I hope it works out for them , having a smaller more focused team. They have a very controlled environment for release so they can almost guarantee a ROI on a AAA release on the PS4. I just hope they are given the chance to try a new IP and not feel forced to push out another Infamous first.

These HD games are more about how much content is in them, versus just pure development. Huge texture maps, voice acting, symphonic music, all kinds of prop modeling, a lot of labor intensive jobs for different parts of the development. In between projects, it is just business as usual to thin down content people while the coder development team usually has a stable core. The news about them hiring now means the next project is a go.

I think Sucker Punch said even before making Second Son that they prefered being small and managable, which is why they always work as one team.

Remember, oversized developers from continued growth killed companies like Irrational, the developers of Bioshock for instance. These layoffs might've been a good thing, although I do pity the workers who got laid off, and I pray they're able to get up and back on the horse somewhere else within the industry.

80! That's less than 90! Thank god it's more than 70, though.

But what if it wasn't?

It's obvious that when they ramp up production for their next game they are going to hire more. Their next game is not going to get made by just 80 dudes.

What this reflects however is a disturbing industry trend of hiring and discarding employees depending on the flow of dev cycles.

Nowadays, there are plenty of companies who do not fire their workers based on genuine economic hardship, it has just become standard practice to treat a large chunk of your workforce as interim workers.

And Sony is known for being among those that do it a lot. I remember reading stories about Ready At Dawn sacking and hiring and sacking guys abruptly to comply with Sony's demands.

Ubisoft, for all the crap they take recently, always keeps their guys active and reassigns them to new projects when production of a given game has moved past the stage where they are needed.

Not good.

Some of the better games in the last year or so are developed with smaller teams now. However, is it 80 more people they have added or does sucker punch only have 80 people developing their next game? Either way, they know what theyre doing

I wish Sony had bundled Infamous: Second Son over the holiday season. The game really is impressive.

My favorite first-party dev. Hope Sony open asecond studio for them

It took 3 DEVs to make No Man's Sky, it's not about how many it's about how good they are.

If you want a secure job as a DEV you can't go into the games industry, they layoff so many people it's crazy. You spend months and months building a game, it's done then you're gone.

Unfortunately, gamers get it into their heads that it will be this amazing job and thus they have so many people to pick from. If you want to be a dev, work in the industry, just not in the games industry then when you're at home you can make what ever you want to, hell collaborate online with others if you want to make something bigger.

80 people is barely enough if you compare that to other game dev teams but its true that small teams can work out some wonderful games. Bigger teams doesnt equal better games, its probably the opposite in terms of bugginess.

I believe the modern day standard is 150-200.

If I remember correctly DICE has 600 people under their name but have only 2-3 big teams.

All I took from this is "Sucker Punch is working on a new title? Yesss".
80 devs is plenty.

This is great.. I hope more layoffs happens across the board from these weak developers giving us false promises.. With subresolution and last Gen frame rate.. Step your craft up or get fired period.. (waiting on ubisoft layoffs and any other weak development team the only thing u can count on from them is and abundance of lies and unanswered questions!!!

Make games for xbox and get the people their jobs back

Dont really get how this is news. Most companies lay off between projects; just doesn't make financial sense to keep all of your people around while you spend months locking down what your next game will be.

I don't like this personally it really feels like once a studio funds success with an IP in Sony they are forced to milk it.

As much as I loved ghost of Tsushima and I will be there day one for this new game I want to see them tackle something else afterwards.

But looking at other studios for examples.

Guerilla last non horizon project was in 2013 with Sony even commissioning horizon games outside of the team with VR projects.

All of the insomniac leak data shows they are going to live in superhero land with Marvel properties for the next decade at minimum.

Naughty dog with has always been stuck doing one IP at a time from jak and daxter and it's constant sequels which didn't feel as bad as game development was far shorter and then in the HD era they were forced to milk uncharted and now the last of us.

Game development takes so long now that pumping out a game and two sequels could take 15 years and that's all hands on deck so as a result it can feel a little stake after a while.

Personally I'm massively fatigued by tlou and horizon right now instill enjoy ghost but for how long

They said they are considering it. Title says they are doing it. I want more Ghost games but you need to represent what they say accurately

Spin-Offs are all well and good, but just focus on Yotei for now and make it just as good (if not better) than Tsushima.

Great now announce the next Ghost of Tsushima game!

GoS was great. Hope we get a sequel one day.