DualShockers' Jorge Jimenez rounds the bases in MLB 15: The Show's Road to the Show mode on the PS4.
While personal preference can undoubtedly play a part, allowing studios like Santa Monica, Insomniac and Sucker Punch to take any given fan’s top spot, the numbers supporting Naughty Dog do anything but lie. They’re the best, and you have to deal with it.
The top 5 are correct but in the wrong order IMO.
1. Naughty Dog (Top-tier dev in the industry for story, technology, acting, graphics, and gameplay)
2. Santa Monica (They're in their Naughty Dog top-tier era)
3. Insomniac (unrivaled AAA / blockbuster quantity and quality)
4. Guerilla (4 & 5 can swap places, both are equals IMO, great studios with new hit IPs)
5. Sucker Punch (4 & 5 can swap places, both are equals IMO, great studios with new hit IPs)
6. BluePoint (best remakes and remasters in the industry, just need to make their own "new game")
7. Polyphony (Hasn't evolved as much as the other 5, but still a good overall dev)
8. Sony Bend (they need a few more AAA games under their belt to rival GG / SP)
9. Hosmarque (indie dev turned AA, on the path to becoming AAA)
10. Media Molecule / San Diego Studio / Team Asobi (I wouldn't put any of these 3 above the other. MM has pushed creativity for a PS game to the limits with LBP and Dreams. San Diego mainly does MLB, but also has some good ports under their belt. Team Asobi and AStro are hits)
It’s all change at MLB The Show developer Sony San Diego, which seems to be the latest team under the PlayStation first-party umbrella to be leveling up. The studio – which also houses the Product Development Services Group and, purportedly, an entirely new unit rumoured to be working on an original Uncharted title in collaboration with Naughty Dog – has fresh digs and a revised logo.
Earlier today, rumors began to emerge that Sony's San Diego Studio has laid off a number of their employees.
Pro tip: Every big game company sends layoffs after a big title is done and hires people again when the next big title is in development.
https://twitter.com/RyanPal...
MLB Team is ok, but P2P team is gone. Sad for when people lose there jobs
Well isn't The Show a yearly game or no?
Also they didn't "lost there jobs", those positions are actually contracted. I don't know of any company in gaming that just has full time staff for all parts of a game......like none. I know Ubisoft might still be doing that cycling thing where they shift them from a bunch of games, but I think that was only for a few titles.
Its sad their contract is up, but this is a contracted business.
"As projects are completed, it is natural to review and restructure teams around current and future needs. We wish our departing team members success as they pursue new opportunities and we have nothing but heart-felt thanks for their contributions to PlayStation."
That's not really true of big studios. Big studios generally have multiple projects happening at once and can cycle people between projects.
Smaller studios, and studios facing financial difficulties are the ones that lay off large numbers of people.
Well after reading a bit, its only a few that do that. Only publishers that actually have such titles, ie a COD, AC etc
That isn't the norm of the industry though, seriously look up how many yearly games we have, its not really as much as folks like to exaggerate.
EA usually does that when there's some internal restructuring happening. Companies with deep pockets generally like to hold on to their talent, and unless the studio itself is failing, layoffs are always an absolute last resort.
Meanwhile, the studio I work at is hiring feverishly to fill hundreds of positions as projects ramp up. I'm willing to bet a couple Sony San Diego people might end up here if they're willing to move to Canada.
I wouldn't say every company and like i said befor it doesn't make it any less of an issue or right to do so.
@Hoffman that is completely false. Layoffs do not happen after a big contract ends , what happens is that staff are contracted for a set duration of time. When the project is over,then those contractors move on but can never be considered layoffs because they were never an employee of the company to begin with.
When permanent staff start getting laid off, then that is a result of restructuring or huge financial losses.
Replies(2)
No
Update: Sony told Polygon that Kill Strain isn't dead yet, despite the layoffs.
"We are continuing to support Kill Strain. Also to note, the external development team at San Diego Studio has not been affected and Drawn to Death remains in production
The funny thing is that you people are actually listening to Polybone on this. Oh really, they had to update their article when Sony told them that Kill Strain hasn't actually finished production? Did they also leave out the part at the end where Sony finished the sentence with "you stupid ignorant douchebags".
Probably lost a fight for the name with the tv series. Random nonsense, i know, i just keep thinking about it having the same name yet being unrelated.
Pro tip: Starting a comment with "Pro tip:" don't make statment more believable or creditable.
Thats really sad, hope everything will be okay for the people who lost their job and the studio itself.
Replies(1)
Ive been saying for the last couple of years that Sony will shut down Sony San Diego, because they dont generate much revenue. The MLB The Show series, rarely sells over a million units. These layoffs are the canary in the coal mine.
Media Molecule will be next, especially if Dreams isnt a big seller. Sony Bend could go away also, since they do not generate big revenue either. Just like Media Molecule, if Days Gone isnt a hit, then I believe they'll ne shut down.
Sony is still restructuring, including the Playstation division. They will cut the fat where needed, so that they are managing fewer studios, only keeping the studios that provide big gains in revenue and who drive the Playstation brand.
I agree with you, except MM. They're too talented for Sony to just drop them, I believe Sony would find something for them to do. Bend yes, if that game is a flop. But if Sony are planning another handheld, no. They did a great job with LBPVITA, it was sonys fault their handheld failed and did bad numbers, not bend.
Yo btw. Do you play socom I I on Xlink Kai??
Sony have shut down other studios that had talented people working there so that factor doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things as you can have all the talent in the world but theres no guarantee of job security
MM might of just got lucky with lbp. Bend has made quality games for 20 plus years. Dreams looks like a school class project. RIP Zipper.
LBP Vita was made by Sony's XDev studio or something like that. Media Molecule, 100%, made Tearaway for Vita and then the PS4 version also.
@kiwi. That's true but they also close studios and move ppl/projects around. It depends on the reason, times and economy. we have no word on whats happening.
@andrew- damn I'm out of touch, idky I thought bend was lbpvita.
Agreed. No on MM as I feel Sony will go ULTRA conservative and go with a LBP4 if they feel they can't afford them.
For Days Gone....yes, if it does bad (which I think it will do pretty good numbers) I think Sony will close them down, Days Gone looks......well expensive lol. I think it will do fine in sales though, but if it doesn't, I'd agree them likely being closed down.
MLB The Show 16 was in the NPD for like 3 months. For a niche game, it does just fine. They are not shutting down the studio. Just a new project and the Killstrain tesn got laid off. They would be stupid to shut down the studio with MLB being one of their key franchise
Oh battleaxe, you've got insight into Sony Huh? Considering how much you've been trolling recently. Lol
"The MLB The Show series, rarely sells over a million units" Really?
I never knew that. Well your on to something BattleAxe lol. I'm not sure Media Molecule will be next, even if Dream does badly, LBP was a HUGE seller for Sony and I can see Sony being more conservative with a LBP4 before they let go that team.
I think Days Gone will be just fine. Its a title I feel already has the appeal to move HUGE units on PS4.
Dreams.......I worry =(
And who are you again? Just because its happening with MS, doesn't mean the same will happen with Sony. LittleBigPlanet alone has more awards than all the games made by MS recently.
They let go of zipper and disbanded evolution studios. A lot of studios are falling apart, game budgets are higher than ever and so much risk involved in making new IPs.
It's not just Sony, MS has disbanded studios too and some just fall apart on their own. Gamers are demanding so much now more than ever and if the games don't deliver perfection they get sent to reviewers hell and profits sink.
Luckily the gaming industry is big and growing even bigger, so I have confidence in them not having to wait too long to find new employment.
Best of luck
I think the traditional game industry is shrinking tbh, Combined sales of PS4/Xb1/Wii U doesn't even match the sales of the original playstation (let alone PS2) yet. I'm sure PC user increase may make up for the lost of ground in home consoles, but handheld gaming is in the decline as well. Smartphone market is huge but is dominated by like less than 50 mobile games, everything else fails to make much profit.
I'm mostly a pc gamer, I've owned all the PS consoles(except this gen) and 2 sony handhelds as well and I can see what your saying and though I don't agree 100%(who really does?), but for me, and I've said it a lot but I'll say it again game development budgets are getting out of hand, the quick sell/expected profit earned is to deliver the best looking games but neglecting everything else, its the easy way of selling a product, make it pretty, BUT that's a AAA industry problem, I believe unification of gaming platforms and open platform development will sort out a lot of these issues in the next 5-10 years(opinion), it's an evolution/cycle of things, there will always something positive that will come from all the negatives, still waiting for this gen to settle down and stabilize, its been crazy.
I'm mostly a pc gamer, I've owned all the PS consoles(except this gen) and 2 sony handhelds as well and I can see what your saying and though I don't agree 100%(who really does?), but for me, and I've said it a lot but I'll say it again game development budgets are getting out of hand, the quick sell/expected profit earned is to deliver the best looking games but neglecting everything else, its the easy way of selling a product, make it pretty, BUT that's a AAA industry problem, I believe unification of gaming platforms and open platform development will sort out a lot of these issues in the next 5-10 years(opinion), it's an evolution/cycle of things, there will always be something positive that can be taken away from all the negatives(growing pains), the way Steam started out, still waiting for this gen to settle down and stabilize, its been crazy with all the tech talk
