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[ProtoByte]

The first victim from Bungie's judicial hammer. Who's next?

If Bungie was being honest with PlayStation management, they'd have told them that they're only successful in the live service space because of their early entry into/creation of it, and dumb luck beyond that. It'd be best to assume that anything getting into the game at this point is not going to get the results a major publisher is looking for, and there's nothing that a successful player can do or teach them to better the chances.

But then, PlayStation wouldn't have paid them billions of dollars and given their people influence at one of the largest publishers in the industry.

 

[MarkMe2525]

The real disaster would've been to have gone forward with the game, show it off and give a possibly disappointing first visual to the first game of the "Sony's abandoned single player!!" narrative, have it come out and not perform how it needs to, actually tarnishing ND's reputation with a tangible product.

Good management is not "always making the right choices out the gate and never hitting major bumps in the road". It's making a reasonable venture, and backing off if it's clear it's not going to work out.

Really good point. That's the last thing Sony needed. They absolutely want to start this new wave of MP focused games off on the right foot

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

Great, I'd like ND, Insomniac, SSM, Sucker Punch, Guerilla (I know), Bend and Housemarque all focused on killer, single player experiences, the rest of Sony's studios can do whatever the fuck they want.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

The first victim from Bungie's judicial hammer. Who's next?

I'd rather have a game being canceled than a shit game being released.

Anyway, Factions should've always been released as part of TLOU2.
That, or they just needed to make a simple BR.

No idea what they were doing, but this is probably for the best.

 

[Redefine07]

Better be after all this time , ND turned intro a MS first party studio , laziness.

 

[kiphalfton]

Damn. Bungie swaggered in an shitcanned Druck's game. Fucking power move. New kids at school just walk in and blast the coolest kid in class. How do you guys this Druck is dealing with it? I mean, no one walks into Rockstar and shitcans a Houser game.

The fuck are you talking about.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

I'm just waiting for them to sell us part 2 again, but this time "utilising the power of ps5" etc...

Seems inevitable.

 

[CYRU5_DA_GR34T]

It was probably building to be closer to the division than just an extended team death match mode.

Why not just rip off Rust, wouldn't that deliver on the essential idea

 

[CYRU5_DA_GR34T]

The timing of all of this along with the announcement of Jim Ryan's exit can't be a coincidence.

This is all a royal fuck up and like I said before he even announced he was stepping down, it's a stackable offense.

If Hulst is also culpable in all of this then he needs to be next and kept away from any critical decision making going forwards.

Funny with Jim I thought it might have been about failing to stop the Activision Blizzard thing, oh well

 

[Heisenberg007]

Nope. Too big of an IP for Sony to just abandon.

TLOU Online, assuming it's done right, is Sony's best chance for live-service success. This isn't dead.

 

[Heisenberg007]

It's The Last Gardian all over again.

6 years of working on Faction a stand alone MP game. Really want to know what went wrong here? Their plan to nickel and dime failed? But how... makes little sense to cancel 6 years work just because some MTX issues? They can always add that shit later. Makes me think they've tried different concept and always falling short in the end... systems not working as expected, gameplay loop not fun enough, too many cooks fighting over ideas to implement etc etc. Looks like they've over complicated things for themselves.

What a mess lol.

Don't think w'll see anything from ND this gen. Maybe w'll get something at the end before PS6 but i doubt it. They've wasted too much time working on this MP shite.

ND's second team (newly built just for this) worked for only 3 years on TLOU Online. Their main team (Neil's team) has been working on the single-player game all this time.

They already said that they had "multiple projects in pre-production". I'm 100% sure we'll get at least 2 games from ND this generation and, quite possibly, 3 games.

 

[Kikorin]

Typical insider arc. Someone report a rumour, all the "insiders" start to confirm it adding obviously details that anyone could imagine. (And still going to be wrong in the long run)

 

[CosmicComet]

Fire Herman bitch ass Hulst already.

He was a massive step down from Shuhei in every way.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Making Gaas is hard and pointless. It's a fad that's exclusive to one or two games but everyone wants that sweet cash that isn't obtainable unless you are lucky and succesful in delivering the right product.

What a mess this games been. It must be 5 or so years in development now and potentially cancelled? That's gutting as I was looking forward to more factions.

 

[killatopak]

Never really cared for Factions being MP and all. Glad they're working on an SP game again.

 

[Godot25]

I'm sure Sony must be happy to spend millions of dollars on "dead" project...

 

[crackajack]

I personally don't care much about MP, beyond those projects occupying devs that otherwise could make games I actually care for, but this seems super weird. Always read that people basically just wanted a remastered/remade TLoU MP mode, same as it originally was. With current GaaS + Seasons fantasies they could have easily just done that and while people enjoy that, release maps and new modes when they are finished and fleshed out, offer the live service, or cancel some ideas if they don't work ... but not getting anything off the ground when the core engine elements should already be done and only netcode missing?

 

[StueyDuck]

Like I said before. I'm not too surprised, it will never live up to what people want and expect.

People expect a division/dayz style game with naughty dog fidelity and story telling with next gen visuals and features.

It should have just remained the great pvp mode like the original and on the original tloup2 release.

 

[Ic3man]

Was it ever alive?

 

[Mephisto40]

 

[scarlet0pimp]

I bet it will come out with last of us 2 remake. Maybe as a free to play component for playstation and pc.

 

[Erebus]

 

[Flutta]

ND's second team (newly built just for this) worked for only 3 years on TLOU Online. Their main team (Neil's team) has been working on the single-player game all this time.

They already said that they had "multiple projects in pre-production". I'm 100% sure we'll get at least 2 games from ND this generation and, quite possibly, 3 games.

From my understanding ND was working on the MP before TLOU2 even released but the MP got too big so they decided to make it it's own game and that helped the release of TLOU2 a bit earlier. Correcr me if i'm wrong.

So from my understanding that Factions 2 have been in development far longer then just 3 years. Around 5-6 years maybe.

Hope you are right that w'll be getting 2 games out this gen. Really want to see that sc-fi game.

 

[Majima Everywhere System]

Wasn't this promised to TLOU 2 customers. Quite the scam.

 

[The_Observer]

ohnoanyway.jpg

But seriously, why one of the best single player game developers had to waste their time, talent and money on yet another fucking gaas game? I finally think it's getting obvious for publishers that they shouldn't chase this bullshit

 

[blastprocessor]

Time for Jim to retire. Oh wait.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Wasn't this promised to TLOU 2 customers. Quite the scam.

No. It was never promised to TLOU 2 customers.

 

[SJRB]

Games get cancelled all the time.

Better to pull the plug now than to keep grinding employees and resources and release a bad game.

 

[ozz ex machina]

I bet it will come out with last of us 2 remake. Maybe as a free to play component for playstation and pc.

It definitely won't. It's not finished, they clearly kept redesigning it. Wasn't sure if they wanted it to be a BR, extraction shooter, more narrative driven.

The only good MP ND ever managed was TLOU 1 which clearly they lucked into. It really wouldn't have been much work to give us a classic multiplayer mode like that in new maps with tlou 2 mechanics. But no, Sony and ND got greedy and overambitious in a field that to be frank nobody at Sony apart from Bungie I guess (which I don't count as Sony) have any skill or experience in.

It's a shame because Sony had a history of decent multiplayer first title shooters, Socom, Killzone, RFOM. They turned their back on this style to make "AAA" narrative games and now they have zero talent of experience at making good multiplayer anymore.

 

[drezz]

Really frustrating.

Got maybe 1k hours on PS3 and 1k hours on PS4(remastered) in Factions.
Was the most intense MP game I played on both these consoles.
So maddening we didnt get Faction 2 in Lou2 and I was looking forward too a stand alone MP Faction...

It's in the Past now, let it die!

 

[Moses85]

 

[midnightAI]

How 'bout you guys make a fucking game? Like....a new one, even a sequel, just make a game.

They are?

 

[Famipan]

Probably failed to find a good monetizing scheme.

If Factions was supposed to be F2P it wouldn't require PS+ and it would need massive, horrible monetizing schemes in the which would basically ruin the experience for TLOU-fans.

If Factions instead were a paid game it might have been better as long as they didn't go the GT7 route and over-monetize it anyway. Sony's ridiculous PS+ price hike could have been justified if Factions was released and available for free for all PS+ subscribers but now things looks grim.

 

[mrmustard]

They should have kept it simple instead of that 'cinematic experience' bs.

 

[Frwrd]

How 'bout you guys make a fucking game? Like....a new one, even a sequel, just make a game.

Weren't they making three of those?
I believe it was rumored to be a new IP, Factions and a Sequel/Prequel(?) to TLOU and apparently there was also some rumors about Uncharted but who knows.

I'm just hoping this is real, fuck GaaS

 

[Lucifers Beard]

This as a standalone GaaS style project never felt like it would take off. They would have been better attaching a multiplayer mode to TLoU2 and having that as a live service until it fizzled out.

 

[saintjules]

He's dead too. RIP.

 

[Clear]

I think people are likely overestimating the amount of work put into the game to be honest. I mean, its not like Scalebound where multiple trailers exist, and the plain fact is that nothing was ever really explicitly promised.

Yes they said the Factions mode for TLOU2 was unable to be packaged in due to the single-player project due to time and scope and would be released as a standalone down the line, yes vague pronouncements were made on how this was going to be some sort of unique "cinematic" multiplayer experience, but beyond that... nothing. No trailers, no leaked footage for the revamped version, not even any leaked screenshots showing GaaS-style restructuring !

That doesn't sound to me like they were very far along at all.

Also, here's the thing: If you have an internal review -like they did using the Bungie guys- to evaluate ongoing projects, they aren't going to come back with recommendations like "kill the project" no matter how bad it plays, or how flawed its monetization is. What they will give as feedback is a list of things to change to get back on track. This of course translates into a time/cost calculation for production to weigh up.

As a first-party studio part of that calculation is how it fits into the overall portfolio, so frankly a big reason for the decision to put it on hold could be that its simply not required anymore given the amount of GaaS product that's entered production elsewhere in the studio group, and is much closer to completion/ready for release. You can't assume fault when the business demands could simply take precedence.

 

[Johnny Concrete]

Still don't understand how they fucked this one up. It was a cashcow in the making.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Good. Now we can move on and forget that The Last of Us 2 ever existed.

 

[RCU005]

All we wanted was Factions 2.0 Include the ability to crawl etc….. ND just isn't the same anymore. Kind of pisses me off.

More like Mr. Jimmy wanted every studio making live service games.

Has anyone not noticed that the only first party games released on PS5 have been sequels to games and just because they were already in development even before the PS5 came out? (GOW:R, HFW, SP2). The other first party games were launch games (Returnal, Demon Souls). Insomniac released Ratchet and Clank, but that surely was being developed along with Spiderman 2018.

Sony's first party has been completely in silence this generation, and the only time they announce games they all were live service games.

 

[jasondefaoite]

 

[Schmendrick]

sony right now

 

[midnightAI]

More like Mr. Jimmy wanted every studio making live service games.

Has anyone not noticed that the only first party games released on PS5 have been sequels to games and just because they were already in development even before the PS5 came out? (GOW:R, HFW, SP2). The other first party games were launch games (Returnal, Demon Souls). Insomniac released Ratchet and Clank, but that surely was being developed along with Spiderman 2018.

Sony's first party has been completely in silence this generation, and the only time they announce games they all were live service games.

That can be normal though if the studios wanted one last hurrah on the previous gen. Most if not all of Sony's studios released a game right at the end of the PS4 such as Sucker Punch, Bend, even Naughty Dog so it takes time especially if you want new IPs (that's why Last Of Us Part 1 happened, it meant they could get a game out on PS5 while they work on a new title while at the same time it gave them an opportunity to update their engine to take some advantage of the PS5 hardware, others released cross gen updates/games)

 

[SSfox]

Kill Japan Studio, to buy Bungie studio, that killed ND multiplayer game.

And it's just one of the many Aweful stinky decisions by Jimbo and Hermen.

 

[Camreezie]

Glad they wasted all that time and resources on it

 

[deriks]

 

[Krappadizzle]

I think people are likely overestimating the amount of work put into the game to be honest. I mean, its not like Scalebound where multiple trailers exist, and the plain fact is that nothing was ever really explicitly promised.

Dude... Factions was a huge favorite in the first game, and they more or less implied we were eventually getting a bigger, better version of that further down the road. Here we are years later with nothing to show. So incompetent at best or liars at worst. Either way, it's not a good look.

Having Naughty Dog try and make a GAAS game probably was a bad idea in general from management and the powers that be; their wheelhouse is strong, single-player games often with really fun MP vs. modes of some sort. I mean, I'd bet most people figured out a while ago that we weren't getting an addition to TLOU2, but the idea of a fully fledged Factions mode does sound enticing to me.

Bummer it didn't happen, but I'm not heartbroken about it.

 

[BootsLoader]

I really hope it's dead. Let them concentrate on their new IP or create the next uncharted or tlou.

 

[Topher]

He's dead too. RIP.

Ah....that was unintentional. I miss Bernie Mac. Guy was hilarious