430°

Naughty Dog’s Next Game Is “Really Ambitious” And Will Be “Really Hard” To Create

Speaking on what’s coming next for Naughty Dog, which could be either their new IP or The Last Of Us Part III, Druckmann gave what he seems to feel are realities of the project he’s talking about. That it’ll both be “really ambitious” but also “really hard.”

H998d ago

"I’ve really surrendered to knowing it’s going to be really hard, knowing it’s going to stress members of the team out"
As if crunch wasn't stressing them enough

helicoptergirl98d ago

Members of the team don't have to crunch anymore

helicoptergirl98d ago

According to people who work there

H998d ago

So the people who remained in a studio that had tons of workers quiting and others laid off said that they don't have to crunch, and you are just believing that

frostypants98d ago (Edited 98d ago )

They absolutely will wind up having to crunch. Happens at the end of almost every software project development cycle, especially with release date pressures. It's part of the job. Obviously they aren't in a crunch when they aren't in that late phase. But it's wishful thinking if they think they won't see that stress again. Druckmann himself seems to be aware of that.

helicoptergirl98d ago (Edited 98d ago )

Yes I believe them. The people who want to crunch can do it. The people who mentally and physically can't, don't actually have to. Some have young babies at home. Things have changed since the Schreier report.

rlow198d ago (Edited 98d ago )

@helicoptergirl
It wishful thinking to think some workers can choose to crunch or not to do so. That’s akin to people you work with saying they don’t have to do work they don’t like and you’re the one that has to take up the slack. That’s not how things work. Especially if your the person assigned to a specific task that has to be completed for the development to move forward. It’s a team sport when it comes to making a game. As with most things in life. Now that they are a smaller group, it’s even more important for everyone to pull their weight. Peace

helicoptergirl97d ago

@rlow that was exactly the mentality before the exposure and it was talked about and reported on. It's different now. You know, sometimes things and attitudes just change for the better. They knew they needed to change and they have and they're not stopping trying to make the creative environment as good as it can be.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 97d ago
Tristan198298d ago

When someone pays another person to do a specific job in exchange for a certain rate of pay, it's called work.

H998d ago

They didn't sign to crunch and neither were they paid for it, people were hospitalized in Naughty Dog

MatrixxGT98d ago (Edited 98d ago )

Exactly most of these people wouldn’t last a season in the trades.

-Foxtrot98d ago

I f******* love how many people are doing a complete 180 on their views of crunch culture despite the awful stories reported on over the many years just because we’re talking about NaughtyDog

You can’t just cherry pick what to be mad about

“They signed a contract…it’s called work…that’s life…it’s a job”

I mean really guys, if this was EA you’d be having a field day

I bet you any money if any of these guys regardless of studio went in and said to their superior “Listen, don’t feel like the over time tonight, I’ll just stick to my normal contracted hours if that’s alright” I highly doubt they’d be given a warm response

Crows9098d ago

@h9

Actually yes they did. If overtime is mentioned...that's crunch.

Christopher98d ago

@Tristan1982: The problem is crunch is because of the inefficient management and sudden changes in projects. ND made major story changes based on some feedback, that results in months of rework, redesign, etc. And none of those changes were built into the project from the get-go, so they still have to meet a deadline.

@H9: One person. And they did sign up for crunch, ND is notorious for hiring people who don't mind it. That's the problem, they tell you who they are, people just aren't listening. And, they did get paid, just their QA level of people are paid shit, which is an industry issue for something so freaking important. And people wonder why we have such broken games at launch. Because companies don't want to pay to deliver as long as people will buy enough to get them past first few months of patches and then re-release a major patch with an expansion to get people to come back.

@-Foxtrot " You can’t just cherry pick what to be mad about " -- N4G home of 'hold my beer' on that alone.

CantThinkOfAUsername98d ago

The kindda guy to guilt trip others into overwork or tell them to be better slaves ('employees'). Exactly what corps like. How does it taste?

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 98d ago
anast98d ago

They get paid and they signed the contract. It's not a slave factory.

Shane Kim98d ago

Shh... your in the era of feeling sorry for people.

jwillj2k498d ago (Edited 98d ago )

Assuming you have a job, how would you feel working 80 hours a week for the same pay? You’ve not experienced crunch otherwise you wouldn’t be speaking like this.

senorfartcushion98d ago

As somebody who has crunched before. No, it wasn't my choice, no, you couldn't handle it, and no, you don't work in a better industry than I do.

Markusb3398d ago

exactly, get the game out before PS6 and if it takes crunch, or over time which you get paid for, get on with it

anast97d ago

"Assuming you have a job"

Assuming I haven't worked more for less, I suppose. And yes, I do.

"Shh... your in the era of feeling sorry for people."

I feel awful for the people that fought for the workers and got stuck holding the bag and lost everything.

"no, you couldn't handle it, "

You mean "I"

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 97d ago
Christopher98d ago

I really hope this isn't management BS stress. I get wanting to put the best out, finding the best new ways and concepts, and ensuring your design is just top notch and not wasteful and fulfilling, but when I hear some manager talking about this my first thought is "Are these jerks changing paradigms on a regular basis that's making people play catch up and redo work to meet their new goals?"

98d ago
Kiryu199298d ago

They lost so many great experienced talented people over the past 5 years

anast97d ago

Burnout is real. I even had to change my job because of it.

Markusb3398d ago

as if you dont get paid for crunch, get on with it,

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 97d ago
Stuart575698d ago

That it’ll both be “really ambitious” but also “really hard.”

Not 'is' but 'will be', kinda suggests that they haven't started yet, hope not.

Come on ND, a game PLEAAAAASSSSEEEE. Desperate this gen.

S2Killinit98d ago (Edited 98d ago )

From the article:

“Working on this new game, it’s really ambitious, parts of it are really hard,…”

That is the actual quote. They are already working on it.

LucasRuinedChildhood98d ago (Edited 98d ago )

Yeah, a lot of people push fake narratives about NaughtyDog and misquote things. That quote is very straightforward.

https://twitter.com/MitchyD...
Above is the complete debunking of a false story that still gets spread around all the time. And the bad faith actors doing it also only pin it on Druckmann for some reason and ignore Straley. They want to portray Druckmann as an evil schemer, even when the false story they're spreading doesn't align with their narrative. They don't care about reality ...

SuckerPunch doesn't get even 1% of this criticism and they haven't provided any update whatsoever on their next game, and it's a sequel not a new IP, so turnaround would be quicker. That's not logical.

Markusb3398d ago

probably 7 years out at this point after wasting all that time on factions

Stuart575698d ago

Also, just off-topic slightly but..

Does anyone think that layoffs now may well be making space for AI integration of game development, and 'crunch-time', 'unsustainable', 'big budget' are all terms been used to butter us up to receiving the news that AI integration will help and maintain the level of AAA games that were accustomed to? Perhaps the layoffs were the devs that didn't join a union quick enough and if only they had the smarts of SAG members and strike while the time is right, before its too late?! Imagine DEV's on strike at a time like this, there's already a game drought.

isarai98d ago

Nah, quite literally every industry around is having layoffs.

shinoff218398d ago

I work in manufacturing. Layoffs here to. Especially people with no skill. I feel bad for them more then anything.

isarai98d ago (Edited 98d ago )

I work in advertisement, Im being laid off in may despite being the 3rd best on my team of 15 just under the team lead and assistant team lead, and the assistant team lead is out next week. Yet the last two years we've all been congratulated for record numbers. Times are weird.

shinoff218398d ago

Game drought. Lol what. I can't keep up. There's so many dope games releasing. I gotta ask what do you play

Stuart575698d ago

Not Naughty Dog games, not this gen. You know, Naughty Dog? Who the article is about?

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 98d ago
Brazz98d ago

I hope they remember to make it realy fun to play.

FunAndGun97d ago

I hope it's extra woke and really fun to play.

Kneetos98d ago

And then Sony will lay off 900 more staff to save costs

Christopher98d ago

Is this supposed to be a big gotcha after Microsoft laid off 1,900 and we're ignoring that? Let alone the over 16,000 other layoffs from Microsoft in 2023?

Kneetos98d ago

This is an article talking about Sony, no one said anything about Microsoft

And we should always be reminded of it like people are doing with Microsoft, Sony shouldn't get a free pass either

Christopher98d ago (Edited 98d ago )

Yes, and this article is 100% about Sony firing people.

ND says new game is ambitious - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!
Sony publishes new gameplay video - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!
Sony announces weekend sale deals - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!

Show all comments (87)
160°

Konami didn't recover after ditching Kojima, but this Metal Gear revival is its best shot

With Kojima gone, a lot is riding on Konami's revival of Metal Gear.

Read Full Story >>
videogamer.com
Jingsing16h ago(Edited 16h ago)

Not really, Konami is basically in name only and like so many other Japanese studios that have come and gone they are just going to be an IP troll and milk that cow until it is dry. Also one of the advertised features is playing the game from a different camera view while everything else remains the same will just result in making the game easier like what happened with Twin Snakes.

Cacabunga11h ago(Edited 11h ago)

If this turns out good and gamers support it we will get the other ones.. i really hope we get MGS original in zanzibar, Peace Walker and Portable Ops remakes after this one.. they are related with naked snake

Portable Ops was sooooooo good and underrated

gold_drake8h ago(Edited 8h ago)

Konami might not be super active in the videogame business anymore, or less, but they still make a ton of money with their collections and pachinko machines.

and their castlevania series on netflix is really successful also.

just_looken6h ago

@jinsing

Your dislikes shows this sites situation

Konami has been doing all of that for years now like there contra games or mgs ports

mgs survive anyone

isarai15h ago

When are people going to learn that all Konami is doing with these games Is licensing them out? They are not trying to revive their game development Branch and they are not the ones developing this. It is studios that came to them and asked to use the license to make a game and they have been doing this pretty much since MGSV

jeromeface12h ago

Remaking all his work reaks of desperation. The only reason they are getting away with it is everyones deep love for the series. If delta is successful (which as of right now it should be), they'll be sure to remake all of them.

Redgrave11h ago

Big shoes to fill, and compared to SH2 - this is as much a 1:1 remake as you can get. You can still see the PS2 bones in the movements and how the cutscenes have the same angles. If anything, I'd have preferred the reverse.... with SH2 being closer to a 1:1 remake but prettier, and have MGS3 have a little more freedom.

Ideally, MGS3 with a MGSV skin in terms of gameplay and freedom of approach. This is more like a high budget remaster than a remake. Having recently replayed the Bluepoint remaster, this is going to be like that same experience but even prettier.

But, as with both MGS3 and SH2, nearly impossible shoes to fill if not outright so. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Such is the legacy of these GOAT titles.

Inverno10h ago

It's a one to one remake, using the same voice recordings too. Not a reimagining, no new content thus far announced, just a straight remake of a game that already exists, but now with prettier graphics. There's no revival, they proved they can't make anything related to MG after Survival. They'll just remake all the games and people will eat it up.

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60°

Develop:Brighton’s Indie Showcase competition returns this year, and here are the ten finalists

We have the ten finalists for Develop:Brighton’s Indie Showcase competition right here, so take a look ahead of the event next month.

Read Full Story >>
pockettactics.com
40°

Sonic Alchemy: Crafting the Musical Universe of Remedy Games

Step into the realm of sound design and composition with Petri Alanko as he discusses his pioneering work on Remedy Entertainment's groundbreaking titles. From the haunting melodies of the Alan Wake series to the surreal atmospheres of Control and Quantum Break, explore the fusion of music and narrative that defines Alanko's immersive soundscapes.