The Last of Us: Part II Devs Explain Friendly Competition With Other Sony Studios Helps them Improve

Naughty Dog is hard at work on The Last of Us: Part II and John Sweeney and Arne Meyer talk about cooperative competition with other Sony Studios.

[NarutoFox]

"Asked whether a sense of rivalry exists even among Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide studios, Meyer explained that a degree of competition does exist, but it’s cooperative competition rather than rivalry. If another Sony studio achieves something wonderful, they can be asked “how did you do this?” and they will provide that information."

That's awesome. Can't wait for TLOU2

[UCForce]

These Sony First Party Studio love to compete themselves. Now that’s a good fight.

[piroh]

They are in different league so who else they have to compete with?

[MoshA]

It's not like multiplatform, indie, microsoft or nintendo devs can compete with Sony studios anyway lol.

[UCForce]

These Sony First Party Studio can learn each other and compete against each other’s. Like I said, it’s a good fight.

[YodaCracker]

Nintendo has the two highest rated games of this gen with a 97 on Metacritic (Odyssey and BOTW). The only other dev with games scoring that high is Rockstar. Both GTA V and RDR2 have a 97.

[Hardiman]

It's incredible what these studios have accomplished thus far. With each game the bar just goes higher. I can't imagine what they will deliver in the coming years!

[ClayRules2012]

Yeah, It’s really incredible. And it’s a testament to the passion, respect, and love that these studios have for their craft. They just continue, as you said “With each game the bar just goes higher” and they all strive to deliver the best experiences they possibly can, while having fun competition with their fellow friends in the other Sony studios.

I look at The Order: 1885, DriveClub Infamous: Second Son, and Uncharted 4 and go “My gosh, how’re these developers creating such fun/ games with these gorgeous/stunning worlds, with these engrossing stories and great/believable characters...it can’t get better” only to see & play the likes of Guerrilla Games crown jewel/masterpiece Horizon: Zero Dawn (the world is the closest I’ve seen to capturing anything visually close to James Cameron’s Avatar, with their stunning use of colors, insanely dense foliage and strikingly beautiful lighting system. To Sony Santa Monica’s new & refreshing brilliant take on the God of War series, with Kratos and Atreus. Phenomenal character detail here, along with the world. You feel like a total bad*** as Kratos, at least I did. Another masterpiece. To Quantic Dreams best game to date “in my opinion” Detroit: Become Human remarkable & emotional experience. The options of choices and ways things can change is insane & so fun to see. I still see things I’ve not seen that people post on Instagram. To Insomniacs great and solid first attempt at “in my opinion” the best Spider-Man game ever. Silky smooth animations, beautiful NYC that feels alive, and swinging, it’s a complete joy to experience. So relaxing to me. it’s all just really astonishing what these developers have accomplished so far.

Now with 2019 - 2020 in the distance and Days Gone. Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, and The Last of Us 2 coming is just mind blowing.

[Hardiman]

You summed up exactly what I was thinking prior to commenting. Those earlier PS4 titles were incredible and at that time felt like "it can't get better than this " but it has and at this point the skies the limit.

Just look at Second Son and compare that to Ghosts. Sure they have different art styles but the presentation and level of detail is second to none! The world is dripping with atmosphere and I can only imagine what it'll be like exploring that island.

I'm curious to see how SP elevates the open world genre because GG delivered the most visually arresting game I've ever played and it was so much fun!

Yes I did feel like a badass playing GOW and man did that story impact me! It's my game of the gen thus far. Insomniac's Spider-Man is my favorite version of that universe! I grew up reading the comic and they did so much fan service in that game ! Detroit was another pleasant surprise because I figured it'd be good because I loved Cage's last three games but his team really delivered their masterpiece!

I have no idea what Death Stranding will wind up being but it looks incredible and Kojima is a genius game developer so I'm down. TLOU2 I believe will The something all it's own and will probably deliver the finest this generation has seen!

[ClayRules2012]

Haha, similar thoughts, that’s cool. The skies truly the limit.

Yeah, the difference in detail and scope with Ghost is really shocking & had me in disbelief when it shows the character walking in the demo up to the ledge with the beautiful field in view & background, to the fight in the end of the demo with the leaves and lighting.

So glad to hear you had fun with HZD. And yeah, visually, nothing like it. Guerrilla Games Decima Engine is something special. I see why Kojima chose that for Death Stranding. I’m lost on what that game will be too. But I trust the man.

Glad to hear you enjoyed Detroit as well. Loved HR & Beyond (although beyond interactive wise, took a few steps for from HR for me, the story in Beyond was told with good writing and remarkable performances from Ellen Paige and Willem Dafoe and the rest of the cast

So glad to hear the story in God of War impacted you! It did for me as well. My favorite game of this gen so far too.

I never was into comic books growing up, but I’m sure the fans who did really appreciated some of what Insomniac added & did for the game. Glad you did.

TLoU 2 is gonna be something else entirely. I expect ND’s usual pediagree of genius oozing all over this game. I do believe, based on the E3 demo that it’ll be better (from a gameplay perspective) than the original game. Story’s wise, I have faith in Neil, Naughty Dog and the cast specifically (Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson) with their performances in the original game being raw, brutal, honest, and just perfection “in my opinion” I know Neil said their will be some who don’t like this sequel, and all they can do is be true to the story and these characters and just be okay with some people not being pleased with it. Hope I’m not one of those who’ll be disappointed lol. Ugh. You enjoy the first Last of Us?

[l33t_haxx0r]

Why don't you guys just get a room

[Hardiman]

Like many TLOU means so much to me! The story is probably one of the greatest and it uses "invisible ink" perfectly and that's why it resonates so much I believe. When me or my wife hear just a few chords of the theme we look at each other and smile! I have friends who write and I recommend it to this day, especially if they aren't gamers because it's just a wonderful piece of storytelling.

I think it's great Neil is going with the story instead of forcing it to where he thinks it should. He's probably right that some want like where it goes but I think that just reiterates that it's in the right hands.

[S2Killinit]

Kudos

[neutralgamer1992]

Love the studios

[BlaqMagiq1]

This friendly competition will continue to create the best games this gen and next gen. Kudos to all Sony studios.

[ClayRules2012]

Indeed it will.
I genuinely hope Microsoft can learn from Sony and start allowing their studios (honestly not sure how many they have, but I hear they’ve bought some new ones) and just allow them the creative freedom to take risks, and let these developers get those creative juices flowing, amazing things can happen, as is proof with Sony’s first party studios and their respected games.

[Smokehouse]

Competition always leads to innovation, friendly or otherwise. It’s called capitalism.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Sony's having the last laugh.

Last Gen when some gamers were laughing at Sony when 3rd parties went multiplatform or merged with other companies to survive, Sony's developers dug deep, collaborated and built game engines with the results producing award winning game after award winning game. Internal competition and collaboration is a good thing.

My suggestion for the competition is for them to learn from this and do the same. We already see developers like Turn-10 and Playground producing great results. But it's got to be across the board to uplift the quality of games for the industry as a whole. And not just for profits.

[Hardiman]

I would absolutely love it if M$ and Nintendo would develop their studios and allow them the creative freedom that Sony's studios are offered.

[bluefox755]

This is what would save the Xbox brand imo. If they were to copy the Sony first party model. I for one would start buying their games again, despite everything bad I've had to say about them, I still want them to succeed.

[Hardiman]

That's me as well! Sure I'm bitter at them but it's because I was there in the beginning and stayed with them as long as I possibly could. Most want to see the underdog come back with a win. In this case they had it all and did it to themselves. Time will tell and if the quality games come I'll be there.

[rainslacker]

Sony has always had some stellar studios under their wing. But this is really the first gen where you saw so many of their top-tier studios get the kind of recognition they really are capable of deserving. Before, it was usually just SSM, ND, and PD. The others got some nods for what they delivered, but never as much mainstream success. Even GG lived in the shadow of Halo because Killzone wasn't looked at from the technical achievement it delivered, but rather, that it wasn't Halo.

Not to say that PS fans weren't aware of these other studios, just they never received a lot of the mainstream hype like you see them getting now. But now, you have SSM, GG, and likely soon Sony Bend, which are going to be ranked up there with ND....and ND is ranked up there with developers like R*. That upper ecshelon of developers is a rather small group, and Sony has a disproportionate number of studios in that group compared to the other publishers or console makers out there.

[UCForce]

Horizon Zero Dawn gave GG a huge recognition. Don’t get me wrong, I love Killzone series but i’m glad that they are no longer being called Killzone Studio anymore. Sony Santa Monica have redeemed themselves with God Of War 2018. I do hope others Sony First Party have their own recognition in the future.

[masterfox]

"Friendly Competition With Other Sony Studios Helps them Improve" <--Exactly! and this is one of the reasons why Playstation brand is unmatched! and the best of all, this is exactly what I'm expecting from a healthy gaming console competition too, but sadly this ain't happening cause of the archaic mentality of Nintendo and clueless behavior of MS about exclusives, but oh well is awesome to know Playstation has its own internal competitive league.

[UCForce]

You can say that. Nintendo popular focus on individual person like Sakura, Mr Miyato and Reggie and popular franchise. MS popular just like Nintendo but hugely focus on Phil Spencer because people praise that guy like crazy. Sony do have those just like MS and Nintendo but their popular is focus on their studios reputation. Sony First Party Studio is about group talent and skill, not just individual person.

[DafunkyRebel]

Microsoft needs to take note and start encouraging this kind of ideologies among creators and devs rather than looking at it as a product to sell for money they need to look at every exclusives as a legacy for their company

[Hardiman]

That's it and if they would allow devs who have the talent to create new and reinvent established IP's they would make so much money. That would give older gamers who used to be fans reason to jump back in and would guarantee future sales because they would set a precedent.

[DrumBeat]

When Sony studios compete, we all get treats.

[ClayRules2012]

Lol. Sony gives out the best treats.

[UCForce]

A good fight.

[Exvalos]

Microsoft is so weak this gen, Sony had to look within for competition.