Naughty Dog says it’s still struggling with multi-project development
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/naughty-dog-says-its-still-struggling-with-multi-project-development/
Evan Wells told the AIAS in a new Game Maker’s Notebook podcast (transcribed by VGC) that Naughty Dog was ultimately unable to maintain two full productions, with one project inevitably gaining favour and pulling resources from the other, and it’s an issue the studio still struggles with today.
“We tried our first major multi-project development with The Last of Us,” Wells said. “At the end of Uncharted 2, Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann went off to start designing [that], although they did spend a good, solid three or four months working on Jak and Daxter before they decided to shelve it and focus on something new.
“They embarked on that and the idea was we would build a team around it and have two teams going at once, and we just did not achieve that at all.
“We don’t have two projects that have several hundred people on them. We have one [project] and then some that are in pre-production, or maybe just creeping out of pre-production, but will have to wait until the main focus has completed before we move everybody off of that project.”
“WE DEFINITELY HAVE MULTIPLE PROJECTS, BUT ONLY ONE THAT IS GETTING THE LION’S SHARE OF FOCUS”
Like many triple-A studios, Naughty Dog is taking longer to produce its big, blockbuster action games, as the resources required to build modern games increases. The Last of Us Part 2 released in 2020, seven years after its predecessor. In comparison, the studio released three Uncharted games between 2007 and 2011.
“They embarked on that and the idea was we would build a team around it and have two teams going at once, and we just did not achieve that at all.
He added: “The amount of effort that was required to finish Uncharted 3 at the time was stealing resources away from The Last of Us, and we never got to the point where we had two full productions going.
“I would say even today we’re just short of that. We definitely have multiple projects, but only one that is getting the lion’s share of focus at any time.
“We don’t have two projects that have several hundred people on them. We have one [project] and then some that are in pre-production, or maybe just creeping out of pre-production, but will have to wait until the main focus has completed before we move everybody off of that project.”
“Despite whatever success we had with Uncharted, if we were on Uncharted 6 or 7 by now, I think the creative spark would be pretty weak and I just don’t think we’d be doing our best work,”
This should be a wakeup call to any Cow who thinks anything made by NaughtyDog will be touching the PS5 before 2024-2025 outside of ancillary or otherwise smaller scale projects.
NaughtyDog marshalled every resource immaginable to get The Last Of Us 2 out the door last year, including heavy use of outsourcing, as well as crunch. But if you talk to Playstation fanboys, some of them believe NaughtyDog has secretly had another AAA TLOU-level new IP in simultaneous development with TLOU2, and think they'll be seeing it in like 2 years. I guarrantee even now, some Cows think TLOU3 will be out before Elder Scrolls 6. I dont get it.......who on earth do you cows think is developing all these games for you that you think are coming?
You should keep this all in mind the next time you meme about Fable/Perfect Dark/Elder Scrolls, etc..... being years away. Likely, Xbox Game Studios entire roadmap will see the light of day before the next mainline NaughtyDog game touches the PS5. Same goes for Sucker Punch. Till 2024, all you're getting is Factions 2, TLOU Remake, TLOU2 story DLC, and some VR pet project 5 guys in a janitors closet made at ND.
Considering Sony only has about 5 studios or so who actually produce AAA games, and these games have increasingly long turnaround times, it puts in perspective Sony's reliance on these studios. It is going to be an absolute bloodbath in terms of output when this gen actually gets going.
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