We do have an indication that it was better in Sony's mind to shut the studio down than to keep pouring money into them. While not a "big loss", these little things add up, and capital in their eyes was better deployed elsewhere. It's not like many people even know about or played their games.
Playstation Plus is exactly the same and Sony has a similar strategy with respect to indies. Many indies go on PS Plus day 1. Sony just disagrees with sending their tentpole AAA games there on day 1. So there's really no distinction whatsoever here between GP and PS plus for titles of this scale. Even with a Sub service, some studios just aren't going to be worth it to collectively push the needle.
A small team inside San Mateo studio. They might be part of that studio and allocated for different projects.
Yeah easy platinum as well. I was really looking forward to their next game said to be in collaboration with Sony pictures animation. What a shameConcrete Genie was a lovely little game. Pity to not get a follow up
Did they?Sony already said the focus is too big to fail games.
20 people in San Francisco (Mateo) ain't cheap at all my guy. Ain't nobody going to continue paying salaries, taxes, and overhead that likely combine to like 300K-500K per person for a studio struggling to sporadically release art house games. Maybe if they were in Eastern EU or Russia or something, but definitely not San Fran-Fucking-Sisco.
The game is extremely cinematic though. It just isn't told in the standard way. But it is presented like a kid's film. It looked great.Not cinematic enough for Jim.
They’re trimming their AA studios. They want first party to be AAA and leave the AA to indies that they provide funding and support to. It’s a more efficient way for them to discover gems and produce AA games for PS5.If Sony keeps trimming its more unique studios its going to end up with a library line up that is essentially just Ubisoft but good...
You can't accidentally stumble onto the next big thing if all your making is Assassin's Creed.
20 people in San Francisco (Mateo) ain't cheap at all my guy. Ain't nobody going to continue paying salaries, taxes, and overhead that likely combine to like 300K-500K per person for a studio struggling to sporadically release art house games. Maybe if they were in Eastern EU or Russia or something, but definitely not San Fran-Fucking-Sisco.
They’re trimming their AA studios. They want first party to be AAA and leave the AA to indies that they provide funding and support to. It’s a more efficient way for them to discover gems and produce AA games for PS5.
i played concrete genie for 30 minutes and it was basically all cutscenes.Not cinematic enough for Jim.
While some (not nearly "many") indies go on PS Plus on Day 1, they stay there only one month, so the effect is limited.
With game pass, the value of smaller games is shifted from generating raw sales to adding variety and volume to the overall offer, which is something smaller games definitely can do, while they need a lot more luck to start generating big raw sales. It really isn't rocket science.
For one thing, that 200 million figure shouldn't be thrown around so liberally. It's a headline figure and not much else.It's an interesting strategy but a bit dangerous if you think about new IP's. Investing something around $200M or even more + time to create something new takes a lot.
I wouldn't say these smaller games really are doing anything new though. Concrete Genie certainly wasn't.Smaller games are great to test your audience and try something new. I don't expect much innovation (at least from a gameplay standpoint) with AAA "too big to fail" games.
No you didn't, dude. You did not feel like PixelOpus with their two games was the soul of PlayStation.Damn.....that sucks. These smaller studios always felt like the soul of PlayStation to me. Jim Ryan leaving his mark.
For one thing, that 200 million figure shouldn't be thrown around so liberally. It's a headline figure and not much else.
For another, I pose this to you: If the concern is time, why not invest it into AAA? Because it's not like these small titles aren't taking long either. PixelOpus was on year 10 of existence with 2 games out.
I wouldn't say these smaller games really are doing anything new though. Concrete Genie certainly wasn't.
Most of the AA/"indie" scene is repackaging gameplay and aesthetic conceits from the early 90s to the early 2000s, or ripping off Stardew Valley/Runefactory. There's not much "new" about it. All you have to do is have an non-realistic and unconventional CGI/animation artstyle, and you've managed to convince people thay your project is some artsy thing that's never been done before.
if they only had 15-20 or so employees, it's pretty impressive. i wasn't crazy about concrete genie (from the little i played), but i thought they had a lot of potential.Concrete Genie had a neat art style, but it always came off to me as, "We liked what Sucker Punch did with Infamous: Second Son. Where you had little side activities of spray painting graffiti. So we made an entire game out of that and put it in a setting of a bullied kid having magical friends". I'm sure that's not actually how it happened. But it wasn't some amazingly unique gameplay element or setting. It was artsy. That was about it.
Sony is filthy rich why are they closing studios?
if they only had 15-20 or so employees, it's pretty impressive. i wasn't crazy about concrete genie (from the little i played), but i thought they had a lot of potential.
Concrete Genie had a neat art style, but it always came off to me as, "We liked what Sucker Punch did with Infamous: Second Son. Where you had little side activities of spray painting graffiti. So we made an entire game out of that and put it in a setting of a bullied kid having magical friends". I'm sure that's not actually how it happened. But it wasn't some amazingly unique gameplay element or setting. It was artsy. That was about it.
Plus, as you correctly pointed out, proper indie studios have proven better at releasing quality games on their first attempt: Stray, Sifu, Kena...
It seems as if the following is at play: First Party studios handle AAA projects; XDev partners handle a few AAA project, and mostly AA ones; Shuhei and his team take care of the small titles.
Unfortunate, but I had a feeling that they weren't ever far away from being closed down. If I had to guess, since they were open for four years after Concrete Genie and collaborating with Sony Animation, whatever they had been working on probably just wasn't coming together. Santa Monica's team under Stig Asmussen was purged when they spent a while making a new IP that they, from what I heard, consistently missed development milestones on.
Since Pixelopus was a team within a company, and not its own separate studio with a strong legacy, it probably lacked the autonomy and champion to avoid total closure. It was also a small team, so anyone being fired for total failure would have probably caused difficulty in getting any further projects on track. If what we were told is true, Hermen Hulst wasted little time ripping control of the remake for The Last of Us away from that new development team forming in Visual Arts. He didn't like their results up to that point so he put Naughty Dog in charge of it.
We have no idea how much money was being put into this project, but 4 years and a collaboration with a team like Sony Animation probably wasn't exactly cheap. Especially if it was intended to be bigger than Concrete Genie. Then you also have to look at indie developers like Blue Twelve, Ember Lab, and Sloclap. Small studios who were clearly doing it better than Pixelopus. Two of them after just their first project.
Sony has kinda made it clear that they want PlayStation to be associated with quality and success. They're not likely to want, nor have a need, to push out a 6/10 game or a 10-year development timeline for a game that won't sell anyways. They likely look to their own failures as things they want to avoid. If they saw them in Pixelopus, then the axe was pulled out. A small team with no hits under its belt probably wasn't a hard call to make. Hopefully they land new jobs soon enough.
We don't have any indication that Concrete Genie is a "costly failure." Considering the small size of the team, it likely simply hasn't done blockbuster numbers. It certainly wasn't a "costly" game to make.
With Game Pass, games of that scope that won't sell gangbusters get an audience and solidify the value of the offer. PlayStation Plus is a very different proposition and doesn't have the same effect in supporting smaller games.
No you didn't, dude. You did not feel like PixelOpus with their two games was the soul of PlayStation.
That’s why they take a bet with games like Kena, Sifu, Stray, Fall Guys, FIST and many other AA games that they funded.It's an interesting strategy but a bit dangerous if you think about new IP's. Investing something around $200M or even more + time to create something new takes a lot.
Smaller games are great to test your audience and try something new. I don't expect much innovation (at least from a gameplay standpoint) with AAA "too big to fail" games.
Well that's funny. Because Concrete Genie is chocked full of cinematics.This is sad. Concrete Genie wasn't a showstopper, but it was infinitely more interesting of a game than the majority of the AAA "cinematic" games that Sony has been pushing out over the last few years.
Ah, but it has no lesbians or "characters of unknown sexual orientation but likely gay"! That is basically a requirement for the Sony cinematic game experience.Well that's funny. Because Concrete Genie is chocked full of cinematics.
It's almost as if fanboys, obsessives, and narrative pushers don't actually care about how games are, but how they look.
This "muh cinematic AAA" game shit is beyond tired at this point.
San Mateo isn't a studio.
And it probably wasn’t coming together well. They don’t close studios if what they are building is looking great.But they were working with Sony Animation on a new game for the last 2 years..
Bit of a stupid decision.
In an era where both console makers are trying to gain more content and talent, and they shut one down.
It appears that Sony only cares about those big blockbuster third person adventure games, and any other type of smaller, varied games arnt worth their while.
The art style and in general the presentation were indeed pretty great and the strongest points in favour of Concrete Genie. On the gameplay side the game was a pleasurable experience but it didn't really make the most of its mechanics. It sort of kept everything a little too simple and basic as if was just the starting levels of the game. Hope I didn't sond too negative, because in reality I really enjoyed the game. It just left me thinking that an eventual, more ambitious , sequel, could have been really great.Never actually played concrete genie but from the trailers i always loved the artstyle.
According to the logic of many here, that is actually exactly how platform holders, publishers, and developers should all operate. Spend as much money because throwing money produces games or something.You don't just allow money to be wasted. The project was going on for several years and in collaboration with Sony Animation. They're also not a studio. They were a small development team within San Mateo. They were probably missing milestones and just not on track for anything good. It's been 4 years since their last game and neither of their projects were hits. Sony probably doesn't want to push a 6/10 game out the door if they can avoid it. As well as not giving a team 10 years to finish something. That money can be better spent elsewhere.
Other small teams were doing it better. Stray from Blue Twelve. Kena from Ember Lab. Sifu from Sloclap. Concrete Genie was neat but it wasn't close to how those games were received overall.
Increasing comments like this is why I'm embarrassed to be on this forum. Your comment is not based on reality.Ah, but it has no lesbians or "characters of unknown sexual orientation but likely gay"! That is basically a requirement for the Sony cinematic game experience.
Your satire detector needs repairs.Increasing comments like this is why I'm embarrassed to be on this forum. Your comment is not based on reality.
They've bought more talented small studios and honestly if they buy Ember Labs, this wouldn't even matter. Also this isn't a studio, it was a small team within San Mateo.Sony is filthy rich why are they closing studios?