Naughty Dog is one of the most reputable developers in the industry, however, requests to perform a live service task seem to be hurting the developer, at least according to experts.
A new report from Kotaku indicates that Naughty Dog is laying off at least 25 subcontractors, some in art, some in production, maximum in quality assurance. They will get severance pay. Kotaku says everyone is under “pressure to keep the news quiet” until the contracts are officially terminated at the end of October.
While those cuts haven’t been shown to be directly similar to The Last of Us’ factions, it’s the task that Naughty Dog is primarily running at right now. In May, a report stated that Bungie, Sony’s new pro on the live service, had reviewed Factions and that “Bungie had raised questions about the ability of The Last of Us multiplayer task to keep players engaged for an extended period of time, leading to a reevaluation. “
Added to this is a hasty audience from Naughty Dog about not sharing data regarding factions because “the most productive thing for the game is to give it more time. “
However, Kotaku reports that even if Factions were to be canceled, the task is “essentially frozen at this point. “
The Last of Us Part 2 was released in 2020, and since then, Factions has amassed a significant amount of progression resources, in addition to other long-term projects. We know that Naughty Dog is running on an unforeseen new IP.
As has been a topic of discussion recently following the departure of PlayStation leader Jim Ryan, many are wondering what Sony’s stated goal is of having many of its single-player hitmakers create live-service games. We’ve noticed many examples in the industry of prominent solo developers looking to do just that, BioWare, Crystal Dynamics, Gearbox, only to fail and go back to what they were known for.
While it’s true, The Last of Us in the past had a multiplayer component, there’s a big difference between a multiplayer mode attached to a game and creating a comprehensive live service that is still engaging and fun. It’s much, much harder, and as I think I’ve said before, if we’re in the middle of a bursting live service bubble without enough time for players to get acquainted with all those “running” games, many will fall. In fact, if there are talented developers linked to it. Or not.
At this point, it’s unclear exactly what would be worse, cancelled Factions and those wasted paints, or Factions released in a poor state, damaging Naughty Dog and calling into question Sony’s strategy. The seemingly best situation is for Naughty. Dog to band together and create factions. . . Really good, but given the turbulence here, it looks like it’s just not on the cards.
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