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Naughty Dog is laying off contract developers, asking them to keep it quiet. TLOU Online "is basically on ice at this point"

Hawking Radiation

Hawking Radiation

Member
Go_Ly_Dow said:
From Naughty God to Naughty Dog. šŸ«£
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Because they likely cancelled a game?

Doesn't suddenly make them a bad studio. It's disappointing to hear there's issues with TLOU online no doubt but it doesn't all of a sudden render them a B or C tier development team.

Anything coming from them will be AAAA tier and worth the wait. Though how long that wait will be is anyone's guess.
 
ArtHands

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
SmokedMeat said:
Naughty Dog really turned into an incompetent studio this generation.
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They really screwed up The Last of Us remake

1280x720.jpg
 
Shubh_C63

Shubh_C63

Member
Sony needs ND to be a studio that doesn't compromise on quality. They carry Sony brand with them.

But picking ND for your GaaS MP game was definitely a questionable decision. Take NDs expertise and maybe task someone else, but nooo..has to be an ONLINE TLOU.
 
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Calverz

Calverz

Member
I wonder if Druckmann apologised to staff who lost their jobs chasing his big Multiplayer dream? Or was it Jimbo's decision?
 
StreetsofBeige

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Calverz said:
I wonder if Druckmann apologised to staff who lost their jobs chasing his big Multiplayer dream? Or was it Jimbo's decision?
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More like Bungie's decision.

They were hired for their Destiny GAAS and to evaluate Sony's GAAS that are work in progress. They were hired to be overseer of online games. Sounds like Bungie took a look at the game and gave it the axe. Factions game is DOA.
 
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Calverz

Calverz

Member
Men_in_Boxes said:
The staff that was hired and compensated to create a multiplayer game? They probably thanked him.
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"Thank you for working on this game for the last x number of years. Now you are sacked with no severance and nothing to show on your portfolio." Yes I'm sure they are thrilled.
 
Men_in_Boxes

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Calverz said:
"Thank you for working on this game for the last x number of years. Now you are sacked with no severance and nothing to show on your portfolio." Yes I'm sure they are thrilled.
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You're talking about the 25 part time contract workers (not Naughty Dog employees) who signed up for work with no expectation of severance? They're probably thrilled they don't have to play a multiplayer game with no legs anymore.
 
Clear

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Calverz said:
"Thank you for working on this game for the last x number of years. Now you are sacked with no severance and nothing to show on your portfolio." Yes I'm sure they are thrilled.
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You can't handle that, then you're in the wrong business! Projects die all the time.
 
mckmas8808

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Heisenberg007 said:
I much prefer this over the excruciating wait of 4 years between the announcement and release of TLOU 2.

I really like when games are announced and released fairly quickly: Miles Morales, Demon's Souls, Sackboy, Helldivers 2, etc.
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There's no upside as gamers to know about a game only 6 months in advance. Is 2 years really that bad?
 
Heisenberg007

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
mckmas8808 said:
There's no upside as gamers to know about a game only 6 months in advance. Is 2 years really that bad?
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I'd say the opposite is even truer -- that there is no real upside for gamers to know about a game releasing in 2-3 years. Preorders don't even open until a few months before launch anyway.

I can see some merit of announcing games a few years ago at the launch of a console generation to share a roadmap and help consumers make their console buying decision, but that has more to do with the roadmap, and not a particular game.
 
Stooky

Stooky

Member
Shubh_C63 said:
Sony needs ND to be a studio that doesn't compromise on quality. They carry Sony brand with them.

But picking ND for your GaaS MP game was definitely a questionable decision. Take NDs expertise and maybe task someone else, but nooo..has to be an ONLINE TLOU.
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that's not how it works. To my knowledge sony doesn't pick studios for projects.
 
CosmicComet

CosmicComet

Member
ND ended up being a victim of their own success. TLOU has essentially ruined them.

Releasing a glorified second remaster of the first game. Being unable to release a multiplayer mode for TLOU pt 2 and then being unable to make an independent multiplayer expansion/game and then having all but confirmed rumors that their next release will be ANOTHER remaster, this time of Pt 2.

These guys are stuck in a hamster wheel of inaction whereas Insomniac stays firing bullets seemingly every other year.
 
A.Romero

A.Romero

Member
Shouldn't we be glad that Sony has the balls to pause/cancel a project instead of just releasing shit? I mean, they are leveraging Bungie's experience.

If the game is cancelled it's good because they can re-focus their resources into something else. If the game is just back to an earlier development phase then it's also good because they are making sure they are releasing a quality product.

I don't see a drawback at all.
 
skit_data

skit_data

Member
A.Romero said:
Shouldn't we be glad that Sony has the balls to pause/cancel a project instead of just releasing shit? I mean, they are leveraging Bungie's experience.

If the game is cancelled it's good because they can re-focus their resources into something else. If the game is just back to an earlier development phase then it's also good because they are making sure they are releasing a quality product.

I don't see a drawback at all.
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Agreed.
I understand that people may be let down by negative news but long term I'd rather see games releasing finished instead of the many half baked examples we have seen getting released in this industry lately
 
Heisenberg007

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
elco said:
Maybe if they, you know, showed it or even just talked about it, they could put some rumors to rest
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They've confirmed that the game is going to take more time. But none of the credible reports - or official sources - has confirmed the cancellation.

Even the latest Kotaku report about the cancelation of 25 QA contracts confirmed that the game has not been canceled; it's "put on ice" (means they're pausing this and prioritizing other projects, which is what Naughty Dog also said in their official statement).
 
DenchDeckard

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I'm it turns into a really robust multiplayer for last of us 3 that would be great, maybe they could ship it as an extra choice too. Or free to play with last of us 3 launch.
 
DForce

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
CosmicComet said:
ND ended up being a victim of their own success. TLOU has essentially ruined them.

Releasing a glorified second remaster of the first game. Being unable to release a multiplayer mode for TLOU pt 2 and then being unable to make an independent multiplayer expansion/game and then having all but confirmed rumors that their next release will be ANOTHER remaster, this time of Pt 2.

These guys are stuck in a hamster wheel of inaction whereas Insomniac stays firing bullets seemingly every other year.
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Some of you guys just have terrible takes. Jfc lol
 
S

SABRE220

Member
All they freaking had to do was release an upgraded version of the amazing tlou1 multiplayer, this is a perfect example of what extreme overthinking can cause.
What a damn mess, screw bungie and sony for pulling this gaas bullshit.
 
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CosmicComet

CosmicComet

Member
DForce said:
Some of you guys just have terrible takes. Jfc lol
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They are currently the least interesting Sony studio.

Unless you like seeing inactivity.

I don't think it's a hot take to suggest that Insomniac is sitting at the top of Sony right now.
 
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Salz01

Salz01

Member
elco said:
Maybe if they, you know, showed it or even just talked about it, they could put some rumors to rest
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Part of me agrees. The other part doesnā€™t like then that this tactic can be used in the future. Make a bogus tweet, get it to circulate, and force said dev to talk about it. I donā€™t agree with that either.
 
E

elco

Member
Salz01 said:
Part of me agrees. The other part doesnā€™t like then that this tactic can be used in the future. Make a bogus tweet, get it to circulate, and force said dev to talk about it. I donā€™t agree with that either.
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I'd agree if it hadn't been so long. We're already approaching PS5 hardware upgrade cycle and there's been nothing but rumors.

Personally I unwisely bought into TLOU2 with the assumption we'd have a post launch multiplayer DLC. It's been a long long wait for many of us. I'm basically a once a month gamer at this point, so I don't have much of a dog in the fight anymore, but I'm still a bit emotionally invested in this one.
 
mckmas8808

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Heisenberg007 said:
I'd say the opposite is even truer -- that there is no real upside for gamers to know about a game releasing in 2-3 years. Preorders don't even open until a few months before launch anyway.

I can see some merit of announcing games a few years ago at the launch of a console generation to share a roadmap and help consumers make their console buying decision, but that has more to do with the roadmap, and not a particular game.
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I can understand 3 years. That's WAAAAY too long nowadays with the way the industry communicates (compared to 10 years ago). But 1-2 years in advance is more than fine. Especially for huge AAA games like Spiderman 2.
 
Negotiator101

Negotiator101

Member
Hudo said:
Sure. But now they can stop wasting their time with multiplayer shit and make something cool again.
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You know I'm playing through TLOU2 again at the moment and it's just a phenomenal game. Audio-visual masterclass and immensely powerful experience. How long do we have to wait now though because of this bullshit MP game that's realistically set them back about 2 years?
 
Hudo

Hudo

Member
DenchDeckard said:
In 6 years?
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Negotiator101 said:
You know I'm playing through TLOU2 again at the moment and it's just a phenomenal game. Audio-visual masterclass and immensely powerful experience. How long do we have to wait now though because of this bullshit MP game that's realistically set them back about 2 years?
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I mean, it could be worse: TLoU multiplayer could've turned out to be extremely successful, turning ND into yet another GAAS developer. Think Rockstar Games with GTA Online.
 
Negotiator101

Negotiator101

Member
Hudo said:
I mean, it could be worse: TLoU multiplayer could've turned out to be extremely successful, turning ND into yet another GAAS developer. Think Rockstar Games with GTA Online.
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No I don't believe that for one second, that MP component of TLOU2 would have been far smaller in scale and more like previous ND MP which one of been fine as a compliment to the SP. What obviously happened was a pivot to a far more ambitious and convoluted game that ND had no experience creating and seemingly didn't click given the Bungie intervention.
 
Hudo

Hudo

Member
Negotiator101 said:
No I don't believe that for one second, that MP component of TLOU2 would have been far smaller in scale and more like previous ND MP which one of been fine as a compliment to the SP. What obviously happened was a pivot to a far more ambitious and convoluted game that ND had no experience creating and seemingly didn't click given the Bungie intervention.
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Exactly. And we're lucky that they've failed. And now ND can continue develop cool singleplayer stuff again (Even if I didn't like TLoU2 at all, still interested in their new IP).
 
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