Layoffs at IO Interactive as Project Fantasy Ends 'Relationship with External Partner'

Sony, now would be a good time to expand your 2nd party portfolio... wink, wink, nudge, nudge, knowwhatimean, knowwhatimean, saynomore, saynomore?

Microsoft is going nuclear.

Pretty soon, no one will be making games besides Nintendo, the PlayStation Trinity, Capcom, and various Eastern developers predominantly founded on gooning.

@wildcat_kickz I dunno...is Project Fantasy even a service of any kind...?

Wonder if Microsoft will drop kojimas OD?

If we could only pinpoint one decision that led to all of this…

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2022/01/microsoft-buys-call-of-duty-publisher-activision-blizzard

@get2sammyb ooh… yet more ouchies! Damage control this cult of Asha!

@get2sammyb I know Sony has closed some studios recently, but I can't think of a lot of examples of them pulling support from second party games, though you would certainly know better than me. To me, this seems like a nice opportunity to fill out their release schedule. Making it a PlayStation exclusive would be a satisfying thumb in Microsoft's eye, too. Pipe dreams all around, but you can't stop a boy from dreaming!

So they're essentially laying off the team that were working on the game, which makes sense. Well hopefully they can find work asap.

@wildcat_kickz Yes, because Sony has does such a great job with all their studios this generation.

From a business perspective how much is the game going to cost to make and how many will sell, will there be a return on investment.
It’s hardcore and hardline at the moment and if any business is not making any money on their investment then they are going to be looked at.
Another game with investment I would look into is kojimas OD, is this going to make any money?
Most of us all work for a business and if the business isn’t making money then at some point we won’t working there for much longer.
I know it’s harsh but I wouldn’t like to be paying out money if I know I’m not getting it back with some profit, else what is the point.
At very bare minimum a break even point guarantee.

@wildcat_kickz don't bite...

@Northern_munkey I'm just suggesting funding the rest of the game. Definitely don't want Sony to buy IOI.

@wildcat_kickz They’re too spent on live service nonsense and it’s not like they’ve been good stewards for most studios this generation either.

@lacerz This is reminding me a lot of the VR space a few months ago. Meta decided they had enough losing actual billions on VR so closed half of their VR game studios and pulled funding from outside developers that were making multiplatform games resulting in mass layoffs across the board. I think Meta/Microsoft are aiming for the Valve approach of just making some hardware and selling games through their market while no longer making games themselves. This is a huge shift from the Spencer era of Xbox as they wanted to make as many games as possible so bought up an absurd amount of studios. Now all those studios are just costing them money in their new plan so are going to make so many devs lose their jobs. God damn insane.

@Americansamurai1 That Kojima game is probably the next to get shuttered as that game probably costs a crazy amount with Kojima's obsession with celebrity actors

@IllusiveMan I was only being half serious, but you could argue that Sony's best games this gen have been 2nd party: Stellar Blade, Demon's Souls (released before acquisition), Returnal (released before acquisition), Rise of the Ronin, DS2, Marvel Tokon, etc.

@wildcat_kickz of course you didn't... wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Microsoft should really learn a thing or two from Sony imo.

Namely their deft management of Concord, and savvy, sympathetic handling of Bluepoint.

@Rezium Please see comment #15

@AI-Generation you’re OldGamer aren’t you! 🧐

@wildcat_kickz calling Ronin one of Sonys best games of the gen is an absolutely wild take that I assume is a joke

@psmr I thought that was common knowledge to be honest

@wildcat_kickz IOI are unlikely to let anyone buy them, their independence has let them flourish

@Oram77 I had my suspicions… but the recent word-for-word double-post ABOUT TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT GAMES 😁 from Push Square to Pure xbox settled it for me.

@LowDefAl Ok... Do you have a problem with my idea or are you just trying to nitpick my comment? I already said I didn't want Sony to buy IOI and I listed a bunch of 2nd party games to point to as an example of Sony using 2nd party games to fill out their release schedule. You clearly don't like Ronin (I personally didn't play it), but I'm hoping you actually have a broader point other than just trying get a dunk on someone else's comment.

@psmr There appears to be an influx of users doing this recently, like you said the easiest way to know is from their writing style...

@Oram77 I was actually looking to make a new account and change my name to Truthful_Chicken, but alas, my plans have been foiled...

@Questionable_Duck Does this mean I've been reading a lying duck all this time...

Lesson learned: don’t develop and release any really good games or you’ll be fired.

Was this an upcoming game? Never heard of it. Sucks that this happened.

@Oram77 @psmr
I would rather a debate conversation for me being truthful about the business and business in general. Not some identity crisis 🤣

I think we all see this love for gaming as a fantastic hobby, which it is, but recently a super reality check with prices going up and lay offs, shows it is a real ruthless business that somehow has to survive.

Some would argue it’s due to the incompetence of say Sony and Microsoft that got us here and there is definitely some truth in that.

I mean Nintendo have just given everyone a 10% pay rise. So you can run a gaming business well if you get it right.

@Oram77 Well all my posts are supposed to be questionable, so I guess you could say that...

@AI-Generation I fail to see how Sony has contributed much to the current component price crisis when Microsoft is an active participant in the very thing driving said crisis!

People keep trying to equate Sony and Microsoft’s missteps (largely as a way to excuse MS/Xbox) but I just don’t see it.

@8th_Observer
I didn’t just mean the chip crisis, more running of their own businesses and making decisions earlier could have put them in better positions.
Game development decisions etc to start with.

@Americansamurai1 that would be nice for Sony to pick up but I doubt they’d drop anything of kojima’s. Though this is MS so anything could happen!

So MS basically screwed them over?

@Sunraku Valve also created something in Steam that never existed prior. MS would be stupid as hell to think people want to buy their store only

@AI-Generation Given how often Push reports on Microsoft's layoffs, I'm kinda surprised they haven't reported on Nintendo of Japan's 10% pay raise and 300 personnel growth.

I don't mean that as a criticism of Push, just still seems relevant during the current climate of layoffs throughout the industry that seem inescapable.

@RoomWithaMoose Xbox publishes games on PlayStation, Nintendo doesn't.

@datamonkey yeah I think it depends on how much longer it takes to come out

@8th_Observer Sure. But they also found a reason to type up an article about Oblivion Remaster's Switch 2 trailer. And have focused heavily on Switch 2 in article bodies before.

It's not like they can't talk about the Switch. That Nintendo is doing pretty well for themselves is generally relevant during these times of weekly layoffs.

@Raffles Well they almost killed Platinum Games before Microsoft so they probably dont need anymore help in getting worse.

@RoomWithaMoose Oblivion Remastered is also on PS5, and that article was pointing out that its major issues haven't been fixed yet.

@8th_Observer It was still an article whose only new bit of news was a Switch 2 trailer. I'm just saying, man, it's not hard to make a connection.

"10% Pay Raise at Nintendo Puts PlayStation on Notice"

Really easy to tie it back to PlayStation. It's noteworthy, relevant news, I would say.

EDIT: Also pretty sure they've written articles to the effect of, 'BLANK announced for Switch, seemingly skipping PlayStation' on several occasions. Which deflates this whole game needs to be on PlayStation to justify writing about it thought. Just like how a game skipping PlayStation can be seen as relevant PlayStation news, so too can a rival company's ostensible success be relevant to PlayStation.

It might sound easy "just shop it to Sony", there's undoubtedly no compete clauses to prevent such things,(expensive to bring lawyers in),let alone very much a buyers market as far as publishers are concerned.

Hope longer term IO bounce back from this. Agree it'll be curious if Kojima's project remains after the cull. Certainly feels like the smaller previously independent studios Microsoft bought up are the ones facing the chop.

@psmr I really hope my life is never boring enough that I can tell when internet strangers have changed their name due to remembering their writing style, lol. You need a real world hobby, bruv.

@lacerz the subtitle of that article shows itself today after 4 years

@get2sammyb it's not comparable imho

@Americansamurai1 No that is way too big a PR hit. Kojima brings them the prestige which they have craved since the ps4 era.

While everyone is focused on Xbox's role for obvious reasons, I do feel IOI over-invested like many other studios during covid without having real contingency plans for such scenarios.

They opened 2 or 3 new offices, continued supporting Hitman, VR Hitman, Published MindsEye and made a Bond game. MindsEye must've been costly for them and Project Fantasy was in the works for half a decade with nothing to show for it (never a good sign). Like many other studios they're also coming into the GAAS genre very late when even successful games are losing their player bases.

I think Xbox made the right call pulling out of this (and I love dunking on Xbox).

@For-Kier I guess I got a new dingleberry huh

Current MS XBOX strategy

"Burn then all!!"

It's like mad King Aerys II Targaryen is in charge over there.