‘Last of Us’ Multiplayer Video Game Faces Setbacks at Sony

[Vertigo]

100% getting the Arkham Knights treatment.

Game is delayed officially. Not cancelled. Strange to delay an unannounced game but still…

The scaling back and talent shift rumors indicate that the service aspect has been scrapped. It didn’t make the cut. And it’s clear neither did Deviation’s game.

A game like this would actually have an increasing dev team closer to release. It’s uncharacteristic to move to new project as it’s winding down per se — that’s not happening with these games. Players want quick turnaround time for updates and new content.

What this means is that it’s being shipped as a one and done boxed game unless it does indeed get cancelled further down the line. But at this moment that’s not true…

 

[nongkris]

I dont get why it means there is development issues. Loads of games need more time, better to do that

seems like this is the go to denial phase you and a lot of other fanboys are currently in. sony just closed pixel opus, shuttered dreams, cancelled deviation's project, scaled this one down, and just had a showcase filled with horrible looking co op games. all within the span of a couple of months. there is literally nothing to defend here.

 

[Nhomnhom]

I would like to know how many other studios have been hurt by their mismanagement. They were handed the keys to a well oiled machine.... now it's starting to look like a broke down jalopy.

Guerrilla (obviously since that's where he comes from)
Media Molecule
Naughty Dog
Japan Studios

Those are guaranteed.

These were the guys making the calls at this monumentally important time for PlayStation, like the studios/publishers that they would acquire since 2020, the shift to PC/GaaS, how to handle MS aggressive moves, how to respond to the Deck. As their moves become clear they look laughably bad (Project Q, lack of proper PSVR2 support, over committing to GaaS/PC, distancing themselves from close key partners like FromSoftware and Sega/Atlus, PlayStation games launching on Xbox, poor job handling their catalog, games being included on services too fast).

People have the wrong idea about what derailed Xbox, it was not the Xbox One it was bad decisions from around 2009 when they pivot to Kinect (coincidentally also the time that Phil Spencer was put in charge of their games).

 

[Gods&Monsters]

At least it's in the TLOU universe so they can salvage it for something else or just a straight MP mode. Put it on PS+ with skins, emotes, dances and that's it.

 

[Yurinka]

They could easily be moving most the team members onto there other projects after all this time. Does downscaling always happens towards the end of the game

In the very end yes, there's some people left testing or fixing bugs and people move to other projects some time before release. Part of the people moved (if they really moved, remember Bloomberg often spreads fake news fud all over Sony full of lies) maybe moved to other projects because already completed their work in this game, at least for now.

But there's also downscaling when important changes are needed as may be the case: in terms of production they need to make a new roadmap, reassign resources to the new tasks. In terms of game design they have to research and design the new things. Concept artists may go back to the project to make new concept art. Meaning, that for a while many coders, artists, etc. temporally won't be needed there, so they are temporally moved to other projects.

 

[Bryank75]

At least it's in the TLOU universe so they can salvage it for something else or just a straight MP mode. Put it on PS+ with skins, emotes, dances and that's it.

True, the assets probably won't all go to waste in any case.

Even an expanded story could be adapted to a traditional style game.

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

In the very end yes, there's some people left testing or fixing bugs and people move to other projects some time before release. Part of the people moved (if they really moved, remember Bloomberg often spreads fake news fud all over Sony full of lies) maybe moved to other projects because already completed their work in this game, at least for now.

But there's also downscaling when important changes are needed as may be the case: in terms of production they need to make a new roadmap, reassign resources to the new tasks. In terms of game design they have to research and design the new things. Concept artists may go back to the project to make new concept art. Meaning, that for a while many coders, artists, etc. temporally won't be needed there, so they are temporally moved to other projects.

Jason is very reliable when it comes to news coming from behind the scene. He is not known for spreading FUD.

 

[Yurinka]

Interesting timing along with Deviation Games project being canned.

According to the Bungie integration roadmap I shared in a previous post of this thread (from an official Sony doc), these months Bungie is reviewing the GaaS titles under development, sharing their knowledge and tools etc.

So pretty likely they thought there that the TLOU Online game needed extra time to make certain key changes for their post launch strategy structure, and that the Deviation game needed to be almost completely rebooted or cancelled.

Jason is very reliable when it comes to news coming from behind the scene. He is not known for spreading FUD.

For some things he's reliable. When it's about bad news for Sony not that much.

Even Druckmann, Cory and the Days Gone directors called him out publicly, and Hermen also -even in his case not talking to/about him directly- debunked multiple things he said.

And well, SIE/PS Studios also debunked multiple times other fake bad news/rumors/fake leaks coming from Bloomberg but not for him. From Mochizuki instead, being the PSVR2 sales the most recent example.

 

[Wraith Phantom]

First of people didn't even play factions like that. So not sure where all the fake worry coming from.

ND take forever to put out a game. The PS pipeline looking mad rough. Those games are not ready for another 2-3 years

If you got a good multiplayer game you don't do all these smokescreens theatrics. Bungie trying to MTX it all up. Its dead. No wonder ND just dropping the project. They probably just made a fun game. Bungie were like you make the game incomplete and then sell it back to them fools. ND were like why?

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

At least it's in the TLOU universe so they can salvage it for something else or just a straight MP mode. Put it on PS+ with skins, emotes, dances and that's it.

Look at the good side of this, the ND team is sent to work on the next big single player game. Just forget about the shitty GaaS stuff. Let it die

 

[Nhomnhom]

At least it's in the TLOU universe so they can salvage it for something else or just a straight MP mode. Put it on PS+ with skins, emotes, dances and that's it.

As Cerny explains in his talks, you don't salvage doomed projects, you cancel them and move on with the lessons you learned.

 

[Bryank75]

Look at the good side of this, the ND team is sent to work on the next big single player game. Just forget about the shitty GaaS stuff. Let it die

That would be for the best. But Jim and Hermen need to learn... they need to stop forcing GAAS. This obsession with chasing the buck and ignoring what their audience wants, what the studio is built for, what gets people hyped and energized for the brand. They just seem to not know anything about PS fans.

The studio acquisitions, PC ports and lack of anything to excite the traditional / cultivated PS customer base really exposes how out of touch they are.

 

[Yurinka]

As Cerny explains in his talks, you don't salvage doomed projects, you cancel them and move on with the lessons you learned.

Yes, it's what game companies do. Including Sony.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Yes, it's what game companies do. Including Sony.

It's what they should do but clearly they fail to do it a lot of time just look at Redfall or Suicide Squad.

 

[Danja]

Interesting, first time I heard about it.

But I went to check the Uncharted 2 game credits, and Bungie only appears in the "thanks" section (not even in "extra special thanks" or "special thanks"). There are many other studios there such as Media Molecule, Ready at Dawn or Infinity Ward:

That's cool. I was literally just stating to the original poster that ND and Bungie have a respectable working relationship. So I don't think there's any toxicity between them after finding out what we have today. I wasn't crediting Bungie significantly for anything. They helped with the engine and netcode

 

[Yobo]

How did we get from a game delay to it's a doomed project?

 

[anonpuffs]

Sony stop trying to do shit you're not good at.

You're the nba Michael Jordan of AAA single player games. Stop trying to be the baseball Michael Jordan of GAAS that no one wants.

The good thing is that I have faith in Jimbo as a suit. He will adapt when the market tells him shit sux.

 

[Yobo]

Sony stop trying to do shit you're not good at.

You're the nba Michael Jordan of AAA single player games. Stop trying to be the baseball Michael Jordan of GAAS that no one wants.

The good thing is that I have faith in Jimbo as a suit. He will adapt when the market tells him shit sux.

They've made good multiplayer games before

 

[anonpuffs]

They've made good multiplayer games before

Multiplayer isn't the same as gaas
Gaas requires constant content updates which ensures mediocre quality unless you have a giant, and i mean giant team that is well oiled.

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

They've made good multiplayer games before

But they weren't successful. Hence why they decided to move away from them. They shine at single player. Do single player and keep the multiplayer shit off.