270°

Director of The Last of Us Multiplayer Game at Naughty Dog: "Yes, I’m Still Working on That Game"

Following the delay of the upcoming The Last of Us multiplayer game Naughty Dog has been working on, there have been rumors of its cancellation floating around the internet.

These rumors appear to be greatly exaggerated.

SyntheticForm177d ago

I'd love a new TLOU MP.

Some people forget or just don't know how good the MP mode actually is/was.

northpaws177d ago

Yes, the original faction was so good, I had 700 hours on it.

shinoff2183176d ago

Damn northpaws. That's alot.

northpaws176d ago

@shinoff2183

I think I played about 400 hours on PS3 version, and another 300 on the PS4 remaster.

isarai177d ago (Edited 177d ago )

Easily one of the best and most balanced MP modes out there, maybe one weirdly one sided game every 10 or so games, but God the slower pace and reliance on teamwork just made that game sing. I hope factions 2 keeps the simplicity of the first, but with the talks of the whole GAAS focus, I'm concerned about it

StormSnooper177d ago (Edited 176d ago )

But the term “gaas focus” only appears to apply to Sony whereas everyone else is doing it too.

Even though Sony doesnt even have a gaas game yet, they already get criticized for “being gaas focused”. There are lots of “gaas focused” games out, but no one mentions that (i.e. Diablo).

isarai176d ago (Edited 176d ago )

@StormTrooper

Tons of people mention that wtf are you talking about? 🤣 It's like the 2nd biggest criticism of modern AAA games under games launched broken And the reason people are bringing it up with PlayStation is that's literally what they said their focus was shifting to. And we're planning on releasing 10 live service games within the next fiscal year. PlayStation fans don't like it because that style of game is the complete opposite of why fans love PlayStation 1st party games to start with. One or two? Perfectly fine, there's certainly a place for those, but 10!? Then we start hearing leaks that it's that initiative that is causing the delays, silence and added struggle for all these 1st party devs for something no one was even asking for. Have you been living under a rock?

shinoff2183176d ago

I'm completly against all the gaas games and have no intention of playing any. I don't think all 10 of those games were to come out within 1 fiscal year.

Inverno177d ago

Good good still anticipating this!

177d ago
StormSnooper177d ago

Im hyped for this. Factions was amazing. Make it much more deep and you could have something special.

Tody_ZA177d ago

I'm worried about this game. The original Last of Us multiplayer was surprisingly good and suspenseful, something different, but this game has been silent for so long I'm baffled as to what the problem is. They already have the template, it's not like factions needs to go back to the drawing board.

DarXyde176d ago

It's Naughty Dog. The original Factions was fantastic, and one of the very few online multiplayer games that really grabbed me.

But they're not trying to do a repeat of Factions. From what we've heard since it was announced, they're really trying to break new ground with this experience. This studio is remarkable and perhaps a bit perfectionist, which doesn't really work where budgets and deadlines are concerned.

The worry is warranted. At the same time, I'm reassured to read this article and the scale of the ambition seems palpable.

That said, always, always, always temper expectations—expect a great game, but don't expect a perfect game. I've been of the opinion that their recent cash grabs were undertaken purely for cash flow.

Really, I think there are only three possible outcomes:

1. Game releases with that lovely Naughty Dog quality.

2. Game gets handed off to a studio more comfortable with multiplayer titles.

3. Game gets cancelled.

I think they'd rather take an L personally by cancelling it than releasing a game that isn't good. That's my take.

Show all comments (28)
300°

Square Enix Declares $140m Loss Amid Game Pipeline Shakeup

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth publisher Square Enix has declared a $140m loss based on a shakeup of its internal development pipeline.

Read Full Story >>
techraptor.net
Furesis10h ago

What are they doing over there? Sounds like they canceled something big. I read a rumor a while back about ff9 remake . Here "Final Fantasy IX has gone through a very challenging development, the game is still in progress but may undergo changes drastic enough that we won't hear about it for a couple of years."
This could be one of the reasons if the rumor is true. That was Silknight i don't know how credible he is but it's something and it would make sense.

-Foxtrot9h ago

I hope IX is still on the cards

Just a straight up remake which they expand a little bit nothing over ambitious

If IX dosent happen then VI and VIII will never be thought of.

TiredGamer7h ago

What are they doing? Sales are falling and the costs are out of control. Big releases need to be absolute sales home runs now, and Final Fantasy sales have stagnated.

Now we know why Square didn’t fall over themselves to remake the original FF7 all these years ago. It certainly wasn’t a license to print money, at least not with what the expectations were. Each of these full on remakes drains an enormous amount of company resources for a razor thin profit margin.

TwoPicklesGood7h ago

Breaking the game up into multiple parts was a mistake IMO.

blackblades6h ago

The loses came from cancelling games nothing else.

shadowT9h ago

Do not miss Final Fantasy 16. Great game!

raWfodog9h ago

I'm waiting for them to release the complete edition bundle, but it's definitely on my list.

PhillyDonJawn8h ago

Wth is going on with the gaming industry?

mandf8h ago

Corporate investors taking everything

TiredGamer7h ago

Not rocket science. Compare sales numbers, development cycles, and budgets to the previous gens. We are all collectively burning up the industry from the inside out. Expectations are ludicrously high now for every release and sales are dropping for even the most prestigious of series.

We used to be satisfied paying $50-60 for a game that took 1/100th the budget and staff to make. Now gamers feel cheated if they have to pay the same for a game that took 100x the budget. We may be reaching the end of the line for this model of gaming.

wiz71914h ago

@tiredgamer I think your point is one that ppl don’t understand and you hit it on the nose .. some gamers don’t want to take accountability but it’s some of the gamers fault the industry is where it’s at .. we as gamers set the standards for the industry not the shareholders , ppl forget that the shareholders and the industry want and need OUR Money. Both the Xbox and PlayStation are seeing a drop in hardware , the industry is very stagnant right now.

Tacoboto5h ago

Speaking to Square:

Turns out their mismanagement wasn't related to the western studios they dumped to Embracer, but their own fault.

With regards to Xbox - a good way to kill your brand is to pull support on high quality titles and only dump B and C-tier titles to it

With regards to PC - Epic Games Story exclusivity for any duration and piss-poor optimization will hurt you.

With regards to FF Pixel Remasters - y'all messed up by barely releasing them on physical, like wtf that was free money!

And lastly, you don't help a franchise by releasing a mainline title that undermines every title that came before it. FFXVI was a DMC-like with bottom-of-the-barrel side quests and I can't imagine that helping Rebirth at all considering its marketing is directly tied to how big that game is.

Tacoboto4h ago

Sony is getting their best titles and with the most polish, so what about it? Nintendo gets their top properties too, for titles that can run on Switch hardware.

It's the other fanbases that get the second- and third-class treatment from Square. If that's due to agreements with Sony, that's not a Sony issue but a Square one for accepting those terms. Sony is doing its best to look out for Sony.

TiredGamer8h ago

The industry implosion is continuing. Sky high budgets, prolonged development windows, stagnant sales numbers, and falling currency values (inflation) are wreaking havoc on the legacy industry. AAA games will slowly become the rarity.

CS78h ago

Sad. Rebirth was one of my favorite games in a long time. Should have sold more.

CrimsonWing697h ago

Oh I’m with you. What’s worse is they can say, “Well we tried to make this amazing game and spend all this money on, but not enough people showed an interest. So no more of these since we can’t take a hit like that.”

The industry is going to take a dramatic shift. Mark my words on this.

rpvenom6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

I think there is quite a large portion of individuals like myself who held out on buying it on PS5 because I can get it on PC eventually. To be able to mod the game and also have custom graphical settings to my liking

Show all comments (25)
60°

Here's Everything I Expect From The Witcher 4's Combat

Danish from eXputer: "The Witcher's upcoming sequel needs to overhaul the series' combat system if it wants to make a big splash among gamers."

on_line_forever14h ago

after what we see ( 2015 - 2024 ) in dark souls 3, blood borne , sekiro , dragon's dogma 2 , rise of the Ronin combat they should really careful and bring very good combat in Witcher 4 this time

130°

Square & Bandai Namco Being Honest About Quality Is A Step In The Right Direction

Saad from eXputer: "After suffering from massive financial hits, Square Enix & Bandai Namco appear to be turning over a new leaf but I'm still unconvinced."

Nerdmaster1d ago (Edited 1d ago )

I was talking about games with some Japanese guys here in Japan, and it seems like around here Bandai Namco has a fame of making low-quality games, with the occasional gem.

About Square Enix, I believe they lack the capacity to improve. They should learn with Capcom (although even Capcom still makes some bad mistakes), but I don't think they ever will. They keep chasing whatever is new at the time (blockchain, AI...) to say "we innovate", without considering the public perception and if these things actually improve the games or not. Them releasing too many small games with no advertising also shows a lack of trust in its own products. Even with their biggest games, like turning FF into an action game with XVI and the very divisive plot changes regarding whispers and timelines in VII Remake, shows them trying to attract a new generation of gamers without understanding what made the series so big in the first place.

shinoff21831d ago

I want a true ff7 remake. With thatcsaid I'm way happier with 7 remake then I was with ff16. I'd still prefer turn based but square keep chasing these Lil kids

Snookies1220h ago

Man, it is perfectly fine to prefer turn based. Turn based is amazing. But there's zero reason to call anyone who likes action games "lil kids". Liking one gameplay system over another does not make you more mature in any way.

VersusDMC23h ago

People love the new FF's overall...the problem is the abundance of 7's they release that lose money or make very little like diofield, star ocean divine force, Valkyrie asylum, harvestella, foam stars, etc. Advertising wouldn't have saved those games. Apparently Forespoken had a big Advertising budget but we saw how that went.

shinoff218323h ago(Edited 23h ago)

Star ocean divine force actually sold well from what I've read not ff type numbers but well enough. Was a dope game to.

FinalFantasyFanatic22h ago

Bandai Namco is going to Bandai Namco, I do believe that Square Enix can't change without changing the entire management, they've had these issues for more than a decade and haven't learnt, I have very little faith they can course correct. I'll still buy their better remasters/remakes like Star Ocean 2 though (not FF7R).

Asterphoenix20h ago

Namco is just milking the same Sword Art Online with lack of budget as well as anime IPs that don't go to decent developers like Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia. Namco deserves their losses and no future Dot Hack or Xenosaga remaster :(.

Square allocated lot of their budget on Forspoken was a mistake. Square always had management issues. Star Ocean 2 was a great remake and I found their recent entries of FF(16 and Rebirth) better than 13 and 15.
I think they were better than 360/PS3 generation where Square went really downhill.

CrimsonWing6923h ago

I don’t know why NOW they decide on this, but I guess later is better than never.