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[Confirmed] Sony confirms the exit of longtime head of internal production Connie Booth

Jose92

[Membe
Connie Booth, who started at PlayStation in 1997 before the platform's launch and was head of internal game production, is no longer at the company, as first noted over the weekend by former PlayStation developer David Jaffe.

  • Booth's Hall of Fame credentials include production oversight of PlayStation classics ranging from Syphon Filter and Ratchet & Clank to The Last of Us and Marvel's Spider-Man.
  • Booth has not commented, and Sony has not clarified the reason for her exit. In a statement to Axios, a PlayStation rep said Booth "helped drive the success PlayStation Studios is experiencing today and her passion in fostering an environment where a team's creative vision could fully flourish has left a positive impact on many game developers."
  • "We're thankful for Connie's numerous contributions to the company and wish her the best in future endeavors."



 
Sony having some internal issues it seems

Whispering Bel Air GIF by PeacockTV
 
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bender

What time is it?
People at a company for 30 years eventually want to retire and not die at work, news on X formerly Twitter

Strange how this is some weird manufactured scandal when the departure of Jim Ryan after 30+ years also wasn't. Who's pulling the strings behind the scenes to manufacture scandals at Sony?

To be fair, people assumed the worst in the Jim Ryan thread as well.
 

Loomy

Thinks Microaggressions are Real
Jaffe's sources were obviously correct, but the biggest issue I have with his 'reporting' is the nightcrawler, ambulance chasing vibe of it all.

For the last 3 days she has had to endure embarrassing speculation about her job. She could have gone into her next job interviews saying "After over 30 years at Playstation, I decided it was time for change". Now she has to explain why she was fired.

This news should have been Sony's to report (and hers if she wanted to).

There's a reason actual journalists didn't actually confirm or report on the rumours of an executive being fired.
 
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  • Booth's Hall of Fame credentials include production oversight of PlayStation classics ranging from Syphon Filter and Ratchet & Clank to The Last of Us and Marvel's Spider-Man.
  • Booth has not commented, and Sony has not clarified the reason for her exit. In a statement to Axios, a PlayStation rep said Booth "helped drive the success PlayStation Studios is experiencing today and her passion in fostering an environment where a team's creative vision could fully flourish has left a positive impact on many game developers."

I see why this would be upsetting news for some, especially the person being let go. If it were me, I'd be reenacting a classic scene:

spider-man-norman-osborn.gif

spider-man-norman-osborn.gif
 

Lupin25

Member
There’s been some delays.

Notably ND who should have released their MP project by now. Who knows how much resources they’ve wasted turning it into live-service.

Naughty Dog is their premier studio, because the TLOU & Uncharted IP were homegrown and some of Sony’s Crown Jewels for what they generate out of gaming.
I’m not going to say the GaaS initiative will fail, but if ND is in fact having issues, I dont know what that spells for the rest of their 1st party studios (who also tend to dedicate most resources to SP games).

To clarify, I’m not concerned about SP production or their studios, but clearly GaaS titles can sink a budget pretty fast. They’re too hit & miss, even for the greatest of devs.
 
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Taur007

Member
People at a company for 30 years eventually want to retire and not die at work, news on X formerly Twitter

Strange how this is some weird manufactured scandal when the departure of Jim Ryan after 30+ years also wasn't. Who's pulling the strings behind the scenes to manufacture scandals at Sony?
Because everytime someone departs from MS/Xbox, it's seen as "leaving the sinking ship" and there's doom and gloom surrounding it but apparently your supposed to work at companies til you die😂
 

Loomy

Thinks Microaggressions are Real
To clarify, I’m not concerned about SP production or their studios, but clearly GaaS titles can sink a budget pretty fast. They’re too hit & miss, even for the greatest of devs.
I'm fully supportive of Sony and their GaaS adventures. It's their money to spend, and I'll buy their games as long as they're good.

The issue I have is making studios with no experience in MP games, let alone GaaS games, spend their time on these. Sony is more than capable of spinning up a studio to focus on literally any facet of this industry. There's no reason Naughty Dog should be working on an MP game. Give it to someone else, with Neil Druckman or someone else from ND overseeing it to make sure it aligns with the brand.
 
How important are producers? I dunno.

But if PS was well oiled machinery to produce SP blockbuster titles, they certainly must be responsible.
Game making is never a "well oiled" machinery.

BUT I think there are some aspects of game-making (Pipeline, Production design, Infrastructure, play/focus testing...) that elevate the odds for success.

I predict: multiple Redfall situations incoming.
Redfall was such a catastrophic failure. The closest thing sony had to that level of failure was Driveclub

Things like Halo Infinite, Sea of Thives or Anthem are a better representation of what sony could deliver.
 
And people thought I was crazy when I said I thought Jim Ryan was fired.

I don't think Sony execs are happy with the changes in PlayStation's operations. From communication to a huge focus on games as a service. I can believe Jaffe when he says that devs are angry at that change. I think Naughty Dog are probably fuming about Bungie coming in and negatively impacting the production of their game though that's probably not done with malice.

But seriously she is a massive loss. Huge changes to come within PlayStation. The old blood are gone. Is this new yharnam blood were seeing??
 
34 years of working behind the scenes, quietly, and now David Jaffe’s loud ass has made you internet fodder for console warriors and delusional ponies. I would be so pissed.

How you read that from Jaffe is beyond me. Jaffe was potentially standing up for her and calling out Sony firing her/team. He obviously worked with her personally and gets her value, sounds like an internal shift/power/vision struggle over at Sony.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Definitely concerning.

David said the studios weren't happy working on GaaS titles and this last delay is what "broke the camel's back." Hope we get some insight on what's actually going on and their future plans.
 

Three

Member
Big loss since she was involved in a lot of titles that made PS. Now we are stuck with movies games and nothing else from Sony.
Got to say that's a bizarre take considering that's what she was doing and according to Jaffe (?) the studios and her were allegedly against/unhappy doing something different.
 
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Lupin25

Member
I'm fully supportive of Sony and their GaaS adventures. It's their money to spend, and I'll buy their games as long as they're good.

The issue I have is making studios with no experience in MP games, let alone GaaS games, spend their time on these. Sony is more than capable of spinning up a studio to focus on literally any facet of this industry. There's no reason Naughty Dog should be working on an MP game. Give it to someone else, with Neil Druckman or someone else from ND overseeing it to make sure it aligns with the brand.

This seems like the underlying issue.

These devs are in uncharted territory. Even Epic with all their live-service technical expertise, still managed to drop a dud like Rumbleverse.

With that said, I think even Sony realizes how risky these projects are now. There’s a growing distain for them, because consumers are starting to realize this as well. People hate Jim Ryan at this point, solely for this initiative. Sony knows that not all 10-12 of these LS games will be hits, but the fact they felt the need to fund this much, could suggest a general low probability of success here.

I’m like you, I’m just hope there’s a few I’d actually like to play. A game like The Finals could be the refreshment the GaaS genre desperately needs for example.

Edit: Even though it’s not Sony’s that’s the kind of innovation I’m talking about.
 
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Redfall was such a catastrophic failure. The closest thing sony had to that level of failure was Driveclub

Things like Halo Infinite, Sea of Thives or Anthem are a better representation of what sony could deliver.

Agree, so far from what we have seen, nothing will be like Redfall. It all looks so uninspired and generic, even internet will not be about to come up with enough energy to mock it.
 
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