Microsoft On 1st Party Studios: Naughty Dog Is "A Special Studio", "They Are Unique"

Microsoft On 1st Party Studios: Naughty Dog Is "A Special Studio", "They Are Unique"

[xHeavYx]

ND is an amazing studio, props to Phil Spencer for the good words

[GarrusVakarian]

They sure are. Watching the making of TLOU made me appreciate them as a studio even more. They remind me of Bungie, so passionate and dedicated to their games while also knowing how to have a fun time and coming across and really nice, genuine people who are still very much in touch with gamers.

[Hatsune-Miku]

Naughty dog is the best game development studio in the gaming industry today and they are apart of why sony is the best video game company with PlayStation

[bocajbee]

Naughty Dog and Bungie are known to be close partners/work together. So I'm not surprised.

[MONOLITHICIDE]

Didnt Bungie actually help naughty dog develop their multiplayer for Uncharted 2 and 3. i thought i watched a video on that a few months prior to the release of Uncharted 2.

[b163o1]

^^^This is true

[AndrewLB]

ND is a good studio, but i'd argue that Valve and Bethesda are the top two. I would have also put Bioware in the top 3 up until they destroyed the Mass Effect series with that horrible ending.

[calis]

"Didnt Bungie actually help naughty dog develop their multiplayer for Uncharted 2 and 3. "

Wasn't there a thank you to Bungie in Uncharted 2 credits and people went nuts with all sorts of conspiracy theories?

[mewhy32]

naughty dog is an amazing studio. IMO they're the most talented studio on the planet. I can't wait to see what happens on PS4.

[UnHoly_One]

They are the ones all of my Xbox-only friends regularly mention and say "I wish we had them", or "they are the only reason I would consider a playstation".

They make good games but at the risk of getting attacked I don't think as highly of the UC games as most others do.

I much prefer the God of War games myself, and inFAMOUS. Those are the two franchises I would bring up if somebody asked me "I already have an Xbox, why should I get a PS?"

[webeblazing]

MS needs to improve and invest in more studio than worrying about others. how many devs under they belt they destroyed. they are up there with ea and capcom when it comes that.

[Sitdown]

So giving a compliment to another studio is now considered worrying about them and consumes so much of their time. Geeeeez. Why not glad Microsoft sees a quality studio, and hopefully they will work to nurture their own studios to where they can be great?

[webeblazing]

not saying that its just they need to start making the games they customers want and invest in their devs. MS always do things half @$$

[MxRBrobaFett]

I wouldn't say complimenting another studio is considered worrying about them.

[Shinox]

M$ > http://i1130.photobucket.co...

[CertifiedGamer]

Microsoft problem is that they have an EA mentality where they won't delay a game even if it sucks or is not ready. Sony on the other hand would rather let developers release the game when it has met the gaming development teams vision.

[MightyNoX]

Was he the one who said "We don't need 1st party studios" or was that Greenberg, I forget.

[Max-Zorin]

It was most likely Greenberg.

[mrpsychoticstalker]

Not to worry, microsoft has excellent studios as well.

The only thing is, Microsoft's first party titles outsell Sony's by quite a large margin. For example, Killzone 3 had sales of 2.2 million world wide, while Halo: Reach had sales of 8.89 globally. I think those are pretty comparable titles in terms of being the big-budget first person shooters from each respective company. Another comparison, the total sales of the Gears of War franchise are about 18 million worldwide. Compare that to the uncharted series (I am using these two because they are each trilogies) which has sold 13 3/4 million worldwide.

So I think that Sony definitely has MORE first party releases that are of a high quality, but you could argue that Microsoft has the more popular first party titles.

[Ezz2013]

well,sales=/=quality
also
http://www.vg247.com/2012/0...

and TLOU is around 5 million now or even more

[Aceman18]

you're numbers are off

Gears 4 titles total 20 mil
Uncharted 4 titles (3 PS3, 1 Vita) 18.4 mil

and if you take away the extra game then its

Gears 18.5
Uncharted 17.2

[king_george]

Gran Turismo...?

[Mac420]

Your numbers are alright, that's not my problem. It's the fact that Sony has about 100 more 1st party games that actually sell well over 250,000 copies. While MS had Halo other then that, they don't have much. Can't compare or even bring Gears up, it's not a MS owned Studio. So most of your logic is pointless....

[DialgaMarine]

Last I checked, ND stated the Uncharted series had sold over 17 million copies, back around the time that Golden Abyss released. Surely, the numbers have risen a lot higher than that since. I'd say the UC series is closer to 22/23 million by no. Granted, the Gears series has probably sold more, but we have never heard an official word on it from Epic.

Oh, and just saying, Uncharted 3 has sold more than Gears 3, while Golden Abyss has sold just about .7M less than Judgement.

[DialgaMarine]

Last I checked, ND stated the Uncharted series had sold over 17 million copies, back around the time that Golden Abyss released. Surely, the numbers have risen a lot higher than that since. I'd say the UC series is closer to 22/23 million by now. Granted, the Gears series has probably sold more, but we have never heard an official word on it from Epic.

Oh, and just saying, Uncharted 3 has sold more than Gears 3, while Golden Abyss has sold just about .7M less than Judgement.

[Fluke_Skywalker]

What King_George said.
I think you'll find GT5 probably sold more than the entire Forza franchise to date.

[Tontus]

@DialgaMarine

Uncharted series has sold around 19 - 20 million copies, don't know where you're getting 22-23 from. Gears of War series has sold 21-22 million.

And Uncharted is nowhere near as big as the Gears of War trilogy, it's only as big as it is due to mass bundling, it's really not a popular franchise if not for being giving away for free with PS3 systems.

Uncharted 3 hasn't outsold Gears of War 3 actually, according to GFK UC3 has been overtracked in Europe (proper elsewhere too) and Gears of War 3 had been undertracked ww. They've sold about the same BUT Gears of War 3 didn't have any mass bundling, only a limted edition console bundle whereas Uncharted 3 was mass bundled for years which is the only reason it has passed 5m. Also Gears of War 3 sold over 3 MILLION in 1 week, more than double UC3.

A better comparison would be God of War III vs Gears of War 3 since they both sold over 6 million without mass bundling, Ascension & Judgment are selling fairly similarly too.

[Plasticgearsolid]

Halo and gears are their only big exclusives.

[Mr-Dude]

I thought sales didn't matter anymore or do they now? I'm confused...

[trouble_bubble]

Dude your numbers are so off. You're not only cherry picking but under tracking killzone as well. Both infamous games outsold both crackdowns, gran turismo has always outsold forza by a country mile. LBP1 alone did over 5 million. God of War has always sold millions, naughty dog launched 2 new IPs this gen and sold millions on every title. Hell, Bungie isn't even a first party anymore. What's your angle?

[Chevalier]

So how about gran turismo? They have moved over 70 million units. Gran Turismo 5 sold 10.5-11 million units which beats Forza 4/5/Horizon combined! In fact all the Forza's combined barely beat Gran Turismo 5.

Also since when is Epic games a 1st party studio?! MS doesn't even own the Gears of War IP they only published the games under their microsoft studio label. So yeah NOT a first party title at all.

[isa_scout]

I absolutely agree, and I love that Phil Spencer had such kind words to say about a rival companies internal studio. This should be a lesson for a lot of people to follow...We don't all have to like or enjoy the same system, but we don't need to have such animosity toward one another either.

[Angeljuice]

No chance of that happening here I'm afraid. There are similar sites where members are treated with a lot more respect and can actually debate issues without it turning into an insult fest.

Unfortunately, this site has too many belligerent, opinionated people who would rather just gang up and attack anybody who dares to express any point of view that doesn't fit in with the excepted norm.

If you're looking for a more adult, open-minded forum try somewhere like E-mpire.

[assdan]

Phil spencer is the only guy from the xbox team that I don't hate. He actually seems to make genuine statements that don't seem completely full of crap.

[andrewsqual]

So are all Sony studios that make their own game engines ^_^.

[starchild]

Naughty Dog truly is a special studio. They haven't put out a game that I didn't enjoy immensely.

To be honest, Naughty Dog is the golden feather in Sony's hat and the biggest reason for owning a Sony console.

[C-H-E-F]

Well if he said otherwise the world would blackball him and he knows it. The best thing for him and other microsoft heads to do is to give Sony credit anything less will make them seem like the step child of the devil himself

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Phil Spencer thank you for the good words

[Blaze929]

why are you thanking him? Do you work for Naughty Dog? This attachment some of you "gamers" have to these companies is truly...amazing.

[GarrusVakarian]

It's the same as anything in life that emotionally affects you in a positive way, you develop an attachment/appreciation for them making you feel that way. Im not saying it's ok to worship the ground they walk on but i can see why ND has so much love from gamers.

And to be honest....in an industry full of devs/pubs that are in it purely to make money and treat us like walking ATM's *cough* EA*cough*.....it's nice to have devs that are so passionate about games/gaming and actually care about their fans as well as making money.

[xHeavYx]

@Blaze
Please, don't talk about "attachment" when you try to defend MS any chance you have. Someone known to dish on MS makes one positive comment regarding MS and that's your response?

[PS4isKing_82]

Like your attachment to microsoft and xbox 720p?

[BlackTar187]

Blaze was set on fireeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

lol.

[ThanatosDMC]

@Blaze929

He might be. You never know.

[loulou]

come on, you lot surely are not trying to say that blaze is an xbox fanboy, whilst trying to pretend that you yourselfs are not sony soldiers??

lol the only reason why you can get away with it is because n4g is drowing in sony fanboys..

on topic. i have been enjoying naughty dog games since the 90s. they are without doubt special

[BlackTar187]

Loulou,

i think you're taking an awful big liberty in assumption.

What everyone is pointing out is the hypocrisy within Blazes statement. It doesn't matter what you are or i am or anyone else. It does not take away from the point everyone is making. The statement is still true 100%.

Unless you disagree. Then that's another story but luckily for everyone on this thread here no one has anything to worry about there is no way you can read Blazes history and come to any other conclusion.

[solidjun5]

Ironic since you, as a "gamer," have one of the biggest attachments to Microsoft. I'm sure you thank MS every night.

[snookiegamer]

Yeah nice humble acknowledgement...now put down the check book Phil lol :)

[pyramidshead]

They wouldn't be for sale anyway haha.

[LexHazard79]

But if they were for sale MS would be the only out of the 3 console makers to afford them. Off topic but true!

[pyramidshead]

@BakPAin

Sometimes creative freedom can turn down the biggest lumps of money :P

Quantic Dream is a good example. Heavy Rain could have been on the 360 but MS turned them down and/or tried to change the way the studio wanted the game to be because of its content. Sony let them do what they wanted to do.

[Master-H]

Naughty Doge

[WeAreLegion]

So tweet. Much praise.

[worldwidegaming]

If microsoft could, they would...

[stuna1]

But they can't, so they ain't! All in all, it's always good when a competitor can appreciate the competitors talents.

[ErryK]

They are unique. But if MS got their hands on them, well, let's just say they'd be Rare 2.0.

[GentlemenRUs]

Isn't that the truth.

[xfear2diex]

and rare had their chances last gen and sold poorly but with kinect sports that sold very well they going to retry this gen with hardcore games i hope you understand

[Loadedklip]

Nah ... two things.

First issue is that Microsoft didn't kill or ruin Rare ... Rare was pretty much dying prior to Nintendo selling them. They lost a ton of talent and where barely able to finish Star Fox Adventures, their only Gamecube game. The Rare from the late SNES and N64 eras no longer existed. You post makes it sound like if Microsoft ruined them which is not true at all. Rare is just a shadow of their former selves period ... it is one of the main reasons Nintendo sold their share of Rare.

and 2 ... Rare was more important than ND.
ND normally has to drop support of a franchise to move onto another.
Rare had Goldeneye, Donkey Kong Country, Banjo, Conker, Killer Instinct, Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini and more in a short time span. And most of them were bigger sellers than anything ND ever did.
So the comparison of Rare and ND are not good starting off since they were very different. Both high quality teams but Rare's output far exceeded the total games Naughty Dog can work on at a given time. Naughty Dog dropped Crash to make Jax, and dropped Jax to make Uncharted. Uncharted and Last of Us will be the first time they work on two franchises at the same time.

[N0gg1nsh0tz]

I agree with each of your comments because it is good that he has humbly acknowledged the studio which is surely "Unique" but I think he needs to put his tongue back into his mouth if you catch my drift...

[D-riders]

Probably would have been better to ask the advantage of fps because when it comes to it even naugthy dog hasnt reached the heights of nintendo first parties

[Ezz2013]

we all have our own opinions but
Facts are
ND have two games:
Uncharted 2/The last of us
who are the most awarded games in HISTORY

i do agree that Sony/Nintendo have the best 1st party studios though

[xfear2diex]

@ Ezz2013
if you want the truth despit being great game and one of the best last gen uncharted 2 and tlou was indeed overrated halo overrated and mario is simply mario awards dose not mean anything
if you thought about it a little more you will see it's an opinion of a person for example i liked tlou other loved it and a fella who hate shooters will hate it just an opinion and as i said even if the game was award with all the award that the games can have it will still hatred by the shooter hater because at it's core it's still a shooter which he will never like he might like the story but not the game it self i hope you understand that no matter what the game is it's should not praised for it's reviews nor awards because there can not be trusted nor the players feedback look at titanfall the feedback is great yet there who hate it and the reviews will praise the game because of the money hatting from ea and ms sooooo i ran out of ideas i hope you understood what i mean

[barb_wire]

Microsoft, you have Rare, who were very unique back in the day, even if most of top talent left just after you bought them.. you still had Rare, unfortunately you didn't let them bloom and do their thing in their own time..

Which is a shame cause I enjoyed the games Rare put out on the 360.. I still think Viva Pinata is one of the most unique games I've ever played. Kameo was great and deserved a sequel.

[OrangePowerz]

I loved Kameo, I think it is very underrated.

[WeAreLegion]

Totally agree.

[Dark_Vendetta]

Well guess I have to agree too.
One of my first games for the 360, and I would probably put it in my top 10 oder at least top 15 games on the 360, because it wasn't the (insert insanely high number)th fps game.
The only negative thing was that some monsters felt underdeveloped. Some areas were way too short and after that you had never again the need to use your newly obtained powers.
It's a shame Kameo 2 was cancelled, because if they have had improved the formula, it could have been a very unique IP for Microsoft.
But I guess Rare is finally dead, only producing f**king Kinect games ...

[GreatnessAwaits]

THE best studio. Sorry MS but you can't compete with Sony's studios.

[Joey_Leone]

Amen

[xfear2diex]

naughty dogs is a great studio and has a high level talent
but why ms won,t be able to compete?

[Loadedklip]

Naugthy Dog ... Crash, Jax, Uncharted, Last of Us.
Nintendo EAD ... Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, Pikmin, Star Fox, F-Zero ....

Nintendo EAD is still number 1. Nintendo consoles survive on their first party games alone. Same would not happen to Sony consoles if not for the third party support.

Still Naughty Dog is amazing at what they do. Best production value for sure.

[PS3and4_HAS_GAMES]

Is it me or is Microsoft giving sony way more props this gen. I think they have learned to respect them as competitors.

[placiid]

Is microsoft trying to get on their good side? Lol

[from the beach]

He's just dodging an unflattering headline along the lines of 'Microsoft sez Turn 10 is better than Naughty Dog' and instead generating this flattering headline.

[mmc-007]

didn't hear him saying those those when they were crushing the PS3. Its all cover up for their bad PR, hes trying to come over like a good guy. Even naive child can see that.

[Ezz2013]

"crushing PS3" ?!...in what world ?!

[asyouburn]

Ummm...ps3 outsold xbox worldwide in a years less time. How is that getting crushed?

[mmc-007]

in the beginning the were...

[MxRBrobaFett]

“in the beginning they were".... In the beginning of the fight I was winning until the guy knocked me out

[danny818]

Bungie is too ms! Both companies have unique first parties. Ohhhh wait!

[chrissx]

Next thing m$ gonna be knocking on NDs doors with those briefcases

[OrangePowerz]

That's what happens if you let your developers do what they want and don't force them to make a certain game or a game in genre XYZ.

Bungie was special (and they could be again), Bioware was special until EA, Rare was special, DICE was special and so on and so on.

[Shinox]

Welp! thanks for being kind , Sellout
BUT DON'T EVEN THINK !

[sweendog]

Imagine if MS had Naughty Dog they would ruin them like the special studio they had, RARE.

[Stryfeno2]

You're so out of touch with reality.

[sweendog]

http://wiiudaily.com/2013/1...

[air1]

Didnt all of the tallent that was with rare nintendo leave before they became rare ms? Ms has the brand but lost the guys that made the magic... And didnt even get donkey kong! Lol

[asyouburn]

Kameo was good, perfect dark zero was good. They could definitely be pumping out some really memorable titles right now if they weren't relegated to kinect

[sweendog]

That link I posted was only a snippet of the full interview. more can be read if searched but yeah a lot of the original team left after Goldeneye and went on to make Time Splitters but they still had a great team. Conkers bad fur day is still one of my top games and proved Rare didnt need an iconic Nintendo franchise to thrive. I was a 360 owner early on and was excited to see what Rare had in stall. Just to add None of the original team that MS bought are still with Rare.

[air1]

Aahh... I remember the first time i played time splitters! What a great game that was..

But you see what i mean the magic is gone, and most ppl dont know that rare was ruined the moment nintendo let them go because the best guys left before ms ruined it more with all that kinect stuff..

I do think the current team can deliver something great i just dont think they can do it with kinect, Ms.... They have tried several times, think its time to let them do a real game.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

There's also rumors they're going 3rd party.

[DoesUs]

I'd love to see those "rumours", care to share?

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Ask around. A good writer doesn't get all his news from the internet, especially when the world of video game news is so full of bias and thinly veiled marketing.

Truckloads of money. That's all I'm going to say. Truckloads.

[Majin-vegeta]

Sony owns ND.You have a better chance of being struck by lightning than seeing ND go 3rd party.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Nintendo once owned Rare.

[Thepharaoh]

Naughty dog is Sony's most well known and beloved studio so they will probably keep close watch over it.However With Microsoft's money anything is possible

[pyramidshead]

For a user who I've seen not take too fondly to rumours and consider some of it as, FUD, black campaign/PR etc, that's quite an interesting rumour to claim or even believe lol :P.

[OrangePowerz]

I can't see ND splitting from Sony who gives them the money to make the games they want to do.

[Max-Zorin]

Yoshida would pull a Dexter and fake his death if that happened.

[Aceman18]

unless they buyout like Bungie did it ain't happening. ask yourself this why would they when they have total creative freedom under Sony.

Hell they don't even bother making games for the Vita, and i bet you Sony wished they did lol.

[Hicken]

Are you the source for these rumors? Odd that there wouldn't be word of this on the internet. Pretty much nothing escapes being put on the internet. No way in hell a deal as significant as this wouldn't have been sniffed out already.

[DoesUs]

No. Sorry. I've worked in the industry for 20 years this year, and i have alot of friends .....and no, theres no rumours. Dear god, anything for a bit of attention huh?

[ABeastNamedTariq]

SOURCES. You can't just make statements like that, lol.

[danny818]

naughtier dog have been with sony since the beginning. ND even has a team dedicated to maximizing sonys console potential. Their relationship is so strong you have a better chance of bungie going multiplat..... oh WAIT!!!!

[Austacker]

I would give my left nut to play The Last of Us on the Xbox platform...

;)

[curtis92]

You'd give your left to avoid buying a PS3?

[Aceman18]

sad isn't it lol

[asyouburn]

For real, that game is worth however much ps3 costs now

[ado908]

You made my day lmao and the replies to this are just as funny.

[SynestheticRoar]

Double agent Philly H.

[Godmars290]

And lets look at MS's 1st Party:

Bungie: Bought themselves to go indie.

Rare: Largely gutted with founders and every notable dev either fired or quit.

Edit:
Coming right out and saying it: the reason someone from MS would consider the likes of ND to be "Unique" is that they've never allowed a studio real creative freedom. Are more concerned with release dates than releasing a finished product.

The only reason the likes of Journey or the Last Guardian exist on the Xbox brand, by which I mean Limbo and Bastion, is that they were 3rd party.

[Max-Zorin]

Chill out Umbrella mercenaries, all he did was give a compliment.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Naughty Dog are indeed the cream of the crop when it comes to delivering cinematic story driven games. I would say Rockstar are really about the only other developer that delivers on that level but I do prefer Naughty Dog games over Rockstar's for the most part. Red Dead Redemption may be the lone exception.

[Azzanation]

NG are a great company but nothing beats Valve. Sorry to disappoint fanboys but Valve are the number one when it comes to best critically acclaimed developers in the world.

Google it.

Valve have an average of 94.50% metascore. Ranked number 1.

[quenomamen]

Whats the last good console game they put out ? Portal 2 ?

[Goro]

Naughty Dog are unique, yes, but not in a good way.

[quenomamen]

They are unique in that they won't cash any of checks we keep sending them,

[bornsinner]

not only are they unique it's also unique to sony, as it's there only good studio, i plan to buy a ps4 when uc4 or last of us 2 comes out... why else would you buy a ps4? for online? LOL

[xnecrossx]

Santa Monica is pretty decent too.

[mo241]

1st bungie
2nd bethesda
3rd naughty dogs

best studios in my opinion.

[combatcash]

Nice line up but I think Naughty Dog is #1, the have done very well with presentation,story and gameplay. they had the 2 best games last gen.

[mo241]

yeah it's true about their presentation, gameplay and story. uncharted an tlou are like good written movies you can participate in, but I am not talking abou their games solely. even if these games made by these studios are one of my favorite. but the studios them selves are really dedicated and heave great communities. but the halo and elder scrolls games have gone way beyond just games. they have created this universe which I really love and are the best around for me. These universes are not understood by the normal players, but solely by the lore fans. And the elder scrols fallout and the halo games have a terribly good gameplay.

[combatcash]

@mo241

I absolutely agree with you. These are some great developers and what Bungie and Bethesda have done is astonishing. Honestly you can make an argument for any of those studios being number one :). I also think that Bioware should be in the discussion as well.

[GraveLord]

I think he mad. Yeah, he mad!

[combatcash]

IMO they are the best developer that sony has, their games should be the standard for all developers as far as quality goes.

[SynestheticRoar]

Naught Dog is the best. Don't be mad. Just buy a PS4 and enjoy Uncharted 4.

[Picnic]

Naughty Dog are massively skilled at graphics.

They are decent at level design.

They are OK at gameplay.

That can't make them the best studio overall to me.

I'd give that to Bethesda for Dishonored. Or Irrational for the original Bioshock.

In Uncharted you have to play a git masquerading as a rugged warrior who wants to kill everyone left right and centre for no particularly noble motive.
In The Last of Us you have to play a git masquerading as a rugged warrior who wants to kill everyone left right and centre for no particularly noble motive.

At least in Dishonored main game you are fighting to clear your name- and could even do so without killing anyone in theory.

Bioshock is an odd one - technically you don't have to do anything, You could wait on the steps of the lighthouse for help and be better off. No game should make you feel a fool for proceeding.