Much controversy is being generated from the latest round of lay-offs at SCE Santa Monica, especially considering that the reason for the same comes from a recently cancelled IP.
There is a strong conviction from both gamers and developers like Jonathan Blow that a new IP should take precedence. With Sony’s success and with for PlayStation 4 in the past few months, surely it could have afforded a risk like this?
But sometimes, it’s not about just hype. As NeoGAF user DemonNite, who works as an employee at Sony, says, “Hype alone does not decide if a game should be completed or not. If a game isn’t working out it’s not working out. Releasing a game based on ‘hype’ is suicide and would cause more damage in the long term.
“I’m a gamer as well and would love to see games make it through to the end but sometimes I understand why some are canned for business reasons. Everyone using TLOU as an example have to know that something special was seen very early on in development and it paid off. If a project fails to impress after years of work… well.
“However, another option for some projects (like Until Dawn) is to give it to another pair of hands with a fresh new look. But I don’t see that happening here.”
On being told that sometimes, a new IP will be far more preferable to yet another sequel to an already established franchise, DemonNite said, “New IP or not new IP, if the game isn’t impressing the right people it will not be worth finishing, from their point of view. No one is confirming if they will all work on GoW now. What if its trying out another stab at another new IP?
“…And of course Sony do know what hype is surrounding their projects. Devs and other people will know what is going on.”
Do you agree with the man’s views or not? Let us know in the comments.
