In 2001, Naughty Dog was acquired by Sony for an undisclosed amount after the two companies had worked together on Crash Bandicoot in the 1990s. Recently, one of the co-founders of Naughty Dog, one of the most iconic modern gaming studios, revealed exactly why the studio was happy to be acquired by Sony.
In a post on LinkedIn, Andrew Gavin explained that it was all down to the stress of managing budgets.
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Andrew Gavin and Jason Rubin founded Naughty Dog in 1984, creating a few forgettable (or never-heard-of) titles before moving into the success stakes with the likes of Crash Bandicoot in the 1990s. From there, the studio blossomed, with the team coming up with Jak and Daxter, Uncharted, and The Last of Us.
For the longest time, Naughty Dog has been a Sony studio. It was one of the earliest acquisitions made by the tech titan, and it has proven to be one of the most fruitful purchases the Japanese firm ever made.
In a recent post on LinkedIn (found by Gameranx), Andrew Gavin, one of the co-founders of Naughty Dog, explained why they were eager to accept an acquisition by Sony in 2001:
Back in 2000, we were still self-funding every project, and the stress of financing these ballooning budgets independently was enormous. It wasn’t just us. This was (and still is) a systemic issue in the AAA space. Developers almost never have the resources to fund their own games, which gives publishers enormous leverage.
Selling to Sony wasn’t just about securing a financial future for Naughty Dog. It was about giving the studio the resources to keep making the best games possible, without being crushed by the weight of skyrocketing costs and the paralyzing fear that one slip would ruin it all.
Looking back, it was the right call. AAA games have only gotten more expensive since then. Today’s big budget games can easily cost $300, $400, or even $500 million to develop.
Gavin went on to suggest that Naughty Dog might have been able to ‘keep up’, but selling to Sony allowed the studio ‘to thrive’.
Today, Naughty Dog is one of the most recognised and awarded studios on Earth.
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Sony’s going to close them down.
They arent even going to get one original game (not counting the remasters of games that were released just a few years prior or the PC port that launched like trash) this entire generation for Sony. They never should have abandoned Factions after putting so much time, effort, and money into it.
Sony has had a lot more blunders this generation than is ever talked about in gaming news.
Concord.
That is all that needs to be said.
Concord. Bungie acquisition… they have not come close to making their money back from that one let alone any profit. They out the extra Billion or so bucks to retain talent, but the studio did so bad financially that a lot of the major talented devs have left anyways. After Marathon flops, they will end up moving all of the team to an internal Sony studio so future games by them will be exclusive. I was shocked Sony made a deal with a company only to let their future games still be multiplat.
Factions, they stopped working on that game after 4 years. Naughty Dog is such a big studio to pay everyone for four years only to get absolutely nothing in return. I am glad they are making Intersteller, but I really am not expecting to see that game release until around 2028.
FairGame$.
The $ in the damn name says it all. This game is destined to be cheesy as Fuk! For sure going to be Sonys next Live Service flop if/when it ever comes out. They would not have bought the studio if ABK didnt go to Xbox I’m guessing.
Deviation Studios.
Another highlight Sony showed off at the launch of the PS5 that was eventually just never talked about again until we hear that Sony broke off their deal with the studio, the studio when under, and Sony poached a bunch of the talent (ex Call Of Duty Devs) to create a studio that I am sure is focused on creating the next “Call of Duty Killer”… Let’s see how that works out for Sony haha.
Their are many more major blunders Sony has endured this generation, but for some reason, nothing but their excellent console sales are ever talked about when Sony PlayStation is being talked about. All of the headlines I brought up costs Sony $200 Million Plus to $3 Billion plus…. Their is a reason Heroki Tatoki is still in charge over there.