Kotaku: Naughty Dog Laying Off Developers and Factions is shelved

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nongkris

nongkris

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14 Feb 2023
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Are they not able to release whatever they did for $20 or free on PS+ to recoup some of the money and keep TLOU in the news? Put me in charge!
Haha IKR, anything with the TLOU name would've sold gangbusters, especially if it was just an updated version of the first game multiplayer. No reason a surefire slam dunk should've been this convoluted.
 
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Seems like this article is part of yet another targeted media blitz against PlayStation.

Well, it's not like Sony makes that hard for them. They have virtually no presence in online enthusiasts spaces, and no one who communicates openly with the community. They can share some good news all they want when it comes to 1P titles in development, but choose not to.

'Shelved' implies canceled. The game isn't canceled. It's on pause.

The headline suggests the game is canceled. Should be edited.

That's a good point, but if development is paused, at the very least we shouldn't expect it to release anytime soon. We know Bungie came in and basically said "it won't work as a GaaS".

So however much is being retooled or rebooted, will impact completion. This could easily slip into 2026 or later territory, which is weird and wild in its own right. And that is still assuming the game isn't cancelled down the line.

Not a good feeling on this one, but we can stay hopeful.

Still no news about factions for 3 years

Still no updates on new game project

More layoff

Time for Neil Druckman to go and bring Amy Henig back

I do think there's some mismanagement at ND. I just hope it hasn't gotten to the point, or ever gets to the point, of 343i's infamous upper-level mismanagement.

No studio is impervious to that happening, no matter how successful they've been in the past.
 

catchew

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I don't know why this made a headline. the factions being shelfed is something we already knew which they already clarified themselves. and the layoffs are the regular routine. which can be happen from a variety of departments (concept artists, character, animators and rigging etc essentially WFH or ICA which are more than likely to get rehired again or elsewhere) none of the core. but a very miniscule replaceable side got cut off the most. testers.

and even weirder this article is tagged under microsoft. smh
 
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flaccidsnake

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Bruce acted like a counterweight to Neil. Part 1 is better pace and the storytelling doesn't fights against the game-loop like in Part 2.
I can only begrudgingly concede that Pt 1 has better pacing. Everything else about 2 including the story is a generation ahead of every action game.
 

ChorizoPicozo

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I can only begrudgingly concede that Pt 1 has better pacing. Everything else about 2 including the story is a generation ahead of every action game.
i totally disagree. Part 2 is convoluted, convenient and inorganic. If in Part 1 the protagonist are the characters, in Part 2 the protagonist are the Neil and his narrative team.(you can see the manipulative narrative strings blatantly presented) which in turns, affects the gameplay.

and in top of that, Neil failed at his objective of "end the cycle of violence".

Personally, this game is a 4/10. but if I had to reviewed it, i couldn't give it less than an 8 (for everything else).
 
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Factions 2 I think will be Sony's next Last Guardian situation, i.e. a game in dev hell for a really long time, but will eventually come out due to persistent fan interest.

That didn't necessarily work out for the best with The Last Guardian, so you'd hope with Factions 2 the results are better.. Hopefully it's closer to what happened with Dreams, but gets actual marketing behind it unlike that game.
 

Danja

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Dude been busy watching music concert

Gaming and naughty dog future can take a backseat


I mean good for him. It's always been clear he had aspirations outside of gaming and I don't mind that. But his Ascension within ND never sat right with me at all.

With Evan Wells retiring, I fear for the future of the studio under his leadership. They've pretty much lost almost all their legacy talent over the last decade.

I hope they treat Kurt Margenau well, he is a star.
 

BroodCorp

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I don’t trust a fired quality tester to know the roadmap for a game in development.