This post was supposed to be a Titanfall review. However, Call of Mechwarrior has spent the vast majority of my play-time "initializing" (whatever that means), and so I'm left writing you a news post instead.
I'm here to pose a question: What do Amy Hennig, Jack Tretton, and Santa Monica Studios all have in common? Answer: they were all once much larger parts of the machine that is Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) than they are now. Something very serious is going down at the gaming giant and one has to wonder: "is Sony going off the rails?"
Let's take a look at this chronologically:
February 25th 2014 - IGN reports that Sony's in-house developer Santa Monica Studios (responsible for the God of War series and teaming up with SuperBot for the more recently released Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale) gets a "reduction of workforce", as it's called by the higher-ups. "This is a result of a cycle of resource re-alignment against priority growth areas within SCE WWS," Sony stated.
Source: IGN
This is rather disconcerting considering that the God of War titles are one of Sony's strongest flagship franchises. Love them or hate them, they have a tendency to print money for the mighty Playstation corporation. This downsizing may be directly linked to the underwhelming performance of the latest title in the God of War series: God of War: Ascension. Something like this should serve as a reminder to studios and publishers alike that when you push out garbage sequels that no one asked for, you don't quite hit the sales numbers you expect. If your game relies predominantly on single-player story, cap it at a trilogy and shelf the IP.
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March 4th 2014 - Speaking of trilogies, how 'bout that Uncharted? After all that developer Naughty Dog has given us, they're working on a new installment for the PS4. What did I just say about unwanted sequels? Frankly speaking, I couldn't even bring myself to finish the 3rd game. But this isn't about me, it's about Amy Hennig, creative director and writer for the series thus far and her departure from the studio.
It was called into question if Neil Druckman and Bruce Straley, the duo responsible for the widely successful The Last of Us, had anything to do with Hennig's departure. The developer's presidents Christoph Balestra and Evan Wells denied this, stating, "we are responsible for all studio affairs".
Source: IGN
Another absurdly popular Sony franchise takes a major hit. While Sony has said that this event will not impact the development timeline of the new Uncharted title, it does raise some questions and eyebrows as to the quality of yet another (potentially doomed) fourth installment. And for a studio with such success as The Last of Us saw in 2013, what could be the reason for Hennig's departure?
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March 6th 2014 - If this isn't the last straw, then we're getting pretty damn close to it. SCEA CEO and the man who's backed every single Playstation launch thus far, Jack Tretton, will be stepping down from his position starting April 1st. Sony has stated that, "This is a result of a mutual agreement between Mr. Tretton and SCEA not to renew their contractual relationship." Taking over for him will be Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI) VP and COO Shawn Layden.
Source: GameSpot
Let's be honest, if you go back and watch the Sony press conference footage from E3 2013, one man stole the show: Jack Tretton. In fact, if you watch every single press conference from E3, Jack Tretton was still the man to beat. Why? Because his speeches BURIED the Xbox One. They slammed Microsoft eight ways from Sunday and were an enormous portion of why Microsoft had to retract their always-online policy and their bullshit DRM. Tretton has been a key figure in the industry and it's a little nerve-wracking to see him leave.
It's crazy, but that's how it goes. Millions of people will be affected by these changes, from the suits at Sony, to the developers, to the players. Unfortunately, the only thing we can do is ride this crazy train out and hope for the best. All aboard! Ha-ha-ha-ha.
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Ay-ay-ay
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