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[Mibu no ookami]

Watching the Grounded documentary really helps put into perspective Sony's shift in marketing over the last few years.

The amount of pressure and time involved with creating a lot of this marketing, especially well in advance of game releases simply doesn't add up.

Even why Sony didn't want to continue doing E3, despite everyone's feelings about the event.



From 24:35 to 32:55 really I think encapsulates why we've seen Sony back off of advertising early and why they do fewer events.

That being said, I do expect we'll see an event in August or September, highlighting the PS5 Pro, but I do think we're going to have to get used to fewer large events and that we're going to get more announcements and reveals closer to the release of games, where these assets are largely already done.

Astrobot, Until Dawn, and Lego Horizon were all announced in the year that they're scheduled to release. That's a massive shift historically from what we're used to, but I do think the pipeline will resolve itself, but due to timing of different projects, we might have to get used to State of Plays.

 

[Loomy]

This has been the case for years. Watch the old God of War docs, you'll see the team spending months on a demo for E3. That's months that they could have been working full time on the actual release. So a lot of it is more development resources than marketing.

But you're right though. That's the new and, I think, better reality. I don't care how much people bitch and moan about Sony not showing games. If they're not ready, they're not ready. No one needs more Beyond Good & Evil 2.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

This has been the case for years. Watch the old God of War docs, you'll see the team spending months on a demo for E3. That's months that they could have been working full time on the actual release. So a lot of it is more development resources than marketing.

But you're right though. That's the new and, I think, better reality. I don't care how much people bitch and moan about Sony not showing games. If they're not ready, they're not ready. No one needs more Beyond Good & Evil 2.

I'm not saying it's new, just that with the size and scope of games increasing, it's no surprise that Sony would look to cut aspects that aren't as crucial, especially if it leads to crunch, which they get public scrutiny for and additional employee churn.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

This has been the case for years. Watch the old God of War docs, you'll see the team spending months on a demo for E3. That's months that they could have been working full time on the actual release. So a lot of it is more development resources than marketing.

But you're right though. That's the new and, I think, better reality. I don't care how much people bitch and moan about Sony not showing games. If they're not ready, they're not ready. No one needs more Beyond Good & Evil 2.

Thank you!!!!

 

[nial]

Kinda off-topic, but does Naughty Dog not having in-house producers actually matter if they still have to work with those at SIE? Sam Thompson from WWS/PSS America has been a senior producer in every ND game since The Last of Us 2013.
Plus, I've noticed that Part I and Part II Remastered credited ND producers as well.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Kinda off-topic, but does Naughty Dog not having in-house producers actually matter if they still have to work with those at SIE? Sam Thompson from WWS/PSS America has been a senior producer in every ND game since The Last of Us 2013.
Plus, I've noticed that Part I and Part II Remastered credited ND producers as well.

They have producers now, but I think the idea before was that teams would just cook and when they were ready, they'd come together. I don't think SIE producers are involved in the day to day like you would see on most games (but that's a complete assumption on my part) and they're involved from a more holistic perspective.

 

[Kerotan]

I didn't watch but what you're saying is less time spent on PR for event's and more time on development. I think that's badly needed with how long dev times are now. Every little helps. Plus the added bonus that after a game is revealed we've less time to wait.

You'll still get people like kojima doing all the marketing bells and whistles because he seems to enjoy announcing his stuff Day 1 and hyping it up over the next 3/4 years.

 

[vivftp]

Raf Grassetti also chimed in on the subject of these early vertical slice trailers.
Link to Era post where someone broke it down as it's not in English:

PlayStation Studios |OT42| Hot Bot Summer Sony - OT

https://www.youtube.com/live/5mYEv1sFl_o?si=xYIcdAJrKtiMbwa6 Good interview with Raf Grassetti. Timestamp to minute 15 and he's talking about the cost of showcase videos (in portuguese). It takes at least 4 months to make a trailer as we already know by Grounded II but he says this time is cut...

www.resetera.com

Summary:

Good interview with Raf Grassetti. Timestamp to minute 15 and he's talking about the cost of showcase videos (in portuguese). It takes at least 4 months to make a trailer as we already know by Grounded II but he says this time is cut from development time and the money comes from development budget not marketing.
So, in addition to the stress on the developers who need to polish parts of the game that are not yet ready, the stress for the final game to have the same quality as the trailer, we have less time for development since part of the team was allocated to make the trailer and even less money for the project.

 

[ZehDon]

This is true for most major gaming companies.

In the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion documentary, you can see the sheer work that goes in to building the E3 demo. It's, effectively, a mini game development cycle all in itself, complete with an immoveable deadline. For a lot of companies, it's just not worth building your development cycle around a tradeshow. Work at your own pace, and show the game off when its ready. Similar thinking was applied to cause the death of game demoes.

 

[EDMIX]

True, but I'm ok with this shift over the years.

I don't see that the team benefits from long marketing windows, I see that being more hindering then help tbh

 

[PixelatedBeast]

Yeah, I noticed this too when I was watching the documentary. A lot of dev time and marketing goes to verticle slices that arent even apart of the final product. Sony Santa Monica did the same thing. They put a lot of work into having a live playable demo with a symphony and you could see the stress weighting down on the creative director. God of War was deserving of its reveal from Sony, but its not totally necessary for future games now that they've built a pedigree with their singleplayer games.

 

[Hero_Select]

Still greatly miss E3 tho

 

[vivftp]

Still greatly miss E3 tho

Its death is a small price to pay if it means less stress for the devs and more money, manpower and time being put into the actual final game rather than the vertical slices. Don't get me wrong, E3 2016 was still the GOAT Showcase and I still occasionally rewatch it, but I'd gladly sacrifice it for a healthier dev pipeline.

Now that we're in a post-pandemic period, I am curious just how far out Sony will go with reveals at their next Showcase. 12 months? 18? 24? Will they go back to in-engine only stuff or will there be a mix of CGI trailers in there? So many questions.