Jimmyisback
Banned
Wasnt Sony Japan a small studio as well.
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Media Molecule co-founder and Dreams director Mark Healey has left the studio
- Thread starter fermcr
- Start date
James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
Much bigger than MM
Elder Legend
Banned
Agreed here.
StealthGoblin
Banned
Don’t often see people trade Sony for Microsoft. Hopefully he gets on well there and leads a new IP.
Fbh
Member
I'd put them to work on VR.
Sony needs some more first party VR games and MM does the sort of unique and creative things that could shine in that medium.
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Jimmyisback
Banned
Quick google search 200 for sony japan. 160 for media molecule. not much a difference.
James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
Those aren’t accurate, and is that post-SCEJ getting gutted?
Jimmyisback
Banned
what are the real numbers then?
James Sawyer Ford
Gold Member
I dunno but a google search generally hasn’t been reliable when I’ve tried finding this info in the past
Luigi Mario
Member
Friendly reminder that they were allowed to work on Dreams for at least 7 years. Just look at Japan Studio’s game output in the same timeframe (2013-2020).
Ar¢tos
Member
Japan Studio was Sony's second largest studio!
Then it started shrinking slowly and suddenly it was almost erased.
nial
Member
Dreams was a great project, but sadly poorly managed. They should start making proper 3D platformers like Tearaway and Sony should be more supportive.
Why? Seeing any (good) studio shut down absolutely sucks, none of them deserve that.
Most people don't know about this, but MediaMolecule was constantly creating games within Dreams.
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DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Bungie layoffs?
Jimmyisback
Banned
maybe that's what's been Happening to Media molecule. Sony slowly letting employees go or people leaving, no hiring. I've seen some reports MM had up to 200 employees (contractors etc) height of their game development to only 25. wtf.
Lone Wolf
Member
Ar¢tos
Member
Media Molecule had 30 employees when they started Tearaway, when Dreams started they had 80. They use a lot of hired "help", but their staff hasn't changed much.
Japan Studio on the other hand, had hundreds of people, it bled money, while MM never costed much to keep running.
They will just stay as another AA game studio, like PixelOpus.
reinking
Gold Member
Yeah. It's nothing new...
...unless that happens with Xbox studio.
Then it is doom & gloom and mismanagement
Also. Looks like this guy is going to Rare? He liked a tweet that "welcomed" him there.
I can’t determine e if you are the victim or the bully…4 co-founders or directors leaving in 2 years is perfectly normal
Good luck to Healy. MM has done some good work and been given freedom to experiment. I hope he finds creative freedom wherever he lands.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
kuncol02
Banned
It was good piece of software killed by abysmal bussines model. What idiot thought that it's good idea to lock software like that not only to specific platform but also make it paid product (and not only pay to create but also pay to play)?
GHound
Member
"And so then we were like 'hey, you gotta pay for that' and everyone just just looked at us like we were out of our minds."
Captain Toad
Banned
Yeah. It's nothing new...
...unless that happens with Xbox studio.
Then it is doom & gloom and mismanagement
Also. Looks like this guy is going to Rare? He liked a tweet that "welcomed" him there.
Calling out Sony strawmen for contradicting themselves while contradicting himself in the name of Xbox in the next post.4 co-founders or directors leaving in 2 years is perfectly normal
Both of which get big thumbs up from
CatLady
. Some things never change.
I'm not contradicting anything. I don't think it's a big deal at all. People come and go.Calling out Sony strawmen for contradicting themselves while contradicting himself in the name of Xbox in the next post.
Both of which get big thumbs up from
It's just...people around here tends to make it bigger than it seems....
...when they are talking about XGS
So...keep the same energy? I guess
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Luigi Mario
Member
You were just making it about the perceived mismanagement of Xbox first-party studios.
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Aguero9320
Member
I'm sure Dreams was good at what it did, but it was also obvious before it came out that no one actually wanted it. Always seemed like an elevator pitch where everyone assumed someone else was going to send the 'no thanks' email but no one ever actually did so it ended up releasing by accident.
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SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
They had 85 devs when they launched Dreams. Contracted studios shouldnt count. every game uses them.
sony japan was definitely bigger. not sure now that it was shutdown/gutted/merged into asobo studios etc.
bender
What time is it?
While their games didn't click with me, I always tip my hat to MM for creating passion projects that gave others a doorway to creativity and also Sony for investing in that vision even if it wasn't the most commercially viable usage of that investment.
Dreams coming to completion is probably part of the decision and maybe Sony has different plans for MM moving forward, but speaking of passion projects, I think a lot of the reason we see creatives leave is so that they can work on smaller projects with smaller teams that are more agile.
Dreams coming to completion is probably part of the decision and maybe Sony has different plans for MM moving forward, but speaking of passion projects, I think a lot of the reason we see creatives leave is so that they can work on smaller projects with smaller teams that are more agile.
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FoxMcChief
Gold Member
Tear away on the Vita was by far the studios best game, imo. I loved it!
Varteras
Member
Dude spent 8 years directing development on a project that went nowhere 3 years after release. The specters of Peter Molyneux and Lionhead were felt. For anyone not aware, MM was formed by former Lionhead staff who worked with Molyneux.
Project Spark failed spectacularly. What possessed MM to think they had a better idea? The quality of their work is undeniable, but that doesn't matter if you spend an entire generation to make something that flops. MM is looking at a decade since their last actual game, Tearaway, which was also considered a commercial failure, even after they ported it from Vita to PS4.
LittleBigPlanet 2 was the last time the company created a commercially successful product, and that was back in 2011. Time to hand the reins off to someone else.
Project Spark failed spectacularly. What possessed MM to think they had a better idea? The quality of their work is undeniable, but that doesn't matter if you spend an entire generation to make something that flops. MM is looking at a decade since their last actual game, Tearaway, which was also considered a commercial failure, even after they ported it from Vita to PS4.
LittleBigPlanet 2 was the last time the company created a commercially successful product, and that was back in 2011. Time to hand the reins off to someone else.
Ar¢tos
Member
I prefer Tearaway to LBP/Sackboy, I think it has more charm.
If MM can't create proper games anymore, they can always be useful remaking/remastering old Playstation games, like Puppeteer or Lemmings (does Sony even remember that they own Lemmings?).
LegendOfKage
Member
I think Dreams is about the only Sony game over a year old to not appear anywhere on PS Plus Extra. It seems like they honestly want people to forget about it.
Kvally
Member
semiconscious
Member
few game developers've ever managed to crawl up their own arses further than media molecule has managed to...
Varteras
Member
It's picking up steam now.
Bungie isn't trending because of layoffs. They're trending because of a creator summit they had where someone leaked stuff, they accused one person in particular for doing it, and they banned him.
Kvally
Member
Varteras
Member
Lol yeah it's become quite the drama pot right now. I hadn't even heard about any leaks until they banned the guy.
Didn’t he originally come from Lionhead?
Varteras
Member
Yep. Him and several other guys who formed MM. Let's just hope he doesn't basically waste a decade somewhere else.
StealthGoblin
Banned
Rac3r
Member
Damn didn't realize another one of the co-founders left last year (Kareem Ettouney), and obviously Alex Evans was the biggest loss a few years ago. It's likely they were just burned out or wanted a change of scenery after 15+ years at the studio. Hopefully they have young talent that are ready to step into leadership roles.
It'll be a bit ironic if Healey does end up at Rare. MM was founded with the intent to keep the smallest development team possible (to avoid studio bloat). Rare is like 4x the size of MM.
It'll be a bit ironic if Healey does end up at Rare. MM was founded with the intent to keep the smallest development team possible (to avoid studio bloat). Rare is like 4x the size of MM.
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Varteras
Member
I think I recall an interview with the studio head a year or so ago where she talked about headcount. It sounded like MM doubled in size relatively recently from where they were for a while (50 or so). I think she said they had about 96 staff at that time and MM has been hiring. Sounds like there was an internal shift to grow the studio. Their ambitions clearly couldn't fit in the size they tried to maintain. This may have contributed to some of these old guard leaving.
Oddvintagechap
Member
It was a huge studio made of multiple smaller teams. The team responsible for gravity rush was the only team dismantled, cause it released duds.
Studio Japans 3rd party team was turned into Xdev Japan. Rise of Ronin would have been a “Studio Japan” labeled release. Studio Japan was renamed Team ASOBI. Team ICO had already left as Gen DESIGN.
nial
Member
yep, same with death stranding 2