here are about Sony not giving them another chance after The Order 1886, which actually made all the fucking business sense in the world.
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FoxMcChief
Gold Member
I don’t agree with this. They did a great job with Meta. It’s just the business. It’s not like every studio under Sony has thrived and been immune to closure or layoffs.
SilentUser
Member
Man, I loved their PSP titles. What a shame! Wish those who lost their jobs find something new soon.
RyanEvans21
Member
And close by sony also like Evolution studios.
EDMIX
Writes a lot, says very little
Agreed.
The fact that they even continued to fail long after if anything supports Sony was correct to move on.
I mean, the team literally closing down clearly is showing lots as going on internally and Sony was right to just move on.
If we ever even get a Order 1887 or something, it will likely just be done by Sony Santa Monica as they also worked on the game anyway.
I hope the team are able to find employment as this always sucks.
^ Agreed. They tried something, it didn't work and I'm more ok they tried something different with a new IP then to continue something safe.
Like you said, this is business. Every gen we'll have a few close down, even from Sony. They take risk and sometimes it doesn't work out, but I'm more ok with those risk being taken, then not.
Bridges
Member
Admittedly I've only ever played one of their games, but Echo Arena (multiplayer spinoff of Lone Echo) was THE reason to have a VR headset in my opinion. It was incredibly fun and felt like an experience that wouldn't be the same outside the headset. The way your character moves is so fun and incredible. Movement is the worst part of VR since 90% of the time you're either pointing and teleporting or just moving with the right stick. RAD was way ahead of their peers in terms of locomotion.
Really sad news. Hope those impacted land on their feet
Really sad news. Hope those impacted land on their feet