It's often forgotten about, but part of Sony's long-term plan is to establish itself in the mobile gaming space. a PlayStation Mobile Studios division exists, and back in 2022, the company acquired Savage Game Studios as its first sizeable, dedicated mobile developer. The team has been making a "new unannounced AAA mobile live service action game", but it seems things haven't been all smooth sailing so far.
As reported by Mobile Gamer, Savage Game Studios has gone through a complete rebrand in the wake of several key team members leaving the studio. It's now named Neon Koi, "a new identity that better aligns with our vision for the future", the team said on LinkedIn. "Neon Koi represents our culture and the passions of our game project."
As mentioned, this new name and look comes following three executives resigning from key roles. Nicola Sebastiani was head of mobile at PlayStation but left in June of this year to pursue another opportunity. Since then, managing director and co-founder Michail Katkoff left in July, and general manager Sophie Vo exited in September to focus on her consultancy business.
Obviously, others have risen up to take on those responsibilities. Head of technology Mike McManus and co-founder and game director Nadjim Adjir are heading up Neon Koi, which has two locations in Berlin and Helsinki.
There's not much known at all about the studio's debut project, but hopefully it won't be too much longer before we can learn more.
[source linkedin.com, via mobilegamer.biz]
Comments 26
Cool logo tbf.
I always assumed this studio made Journey to the Savage Planet and apparently they didn't, so probably a smart re-brand on their part here.
Wonder when they will reveal their game
'Nicola Sebastiani was head of mobile at PlayStation but left in June of this year to pursue another opportunity. Since then, managing director and co-founder Michail Katkoff left in May'
How does time work at PS headquarters? Are you all born old and get younger?
Savage Game Studios sounds like a default name for a Video Game Tycoon game on mobile, so I think the name change is understandable.
@riceNpea You're gonna have to stop pointing out my errors, I'll get in trouble
(I won't)
(Thank you)
Cue comments about executives and project leads leaving studios being completely normal and rebranding a studio being commonplace and not a sign of any disruption in Sony first party.
I love the logo, The name is a bit silly but still better than savage
Just make PSN connected non live service, non Microtransaction games of established franchises. You can even integrate them into mainline games. We understand they won’t be as spectacular, but they can delve into lore and allow us to work towards main game activities by earning more exp, gold etc in games.
Usually don't care about such things, but damn... that's a killer logo!
Logo is ace but im struggling to get my head around how the new name represents their culture 😅
@DonaldMcRonald I mean that has to be the only valid explanation!!
I like the name and logo. I will almost certainly not play any of their games.
@Quintumply 😆 alternatively you could pay me a fee for proofreading. I accept iced buns as currency 😊
"Neon Koi represents our culture and the passions of our game project"... so they are making Fish Tank Simulator 2023? Koi Pond Architect?
Dear Sony
You spent years making great games for a portable console. Buy the PPSSPP emulator, attach the PSP store and call it a day.
any game coming out of this studio is dead on arrival. why even bother with the mobile marketplace when you don't have to? wasn't going all in on gaas enough to satify the greed of the sony suits?
@Porco because it has proven to be a successful market.
I don't know why but the word combination of "AAA mobile ... game" was kind of funny to me 🙂
@Callmegil hasn't worked out for most of nintendo's mobile efforts and those are among the most popular IPs in the world. getting a mobile hit is like finding a needle in a haystack... it is possible but unlikely, especially with sony's IPs as they are not as univerally recognizable. sony would be better off pursuing its strengths.
@Porco Huh? Fire Emblem Heroes, Mario Kart Tour, Pokémon Go to name a few are extremely successful. Hoyoverse is quite literally swimming in success with their titles and all are brand new IPs. This argument from you is more emotional than factual. It's okay if you feel that way, but it's just not a reflection of reality.
@Callmegil pokemon go had nothing to do with nintendo. they did not develop or publish it. bulk of revenue for the game goes to niantic, pokemon company and the apple/android storefront. everyone knows that was lightning in a bottle and/or a unique IP that will sell regardless of quality anyways. what metric are you using to define success? outside of fire emblem heroes, the rest of their mobile games have not hit strongly relative to the competition.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/05/nintendo-close-to-hitting-usd1-8-billion-in-revenue-from-mobile-games
for example, mario kart world tour generated $270m over the span of 3 years on mobile. that would be the equivalent of selling roughly 3.5m retail copies on the switch — a grave underperformance if i have ever seen one for such an IP. when you factor in the massive install base on mobile, you soon realize just how abysmal their mobile offerings actually are next to big performers like genshin impact. an IP like mario kart should be generating hundreds of millions in revenue annually rather than total lifetime for it to be a success.
there is a reason why there have been no new mobile games in quite some time even though they once comitted to multiple mobile releases every year. plenty of criticism exists online about their mobile efforts so not sure where you are getting your optimism from.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/06/nintendo_to_cut_back_on_mobile_games_after_animal_crossing_success_says_report
the point is, if nintendo of all companies is struggling to this extent on mobile, just imagine sony.
@Porco Porco, my lovely guy, Nintendo owns Pokémon alongside Game Freak and Creatures. The Pokémon Company is a joint venture between the 3. Nintendo doesn't publish under its name because they're not the sole owner of Pokémon. But it is an intellectual property owned by Nintendo.
Success is determined by the relative margin between cost to develop, market and maintain to the revenue it generated. There are no exact figures, but the cost for MKT to be developed and maintained should be somewhere between $1M - $3M/y and you're telling me their turnover is around $70M/y? How is that not a success? If you could invest $1 and make a return of $70, that's a win.
We lack context for the figures. But I wouldn't say it's only successful if it makes hundreds of millions. Can we agree on that?
Sony has to play their cards right, they have potential.
@Callmegil yes, i did say "bulk" of revenue of pokemon go goes elsewhere, not all. nintendo only owns 30% of pokemon company. so if pokemon company itself is only getting a potion of the revenue due to niantic and mobile platform(s) split, nintendo retains a very small piece of the pie. besides, that game already had its fun in the sun.
what i am saying is, if all their mobile efforts were deemed successful according to their projections, we would have heard more news on that front. but we haven't. i am fairly certain nintendo expected more return on their investment. there likely would have been a big upfront infrastructure cost to develop their games and let's not overlook their partner DeNA which retains a lot of their mobile revenue as well.
is there potential in the mobile space? yes. but outside of a few cases, it is not a sure thing as many would believe it to be. definitely more misses than hits.
Dare I ask: Is Neon Koi going into Uncharted waters?
Former Savage employee here. Time to drop some facts. Katkoff and Vo were fired and having worked for both good riddance. They created a culture of fear and toxicity and both were outright bullies. Imagine being so toxic you get fired from the games industry.
Several other people have left recently (discipline leads) because the remaining studio leadership is clueless. The game is a mess, and you'll be lucky to see anything come out next year from the studio. Call it what you will (and the name and logo are fab!) but the rotten core remains.
Kotaku was going to publish an article on the shambles but to the best of my knowledge Sony stepped in and had it killed.
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