"...Naughty Dog has released a rather large amount of multiplayer information on its latest game, Uncharted 3. It’s common knowledge that Uncharted 3’s singleplayer is sure to be nothing short of breathtakingly spectacular. However, Naughty Dog wishes to step into the ring of competitive multiplayer..."
Former Naughty Dog artist Gabriel Betancourt explains why the "sweet spot" for game teams is under 200 people and how AAA "factories" kill creativity.
There’s definitely some truth to this. When teams get too large, coordination starts to outweigh creativity—layers of approval, risk aversion, and tight deadlines can turn bold ideas into “safe” ones. Keeping a team under ~200 people sounds ideal for maintaining clear communication and a shared vision. That said, massive AAA projects also come with huge technical demands and expectations, so scaling up isn’t always avoidable. The real challenge is figuring out how to keep that small-team creativity alive inside big studio structures.
More than that, it's logistically untenable. Inevitably, when teams get too large, how do you keep tabs on accountability? I suspect this massive team size is a consequence of the perfectionism streak Naughty Dog has.
I wish we could have so many people working on something and it turns out great because I'm all for collaboration in spirit - the problem is too many people as part of the larger team and smaller units. Suppose for example that you have too many people in the art department; you will very often come up against fiercely competing visions for how things should look. That competitive vision will cause friction between team members, team doesn't work as a unit, the back and forth can further delay parts that the other departments are waiting for, etc etc.
A 200-person team says, to me, that we need to scale back game development. Even if it means we go back to PS2 era costs and scale, why not? Those games are still great fun, the budgets were in check, and you could literally break the 200-man team into like 10 20-man teams working on different projects.
Sony is said to be pulling back on releasing PlayStation games on PC, and this starts with Ghost of Yotei and Saros.
If true then the PC elitists will no longer be saying..."I'll wait to play it on PC where it'll play best" I'm guessing the money Sony spends porting & profiting from PC isn't worth it. Making PS first party solely exclusive again to their consoles will make their consoles more relevant to buy especially if their output of first party titles are good.
A certain spamtastic account will not be pleased if this is true.
This is another basic logic scenario. We've seen both extremes playing out right now. Would you rather be in Xbox's or Nintendo's position right now? Sony already had a working formula, stick to it.
Sony released games on PC to try to make a few extra bucks... Valve (and possibly MS, if the new Xbox ever sees the light of day) attempted to use this to allow you to play PlayStation games on other consoles, so instead of making Sony a few extra bucks, it's now costing them good money... so this only makes sense.
All those players who claim they were happy to wait an eternity for every game, will now suddenly be saying all those games are/will be crap and they were never interested.
Of course they will...lol. It looks like they'll never get to play PS exclusive games or they'll give in & buy a PS.
Sure, keep coping obscure, suddenly Jason Schrier is super unreliable too I guess? lmao.
True. Haha.
Oh! And look, the obscure dude with his zillionth sock account commented below as expected LMAO!
Believe it or not, some people will just never play Playstation games if the don't come to PC. They're completely fine with that.
Sounds like you're letting a small section of gamers fuel your fanboy war. Good luck with that 👏
They are already doing this on some of the subreddits. Now they either never cared for their games or calling Sony selfish. However no one bats an eyelid at Nintendo sticking to console exclusive since forever
much like every MS released game when they eventually come to PS5 and somehow are magically good (Forza Horizon 5, Indiana Jones, Avowed, etc)
Replies(3)More like people were realizing what wasn't worth it was buying a PS5 to play games that eventually came to another platform. The constant excuses the entire gen to try to lessen the butt hurt y'all were feeling. Let's be for real here ladies and gents y'all were bothered by the fact most of these games were making their way to PC and judging by the replies y'all STILL butthurt. Trying to make it sound like waiting 6 months to a year was the worst thing when most people don't care cause why should they? Who's in a rush to play mostly SP games when they know they can play it on the platform they prefer? How exactly does it hurt y'all personally? Besides getting your pride hurt cause SONY making you look childish for being so loyal to a brand?
If they're pulling support it's because they know that long term they can't convince people to buy a PS if they can get their games on PC. It's that simple. You really think having an extra platform to gain more profit from somehow hurts them financially? Nah, it's cause they can't convince people to throw another 600-700 bucks at new hardware when their current console gen has barely been taken full advantage of. All the conveniences of a console are on PC now, and you aren't locked into a cycle where the hardware you buy becomes obsolete every 6 years. And the new hardware you buy receives games that are built off software made for the gen before.
Of course people rather buy these games on PC if they already own a PC, makes no sense at all to invest in a console if this continues. And it will infact continue if dev cycles keep taking most of the gen to complete development.
@Inverno
"All the conveniences of a console are on PC now."
Including piracy, hackers and cheaters? hmmm...
"Of course people rather buy these games on PC"
Yeah, digital only lol. People buy physicals on consoles, which you rarely have on PC.
You PC guys are really something. Being snobs for no reason at all lol.
@Inverno, that was long tearful rant, you feel better now? Lol. Nobody cares about the pc gaming community the orphans of the gaming industry. Even Nvidia has abandoned you, lol. Now go play "pizza making express" on your $10,000 rig, nobody cares pc gamer.
It's working for PS seeing their console has been selling fabulously lately. If this is" true" it's evident Sony has decided porting their games to PC is just not worth it.
I agree, I have a gaming PC along with a Pro and a Switch 2. I like choosing where I want to play my games. No I won't cry if I HAVE to play a title on my PlayStation. But it's nice having the option to play on my PC if I should choose.
That doesn't make me elitist or a fool in any way. My backlog of games is a country mile long. So if I can't get to a game at launch, getting it at PC down the road for a discount would be a nice option from time to time.
I'm super glad Sony's going back to what they used to do for 30 yrs, porting games to pee zee was a huge mistake just for a couple of millions extra at most and it only tarnished the brand/platform. Bunch of ungrateful ''pee zee elitists'' anyway, always demanding and whining as if Sony is owes them a port. You want a Big Mac? then go to McDonalds and get one, don't expect Taco Bell to sell you one. Common sense, that's how everything works in this world.
@obscure
I must have missed the part where Sony owned Kojima Productions and the Death Stranding IP, news flash, they don't, which is not what the article is about lol
Music to my ears. So glad Sony are getting back to their roots with PlayStation. Scaling back on live service garbage and bringing back exclusives that made PlayStation what it is today.
If anyone want to blame someone blame steam for stepping into the console market thinking Sony would continue to make their games available on PC like Xbox have done on all platforms.
Damn I missed today spam cooking competition 🤤
@ stakdeck: “ @Muffer Awwww. You really made an account just to say all of this”
nope he made 2 just to disagree with me 🤣
Replies(6)Replies(1)
This feels like a bad move by Sony. The economy isn’t strong enough for most people to justify owning both a PC and a PlayStation. I’ve gotten used to playing on PC with a controller anyway. It’s a bit disappointing, but I’m not going back to consoles unless the economy improves significantly.
I'll wait to play it on PC where it'll play best, just a bit later on an emulator with higher res textures higher fps better controls and for free
It’s bc they don’t sell well. The cost to port vs revenue generated isn’t worth it. This kinda just shows that it’s specifically PlayStation people that love PlayStation exclusives - not necessarily gamers as a whole. That makes sense. Buy into what brands you like. PC has a whole universe of games that aren’t on console. Much bigger market. It doesn’t necessarily mean those interests are interchangeable.
I have a ps5 and play those games on it. But why are you thanking god? What relief does this give you for people getting an old game a year or so later?
"What relief does this give you for people getting an old game a year or so later?"
There's legitimate reason to find relief in the idea that PS is refocusing on its ecosystem and not jeopardizing it by doubling down on a strategy that could put it in a similar position as the current state of Xbox.
If true, it also relieves us of another "Sony too" deflection people have been arguing as a form of cope for years after years of people arguing that Xbox would surpass PS and Nintendo because those two weren't emulating the strategy of the only one of the big three that has never won a single console generation.
That's the cycle. Xbox has reinvented the wheel and done something the soon to be obsolete PS can't replicate, until it blows up in their faces. Then, it's "Sony too."
Because that stupid decision kills consoles.
Everything is an Xbox, and now nothing is an Xbox.
People downloading torrents to play spiderman on their steam deck, and we all knew it.
I'm definitely not buying a Steam Machine for $2k over in scalper land just to play a settings game every time I turn it on.
@SimpleDad not if done correctly. It killed Xbox because putting games day 1 on GamePass is cannibilizing their sales.
Thank God people that have gaming PCs now get to play infinitely inferior versions of two good games per year exclusive to the hyper locked down non-upgradable overpriced subscription-addicted Sony gaming PC.
Still got my PS5, but only for AstroBot, Wolverine, and whatever the next Ratchet game is gonna be. This console cycle has been absolute garbage. Forcing consumers to buy a piece of tech this lame in 2026 after they've shut down all their good studios is brutal. RIP Bluepoint.
Agreed. This has been an absolute lame-duck Sony console generation. Very few worthwhile titles for overpriced hardware. I'll continue to enjoy the plethora of endless game titles available through Steam and other platforms while Sony-only fans remain stuck in their ecosystem waiting for the next big title to drop once every 2 years. Have fun with that.
Well, we have the data in front of us, don't we. Not to mention how extensive Sony's data's got to be.
They've tried.
Huge revenue wasn't generated (don't get me wrong - they did make billions, but you get it), Steam got a cut, Xbox got a cut, PS5 is trailing ~2 million units behind PS4.
The paycheck for, but also potential harm to the remaining years of PS5 and the release of PS6, just wasn't it.
It's absolutely logical if true.
And people shouldn't forget Sony'd simply return to the strategy they've been following for 4/5 of Playstation's history.
Replies(4)Good luck with that, Sony wa losing money on their AAA exclusives since their ecosystem was not generating enough to revenue to cover their costs. Just another stupid move almsot as dumb as their live service push.
You think Sony made losses with God of War, The Last of Us, Ghost of, Horizon or Spiderman?
Huh.
@dveio, I hope those games made money they were good games. Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million, while The Last of Us Part II cost $220 million, excluding marketing. Much rather see more platforms instead of them raising prices to cover the game since its lmited to one specific console.
Lol.. that makes no sense. That logic puts all publishers and developers out of business. The majority of people buy games on the system they prefer. Exclusives are only a tiny fraction of games sold. Selling 15 million games beats selling 2 million consoles.Consoles stagnate but games dont. How is sony trying to sell their console by putting God of War on PC? The overall goal is to make money and the games keep the money coming. The majority of the time consoles are sold for a loss. And If it is making money its not that much. Especially in the first few years after release. All the enjoyment is coming from experiencing the game.
Actually its closer to 4%. Playstation has grossed over 1.5 billion on steam to date. So its not BS. At the end of the day, its not about what you want. They are going to do what they need to in order to increase profits. Did they ask you for permission before they shut down Bluepoint studios? No.
We get it. You hate PS is no longer putting their exclusives on PC while your favorite platform is giving theirs away to PC and other platforms.
Thats ignorant. First of all nothing has been confirmed. I really dont care where sony put their games because I own a ps5 and a pc. So theres no hate. And for the record, I dont have a favorite platform but I do have a preference. There is a difference.
Everything you said is BS. If you didn't care where they put their games you would've never made this comment. And you've made it clear you CLEARLY have a favorite platform. Just because you own a ps5 and pc doesn't negate that.
Can you confirm that they are no longer putting their games on PC? If you cant then your whole argument is just nonsense. I dont care where they put their games. Part of the reason is i dont like all their games. Just like it dont like all games.on other platforms. I called BS on this report because its not based on facts to back it up. Maybe you care a little too much about it which imo is a waste of time. LIke I said before its not about you want. They dont need our permission to do anything. So if they do stop putting games.on PC it wont be because that what playstation fanboys want. It will be for business reasons. Thats why I said its BS. Why would they turn down opportunities to make money. For the record, games are developed on dev kits which are basically PC anyway. They only have to gain.
Look how much attention this got, Jason Schreier pulls this shit all the time. Then people just forget his embellished claims.
You send this dude one random ass email I bet he will write up a whole story on it.
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is proud to announce that Evan Wells, former Co-President of Naughty Dog and one of the most respected studio leaders in modern game development, will be honored with a prestigious Hall of Fame Award. Wells’ induction will take place at the 29th annual D.I.C.E. Awards on February 12, 2026, at the Aria Resort in Las Vegas. Neil Druckmann, a longtime collaborator from Naughty Dog, will present Wells with his Hall of Fame Award live at the ceremony.
