LittleBigPlanet creators Media Molecule are on the hunt for an “experienced programmer” to work on their next AAA game, a new IP that they say is even more ambitious than the game that made their name.
IGN writes: "Media Molecule has said the layoffs at the Sony-owned studio have affected plans for ongoing community and curation support in Dreams."
How self sustained can DREAM be when it's basically stuck on PS4? I don't think it's even gotten a PS5 upgrade. Ending support for what is essentially a game making engine is basically death. SONY did DREAMS dirty.
Times are changing, and these games would have never been made in today's climate.
Every single time someone uses this phrase whether it's music, movies, books, comics, video games, etc it's always the same claim.
The ubiquitous "they" won't allow it to be made. And every decade these claims are made the claimant completely ignores all the "offensive" material that is published when the claim is made.
In ten years, you can write a new article about how you can't make games like Helldivers 2, Resident Evil VIII, Mortal Kombat I, Dragon's Dogma 2, Alan Wake 2 etc etc etc any more.
Yeah, people wouldn't be constantly outraged if there weren't games that people found enraging. The whole SBI discourse shit wouldn't be a thing if all games were inoffensive. A game like Starfield can make a guy froth at his mouth, so there will always be room for a list like this.
Normally, I'd be inclined to agree with you, but there are massive caveats.
TV shows like Venture Bros, Ren and Stimpy, and Aqua Team wouldn't/couldn't be made today. Hell, Ren and Stimpy was a *children's* show, same thing with Rocko's Modern Life.
It's not for some arbitrary reason, either. It's branding and IP alignment. Companies are far more risk-averse than they were when I was kid in the 90's. Of course, you have companies coming out of the woodwork to hell spur on similar content, but remember: Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon and some incredibly provocative material.
And for movies? it's pretty obvious. American Pie/Wedding Crashers/Eurotrip among many other "raunch coms" have fallen out of style, and are absolutely outside what the modern day film industry is willing to stand by.
Ace Ventura 1 and 2, Dumb and Dumber, Freddy Got Fingered, Rat Race, Harold and Kumar, and Van Wilder follow suit.
Remember: I am not explicitly talking about films put onto streamers. I am talking wide-releases in actual theaters. Same thing goes for games: Carmageddon, Duke Nukem, Manhunt, Six Days In Fallujah (with their original concept), Hatred, and so on and so forth. Of course, I'd be inclined to mention most tactical shooters like Rainbow Six and Joint Ops as well, due to cultural sensitivity regarding *who* you are shooting and why.
And not all of it is bad (obviously). Tastes change, and perspectives change to fit the demographic.
I should add that I'm a lefty, living in L.A. Working in film.
The Boys, Invincible, Jojo Rabbit, Deadpool, Gen V, Last of Us, Banshee... There are plenty of media being made today that people will claim "can't be made today".
Yeah but if you consider manhunt which was basically a snuff film could you seriously make that game with high than PS2 era graphics.
The Outlast Trials just came out.
But the storyline of Manhunt was that you were executed. But then lived. And if you didn't do as you were told, you'd die. And the people you killed were not innocents.
It was all filmed by a psychopath.
As we speak GTA VI is being finished up for a release. You get to play a Bonnie and Clyde type of protagonist who run up against the law.
Bodycam looks so real.
People are making those games. Articles like this will always exist no matter how incorrect they are, no matter how many times they blame "them" for whatever it is "they" do to prevent "those" games from being made.
The UK is the biggest junk country pandering to that nonsense as well, with laws against free speech and expression to match. It got so bad even Rowan Atkinson made a video on free speech about it.
Now the UK raises the age rating on harmless films like Mary Poppins, it's just a load of pansy weak ass nonsense.
The right wing Tories have been in power in the UK for the 14 years you know the ones that are "anti-woke", blame them for your perceptions.
Are these snowflakes in the room with us now?
This is more faux outrage designed to get hits. The consequences are unfortunately creating hysteria amongst those willing to buy into it and blame "them" or "the left" or "liberals" meanwhile the left are kicking off about genocide, actual real world abhorrent acts. Nobody is campaigning to censor this shit.
Not too mention the fact that some of these game are controversial for you know, underage porn and encouraging rape.
So either the guy just came in to comment snowflakes without reading anything, or he is calling people snowflakes for having a problem with said titles. Crazy how much brain rot someone can have.
Dead Island: "The early PC version of the zombie game swapped the playable character Purna’s Gender Wars skill with a prototype name, which shouldn’t be mentioned directly. The skill name made fun of both Purna as a character and feminists."
"Feminist Whore" lmao
ill add one more to the list.
drakengard 1.
its ridiculous tho, especially since they'd still be able to find their place in alot of places in the world. except america of course ha. and maybe Australia.
ppl are so sensitive these days. ha. but it is what it is.
They're not offensive.
And we need another Fat Princess. Fantastic little game!
Some people just have no sense of humour if this sort of thing offends them. They need to lighten up and stop taking themselves so seriously.
Games literally about sexual assault, mass genocide, bombing civilians, and school shooting. None of which is satirical.
Its crazy that people are fixated on Fat princess when clearly the list is going over controversies, and not all of them are equal. Like way worse examples but pretend the entire list is like that.
Staff at UK developer Media Molecule have today been told to expect job losses, with around 20 staff expected to be laid off. That's around 15-20 percent of the overall studio.
This sucks. Dreams was so amazing I was sure it was going to be integrated into PS5 in a meaningful way with the intention of fostering creativity in gamers. So disappointing to continue to hear news of that failure. Hope those impacted land on their feet and the studio finds passion in their new project...
It will also hit Naughty Dog if they dont wake the hell up from their bubble.. this is inevitable . That comfortable pillow they have been laying on since ps1 isn’t there anymore.
Mm had a whole gen to release a game.. the over confidence they got from PS3 and Vita with LBP blinded them.
I have no reason to believe to was over confidence.
They poured a lot of blood sweat and tears into Dreams, and it showed. It was exceptional by all accounts, and they tried to make it work.
For whatever reason, i have no idea why, their dream didn't come true. Maybe Sony gave them too long a leash, I don't know. But it wasn't for lack of trying. They made a fantastic creative masterpiece that...er...not enough people wanted.
Crazy
They for sure did.. but new experiences and simulators we all know are a make or break.. the risk was big and this just confirms it. They seemed so sure that game would be a success and guarantee their survival but things turned out to be very different.. they to give the fame a second breath with free VR support ..
Christ, what an idiotic post. Media Molecule's siruation is not even remotely similar to Naughty Dog's. ND released a commercially and critically game of the year award winner in 2020. That was just 3 years ago. How long do you think these games take to make?? They released The Last of Us Remake in 2022 which also sold very well. Dreams was a flop. It sold terribly. Mm's previous game was Tearaway on Vita. It also flopped. Prior to that, their last game was LBP 2 on PS3! They're lucky Sony doesn't shut them down completely.
Raider
Nothing more idiotic than your post.. there is true love and respect towards Mm for what they delivered all their games included.. every single one was a swan song! On PS4 they took a big risk and they got hurt by it and dreams was even announced at PS4 reveal!!!
In case of ND, we’ve seen nothing for 3 years, not even a Tease.. if they keep quiet longer they will miss this gen completely and end up in same situation as Mm because there is no cash flow..
@lighting/orchard:” It will also hit Naughty Dog if they dont wake the hell up from their bubble.. this is inevitable .”
Dude you’re so transparent that even with a new accounts you can’t hide your fanboyism and hatred of everything Sony
Media molecule been hit with layoffs is unfortunately and sad to happen to any company regardless of industry and I don’t wish it on any company as it’s always the hard working people that get to pay while bosses getaway scotch free and a bonus at the end of the year
ND will be fine. They aren't content creators for YouTube where they've got to post a video every second.
If layoffs hit naughty dog there has been a massive misappropriation of funds. No one should be getting laid off at naughty dog this generation.
Dreams should have been relaunched on PS5 and PC. It made no sense to launch the game on PS4 with next to no marketing when a new generation was about to start. The game had so much potential.
Not really surprised. While Media Molecule makes decent games they’re niche and take forever to come out. Sony has actually been very generous if you ask me.
"Sony has actually been very generous if you ask me.'
Sure...
In the current generation, Sony has shut down multiple first party studios, canceled multiple AAA games, and fired lots of people.
All of that while boasting their chest about incredible sales for the PS5.
This nothing but facts
I don't know about dreams as that game isn't meant for most people. I mean the casuals dont know how to make games and is it fun for them? There's a lot of potential in Dreams but it just didnt click with many i suppose.
Shame, Dreams was a cool concept and well done but it just wasn’t…how do you put it, a traditional game, if that makes sense. Spending so long on this game when in the end it felt more aimed at creators, which is fine obviously but I’d like to see something more traditional from them while another team works on the experimental stuff
I just can’t believe of all the PC ports Sony did Dreams was never one of them, the PC community might have had fun with it.
Not porting Dreams — a game creation tool — to PC was a profoundly stupid decision.
The problem with Dreams was the barrier to entry... had it been on PC, like I said with LBP so long ago, it would of soared like crazy.
My biggest complaint was the lack of support to create with friends. To my knowledge you still cannot not even create together, let alone play a game together online. How do you not support that on launch... which also leads into the barrier of entry, none of my friends even knew what the heck it was, and it was so hard to show them or get them into it.
Always suck to hear this kind of news.
Hope everything turn for the best for these affected.
All of the Sony ELITE studios should do what Mm and GG are doing and develop games for psvita and ps4 at the same time, i was stunned to know they were using only 15 people to develop Tearaway and the rest of the studio is working on another new IP.
More new IPs Sony?!!!
Next gen launch I hope.
=O !!
oh yeah