Ninja Theory Boss Says Project Dreadnought Might Redefine Entertainment

Ninja Theory Founder and Chief Design Director Tameem Antoniades teased Project Dreadnought as something that might redefine entertainment and introduce a new medium.

[Imp0ssibl3]

NT rocks. Glad they're in the big leagues now

[Jin_Sakai]

You don’t have to be in the big leagues to make a great game. Look how great Hellblade turned out.

[DevilOgreFish]

@ Jin_Sakai
aside from the marketing sony did for it on it's first 2 years of development.

[RobLoPR]

I believe what he means is that now they got the financial backup that they didn't have before. They made Hellblade on they're old budget... imagine what they can achieve with a big budget.

[sprinterboy]

Plus valiant hearts, journey, gone home etc.
I've always enjoyed NT games but I've always scratched my head @why the gamer hasn't supported the dev? ie less than stellar sales with heavenly sword from ps3 gamers even though it was a fantastic game.
Then you have everyone cheering for hell blade 2 and rightly so as it looks great and a day 1 for me, but that brings me to hell blade 1 sales 500,000 ps4, 500,000 pc, 300,000 xbox one? Again the gamer not supporting a great dev, yet apparently millions upon millions of xbox owners using hell blade 2 for bragging rights for nxt gen? Even though they never even played the 1st game? Like wtf.

[CaptainHenry916]

I always thought Ninja theory was a mediocre developer. Nothing they made was groundbreaking just decent at best

[frostypants]

C'mon. Hellblade was narratively pretty awesome and showed off some pretty-far-out-there creativity. Whether or not they can do that again remains to be seen but they have shown the ability. I admit that just throwing more money at something doesn't guarantee more success though.

[CaptainHenry916]

I'm talking about their past games. Even H Sword was mediocre at best. It wasn't ground breaking. I would have gave that game a 7 out of 10 just like most of their games in the past.

[dumahim]

If you don't think what they did with Hellblade wasn't groundbreaking, I'd be curious to see what you think is groundbreaking.

[Imalwaysright]

?? Heavenly Sword took motion capture and facial animations to a whole new level when it was released and as a result it was the 1st game to truly have the cinematic feel that many of us associate with Sony games.

[CaptainHenry916]

The only thing they're good at is graphics imo. All mediocre or decent reviews scores below and nothing groundbreaking or a masterpiece. Not one game above a 9

https://www.metacritic.com/...

[RazzerRedux]

"Even H Sword was mediocre at best. "

I disagree. Heavenly Sword was incredibly underrated at the time. It was hell of a lot of fun to play.

[KaiPow]

Next generation virtual reality, or no?

[lifeisgamesok]

I like what their aiming for with Project Mara but I think they should've just made it a horror game without the mental issues tied to it

[loxim]

Agreed, Hellblade was good and all, but could have done without the constant voices in your head screaming at you. Still would have been a good game, but it still needed some improved combat in my opinion.

[lifeisgamesok]

That's true and they also should've used a different actor for Project Mara than the same one from Hellblade

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

The characters in Hellblade has psychosis ...

[Npugz7]

I didn’t care for it!

[frostypants]

Those psychological aspects are what made it interesting. Agree that the gameplay itself needed polish.

@lifeisgamesok has it been established that the character in Project Mara isn't *supposed* to be the person in Hellblade? What if Hellblade is a dream/hallucination of the person in Project Mara? Would be interesting.

[SyntheticForm]

That'd be boring, imo, as there are plenty of conventional horror games to go around. I like the focus on mental illness and find it unique.

[lifeisgamesok]

I think there's not enough horror games IMO

[Imalwaysright]

lifeisgamesok

There are dozens of horror games for PC but for the most part they're absolute crap.

[Segata]

Mara? As in the SMT Penis monster? Cool so NT is making a game just about him!

[sprinterboy]

You clearly don't know what the studio is about then

[ccgr]

Can't wait!

[Terry_B]

Blablabla

[Az1ner]

Right. If sony own them and he said this, you will still say this stupidity?

[Terry_B]

Yes..because Project X might redefine entertainment" is just annoying marketing talk that shouldnt be taken seriously, no matter which company says it.

Btw I am mostly a pc gamer who cares about pc ports. exclusivity..sucks.

[Godmars290]

Weren't they saying the very same thing with Heavenly Sword?

[xTonyMontana]

I can think of a few faults with Sony but so far up their own ass they are delusional isn't one of them.

[kneon]

"If sony own them and he said this, you will still say this stupidity?"

Sony don't have nearly the same track record of unfounded overhyping that Microsoft does.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

I forget the name of that Launch PS4 game they made but I want a sequel to that. It was short but I enjoyed every minute of it.

[Sonyslave3]

Heavenly Sword

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

Yes Heavenly Sword. Great game

[-Foxtrot]

We'll never get a sequel to Heavenly Sword now unless another developer makes it

[thatguyhayat]

Would love a remaster to the game.

[Spurg]

Ninja theory was broke back then so they let Sony have the right to the game which NT were not keen on. We would have had a sequel by then but now it would happen that now that they are part of XGS

[stuna1]

Insomniac would be a good fit I think.

[Sitdown]

Heavenly Sword is one of my favorite PS3 games, and Horizon felt like the spiritual successor on the PS4. I would love a sequel or another game that carries their feel.

[Kribwalker]

@stuna

why would Insomniac be a good fit for that? I’d agree if you said something like Bluepoint or Santa Monica, as they have experience in these types of games, but insomniacs never done something like that before and would seem odd if they did it

[RazzerRedux]

"but insomniacs never done something like that before and would seem odd if they did it"

Uh....isn't it more "odd" for Playground Games to make an RPG? They have never done anything but Forza Horizon.

[sprinterboy]

Never sold enough unfortunatly for a sequal? but yes a great game and great devs.
It baffles me at the sales for hell blade too 1.3m physical across 3 device 500,000 ps4, 500,000 pc and 300,000 xbox? Yet every xbox gamer is jumping for joy at hell blade 2? Which 54m xbox owners didn't even support or play the 1st game ike wtf.

[DJStotty]

I wouldn't say "every xbox gamer" as that would imply Hellblade 2 sales will be 40 million +.

I suspect it is just the fans of Hellblade : Senua's sacrifice that is "jumping for joy" for Hellblade 2. Looks like Microsoft is investing in the right type of games.

[yomfweeee]

Heavenly Sword was a PS3 game and not a launch game for the system either.

[camel_toad]

PS3 if I remember correctly but yeh I loved it as well.

[Rude-ro]

Ps3
Heavenly sword
They also had large budgets for AAA games..
Dmc
Enslaved.
Enslaved was my sleeper hit of last gen.. dmc, I was not a fan... at all, but I do not blame them but the money directing them.

[mark_parch]

knack

[Sgt_Slaughter]

Heavenly Sword came out in September of 2007 on the PS3, a whole 6 years before the PS4 came out.

Also this might explain the lack of a sequel:

"In 2008, it was reported that a sequel to Heavenly Sword was in-development at SCE Cambridge Studio, but was canceled due to Sony no longer seeing it as a commercially viable product"

https://www.unseen64.net/20...

[Kumakai]

MS is prob starting to feel pretty good about that acquisition.

[sprinterboy]

Yet only 300,000 physical sales on xbox one of hell blade, double that to 600,000 digital sales included and yet you have 55m xbox one owners all excited for the series X to play a sequal to game they never even played or supported?

You couldn't write this shit up. Btw ps3 gamers never supported heavenly sword either. Great devs NT yet no support?

[Zeref]

😂 😂 😂 😂

Do you really think 55million Xbox one owners are on N4G?

Xbox fans are excited for it because it's an Xbox exclusive now, nothing wrong with that. and Hellblade 1 was a great game. Despite the sales. And I'm sure a lot of people played it through gamepass since the announcement.

[DJStotty]

Hellblade is one of those games that have done modest sales and gone under the radar.

It is massively under-appreciated and the sales figures do not reflect the quality of the game. could be down to marketing, as after all this was once a timed Playstation exclusive that was only distributed in digital format.

Not to mention the fact it broke even in 3 months

[Chevalier]

Its funny because if you bring up great sales for PS4 games you get the well ONLY 10 million people bought game X from 100 million PS4 owners. Then what are the sales of 300,000 to 40 million going to translate to the new game?

[dumahim]

Maybe it isn't just Xbox owners glad to see a sequel.

[l3w1s]

Ah, TaMEME. Like anyone with a brain would believe you.

[Germaximus]

Well, developers always think they have something special to offer. That's nice and all.

[Edito]

They should talk less...

[Segata]

Exactly. Games that truly change things, devs rarely jerk themselves off and boast so much.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

Umm Kojima says hi...

[Segata]

Oh fuck off. No, it won't.

[SyntheticForm]

I'm digging the ambition here.

[Az1ner]

Curious indeed. Xbox e3 will be awesome again.

[Muzikguy]

I thought it always was?

[jambola]

well, 2013- 2016 ish.....

[monkey602]

I'm choosing to be optimistic here. I've always enjoyed Ninja Theorys games and can't wait to see what Hellblade 2 brings.

However for such a small studio they're talking a lot about projects they have in the works. I really hope they arent just coming up with great ideas and throwing them into short "experiences" instead of fleshing them out and making them work in a decent length game

[DaDrunkenJester]

They have doubled in size since the MS acquisition. Hellblade 2 has double the amount of people working on than Hellblade one which only had 20 people. Each one of their projects has around 20 people working on it. They are small, but very proficient.

[rainslacker]

I really like NT. They certainly have a lot of potential. But they've never made a game that redefines anything. Hellblade was probably the most innovative thing they've done, but not from a game play design, but rather from a creating an experience that explores something design.

I'm not saying that they aren't capable, because I think they are, but I don't want to see them be the next Lionhead, with the next Molyneux, who keeps talking about how they're going to redefine things, then end up releasing something that isn't particularly new and failing to deliver on all their promises.

As of now, there is no reason to believe they can't deliver, but the more they promise, the harder it gets. Make a quality game, and people will buy it. They have enough games under their belt that sold great without all the fluff about how they were going to be something completely different.

[Smokehouse]

Sounds cool can’t wait to see it.

[Godmars290]

See they've thoroughly drunk the MS Koolaide...

And by that I mean another company known for making notable but not groundbreaking games is saying they're going to redefine the industry.

Also see DmC: DMC for a specific example.

(Actually, nevermind the Koolaide crack - they obviously drank their own a loooooong time ago.)

[rainslacker]

I think every dev believes they're going to redefine everything with their game. Doesnt mean they do. More often than not the ones that manage to make something new go unnoticed.

I'm glad they got recognition for what they did with hellblade. I hope that with the security and support they now.have from MS they grow their studio, and if they redefine something in the course of doing this, then great.

[ShadowWolf712]

Sure it will.

[jznrpg]

Yeah we have heard this before . Sounds like a money pit going for ultra realism

[isarai]

"redefine entertainment and introduce a new medium."

Wow talk about exaggerating, i love Ninja Theory but thats just silly.

[jambola]

lol, ok
i;m sure it'll be great and all, but get your head out of your ass a little bit

[miloman]

Very curious to see where this goes

[Xwin]

MIGHT

[Ninver]

More non and less fiction

[yomfweeee]

Wow this is some big time talk. Going to redefine entertainment and reality? The last new medium? You can't get any closer to reality?

Riiiight.

[Donnie81]

Innovation is definitely welcome

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

Ok, when a studio makes this claim you have to immediately be skeptical...

[DreadGara]

Well, they have to join the pr talk since they went with MS.

[Scapton]

This was a great acquisition by Microsoft. Looking forward to the games they put out :)

[shiva1]

Three games after MS aquisition.... Bleeding edge was already midway, hellblade proposal and project mara prototype stage.

[RazzerRedux]

You are overselling it, dude.

[fatbastard11]

What's Project Mara then?