TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
That's.... kinda weird.
Three people all pulling in different directions doing the job of one... not seeing how that makes much sense.
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Ted Price (CEO) is leaving Insomniac
- Thread starter BennyBlanco
- Start date
That's.... kinda weird.
Three people all pulling in different directions doing the job of one... not seeing how that makes much sense.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
“Speaking of which, despite a challenging 2024, Insomniacs stayed fully focused on building games for our fans. As a result of the team’s persistence and collaboration, we’re in one of the strongest positions we’ve experienced in years, with each game in development looking beautiful and playing fantastic.”
GymWolf
Member
I mean we have rumors that helmet was the one pushing concord way more than anyone else and i bet your left testicle that an ex guerrilla dev now in charge of sony studios is the main one dude pushing for fuckin horizon kart racing and horizon fashion model or some shit
Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Damn, retiring at 52. Must feel great.
Tajaz2426
Psychology PhD from Wikipedia University
If he made Spider-Man 2 that I never finished because I was helping every retard with a social issue instead of a good story, then I’m happy. Don’t know the guy or much about insomniac but that game was horrible.
I won’t even buy anything Spider-Man again and I was hooked. The same happened to me with Horizon as the first game was amazing with the lore and the stories of a bygone era, the second was every person in Seattle Washington constantly telling me that I needed to be a good person, so I gave up on that series also.
Oh, swell.
I won’t even buy anything Spider-Man again and I was hooked. The same happened to me with Horizon as the first game was amazing with the lore and the stories of a bygone era, the second was every person in Seattle Washington constantly telling me that I needed to be a good person, so I gave up on that series also.
Oh, swell.
Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
Maybe Insomniac can start making games other than Spider Man 8: Wolverine Edition now?
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
You would not survive in today's Sony corporate culture.
You make too much sense.
noob smokes
Member
Helluva resume retire in peace
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
What a guy. Gg Ted. Thanks for the games. Enjoy retirement.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
he could've retired 5 years ago when he sold the Studio to Sony for $220 million.
I bet he's kicking himself after seeing Bungie go for $3.6 billion, zenimax studios go for $8 billion, and Activision studios go for a whopping $70 billion. Had he waited a few more years, he could've gotten $500 million easily.
Tajaz2426
Psychology PhD from Wikipedia University
Some folks retire early. I retired at 39 from my Investments while I was in the Marine Corps. My wife still works even though she doesn’t need to because she wants a retirement from the government just in case.
It does happen although I’m not sure how common.
Kacho
Gold Member
That’s embedded in the studio unfortunately
Roman Empire
Member
I didn't even know Ted was still in Insomniac. Well, he probably has his motives. Best luck to the guy.
viveks86
Member
The hell... Leave my testicle alone!I mean we have rumors that helmet was the one pushing concord way more than anyone else and i bet your left testicle that an ex guerrilla dev now in charge of sony studios is the main one dude pushing for fuckin horizon kart racing and horizon fashion model or some shit
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
I understanding diversifying leadership vision, but it is always a concerning when you are spreading the accountability for a role over multiple people.
You need accountability in place but when there are three people in your role how to do you manage the business if you can't hold a sole person accountable for the performance?
These types of roles scream "tenure" to me which is not something you want here, at least imo.
You need accountability in place but when there are three people in your role how to do you manage the business if you can't hold a sole person accountable for the performance?
These types of roles scream "tenure" to me which is not something you want here, at least imo.
realcool
Member
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Makes sense.
Probably push from upper management they were going to trim people anyway so might as well retire.
He surely banked a lot of the money from way back when Sony bought them out.
Probably push from upper management they were going to trim people anyway so might as well retire.
He surely banked a lot of the money from way back when Sony bought them out.
GymWolf
Member
Do you really want a rivet centric game don't you?
Maybe Insomniac can start making games other than Spider Man 8: Wolverine Edition now?
Because that is probably the next shit in line after vulvaerine.
Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
Take a flamethrower to both franchises. Let a new seed take 40 years to reach maturity before revisiting them. Insomniac turned into a widget factory.Do you really want a rivet centric game don't you?
Because that is probably the next shit in line after vulvaerine.
laynelane
Member
Yeah, unless they're prone to being cooperative with one another (have a history or something like that), this will just add more steps and time to the decision-making process. This must be some kind of leadership structure that Sony is trying out. They have the two CEOs, Hulst and Nishino, splitting up a role too. I wonder if we'll see something similar in other studios in the future.
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DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
The most important thing is that they replace him with a deaf BIPOC woman.
Loomy
Thinks Microaggressions are Real
Counterpoint - This is a way to make sure that the studio head is never over extended. Aside from the finance guy, the others have been with Insomniac for decades and in leadership for a good chunk of that. This is becoming more and more common.
Naughty Dog had 2 presidents for the longest time. So it definitely can work if everyone understands their area of responsibility and respects the others
The only concern for me here is they don't have anyone from the creative, but this is Insomniac we're talking about, they obviously have strong department heads.
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ProtoByte
Weeb Underling
Yeah, it even goes to the top of PS leadership with Hulst, Totoki and Nishino. There are either no internal visionaries, or they don't want to put all that power in one person's hand, or some of both.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
Or you end up in a Jim Ryan situation where he calls the shots and wants his GaaS and has no checks and balances
diffusionx
Gold Member
replacing 1 guy with 3 is always a terrible idea, and regardless of the reasons, they're losing a very competent person who has been running the most consistent studio in Sony's portfolio for a long time. It's a major loss no matter the reasons.
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
Jim Ryan benefited from the leadership vision/execution that came before him and ducked out before the shit hit the fan (or was pushed out....who knows).
Who do you hold accountable when all three are pointing fingers behind closed doors?
Maybe they will do great, will have to give them a chance to see how they perform. I hope they can stabilize the company and move forward making awesome games.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
Same way our government operates with three branches?
Finance guy focuses mostly on finance
Creative guy focuses mostly on creative
Marketing guy focuses mostly on marketing
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Hypereides
Member
It should signal to you that whatever they have in store in the pipeline will likely be very safe bets. The Insomniac you once knew is withering.
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
People are so used to traditional leadership structures they never stop to ask if those structures are beneficial or not.
Ted Price leaving was written on the wall when he sold Insomniac.
What's ironic is these studio head positions are not what people really think they are anyway under the umbrella that is PlayStation Studios formerly Worldwide Studios. All of these guys always had someone who they reported to anyway, which is currently Herman Hulst, but I imagine his relationship with studio heads worldwide is not the traditional relationship a manager has with their direct reports. He is more of an overseer than a manager. Herman's job is to set general strategy and ensure the studios have the capacity to work together as needed, particularly the support studios helping the primary studios.
Naughty Dog has a long history of co-studio heads dating back to their inception. No one ever complained about that.
Andy Gavin - Jason Rubin
Evan Wells - Stephen White
Evan Wells - Christophe Balestra
Evan Wells
Evan Wells - Neil Druckmann
Neil Druckman
Having co-heads means you have more eyes on the ball and stronger decision-making across areas of the business. It also means there are more ladders for promotion meaning that you don't necessarily have to leave the studio in order to become part of leadership.
There is a lot to do day day when you're someone like Neil Druckman who is working with Craig Maizin on the TV show, and probably doing creative work for both Intergalactic and TLOU3. Which is why Alison Mori probably handles the day to day operations of Naughty Dog.
But another thing to remember is that things like legal, HR, IT, Marketing, while local to each studio, has a larger overarching structure within PlayStation Studios and SIE. That's where you have dotted line reports and solid line reports.
ShaiKhulud1989
Gold Member
Santa Monica and Naughty Dog were historically led by multiple people (and kinda still is), same goes for XDev and many other (but not all) Sony teams. Insomniac is akin of a rare exclusion because it was founded as an outside studio.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
GymWolf
Member
that's a gymwolf original, no matter how many people tried to steal it.
ProtoByte
Weeb Underling
Price always going to leave at some point, and he presided over SM2 which was a major disappointment and has let the studio be infiltrated by too many ideologues. Fantastic overall career, but it's a healthy and potentially re-energizing thing for him to pass the torch.
3 guys though? Yeah, I don't like that. We'll see how the games turn out going forward, but it's not the greatest thing that they can't find one Lisan Al Gaib! at a studio of that calibre.
Luipadre
Member
“Speaking of which, despite a challenging 2024, Insomniacs stayed fully focused on building games for our fans. As a result of the team’s persistence and collaboration, we’re in one of the strongest positions we’ve experienced in years, with each game in development looking beautiful and playing fantastic.”
I believe it. Insomniac is sonys best and most efficient studio atm
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
Exactly, people think oh no a bean counter is in charge instead of a creative... but they don't realize that you still have to run a business.
People still need to get hired and still need to get raises and bonuses. You still have to manage how many artists you can have on the art team while delivering a game on budget.
At the end of the day, this shouldn't matter to gamers. What should matter is the overall product that they create.
FIREKNIGHT2029
Member
End of an era, what an absolute legend.
ProtoByte
Weeb Underling
Three branches != three people leading one branch.
Also, the government barely "operates".
James Sawyer Ford
Member
These people are basically leading their branches
Hermen Hulst is the overseeing person across all studios.
Co-heads are the norm everywhere in Sony now
Edit: also
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Reviews
Spider-Men, Peter Parker and Miles Morales, return for an exciting new adventure in Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise for PS5. Swing, jump and utilize the new Web Wings to travel across Marvel’s New York, quickly switching between Peter Parker and Miles Morales to experience different stories and...
www.metacritic.com
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Topher
Identifies as young
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Unknown?
Member
She will be renamed to.... Mulva.Do you really want a rivet centric game don't you?
Because that is probably the next shit in line after vulvaerine.
iamvin22
Industry Verified
This all the way to the bank.
After reading their backgrounds I think things can get messy. Who knows but I hope they can somehow make it work.
Glad Ted is finally retiring too. Much deserved.
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
That's a function of you getting older...
People are always going to leave.
A lot of gamers remind me of kids who don't think their teachers exist outside of school and have never seen them go for bathroom breaks.
These people are human too. They get old, make money, and retire. That's what happens or they find they're not happy in their current jobs. Not everyone wants to make AAA games for the rest of their lives.
How many people do you see in gaming in their 70 years old? Outside of Miyamoto, it's pretty rare. Putting 20+ years in one company is pretty rare these days, but somehow people expect 30-40 years?
iamvin22
Industry Verified
This statement is also true. 1 studio head in today's gaming stage can't clearly know what's best for its next project. Longevity and making a profit shouldn't be at the hands of a creator. Don't forget metacritic score as that score ways heavily on bonuses.
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
You see that as micromanagement because of "reasons"
Before PlayStation Studios formerly WWS came to be, Sony's development was all over the place and the results were spotty like Microsoft's.
In 2005, Sony had Polyphony Digital, Naughty Dog, and Santa Monica had just made God of War... outside of that internal studio development was no bueno and certainly not consistent.
In 2005, Sony established Worldwide Studios and since they've built out a studio business group that has been the best in the business with studios globally, utilizing the strengths of each studio to bolster each other.
They're so accomplished that any stumbles from any of their studios becomes headline news on gaming forums.
So yeah, I wouldn't call it micromanagement, I'd call it a successful business model.
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