I don't think that Jason's sources were not valid or were lying to him.
The issue with his article is that trying to create a narrative about studios of hundreds of people when your sources are realistically limited is a dangerous path.
Given what Jeff stated in the interview it's clear that the sentiments that Jason's sources shared with him are not representative of the whole team , let alone the whole company and its culture.
He praised Hermen Hulst, he stated that the collaboration with ND not only was not considered a risk to lose their identity but was beneficial in a certain period.
So the mistake is trying to push black and white narratives that might make articles more interesting but they do not paint an accurate picture.
In any case the reactions to his article were way overblown.
I think this is the wiser opinion.
After all these articles and so on seems that Jason is a bit 'obsesive'/'fixated' (sorry, I'm not an English native speaker) always trying to find stuff to throw shit to ND and make it sound things more dramatic than they really are. This or casually always the guys he interviews are the typical ones you find in every company that is angry with management or always complaining for nothing and most people in the studio/company doesn't agree him and is ok there, with their pros and cons.
Jeff seems to me a fair, proffesional guy. Same as Mumbauer in the interview he had with Jaffe. Sure, sometimes at job there's some shitty thing, it's impossible to be always happy and to agree in everywhing with everybody. And mostly they have been ok there, but sometimes you have your goals and ideas, and aren't aligned with the company goals and ideas to a point you decide it's better to leave. Something it's normal, ok and there's nothing dramatic on it.
Basically this. I honestly couldn't believe the "Sony is evil" part of the story. Why? Well, first they said Sony cancelled DG2 and forced the studio to support ND to.... greenlight a new IP? New IPs are very dangerous and the "Evil Sony" allowed them to just be free of their new fate of being a ND supporter. The timeline and what happened is believable, but if Sony intended to make Bend just a support studio they would NEVER allow a brand new IP. They don't change things like this in a heart beat.
I only saw a portion of the new video, but for what Jeff said sounds like while they were having preproduction and preparing the DG2 pitch needed to put some people to work somewhere instead of waiting with their arms crossed, and specially when the pitch failed, needed to put people to work on something until they managed to rework the pitch to get it greenlighted, or to pitch them another project.
Maybe Sony told them 'guys you did a fine job with DG and would be nice to make DG2 in the future, but as of now were working on a ton of sequels and the remake, so DG2 will have to wait a bit. Please do a new IP instead'. ND are crunching like motherfuckers with that new Uncharted and the multiplayer game, so please help a bit until you get the new IP pitch approved.
Maybe the couple of top Bend guys were too invested on DG2 or were too stressed afer DG1 and decided to leave and rest, maybe all the rest of Bend was ok doing all that, and maybe they guy who did talk with Jason is an idiot and the only guy who made the jokes of 'ND north' regarding Bend and 'ND south' regarding the Visual Arts team who wanted to make their own movies and games.