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Is Naughty Dog definitively the best Sony studio now?

sachos

Member
Im really interested in what Neil will try to do after saying he is interested in the Elden Ring style of design.
 

solidus12

Member
Well, sonys most successful playstation productions properties are based on their games so you would have to

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I see an Xbox logo
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
LMAO at all the Insomniac mentions, honestly.

When Insomniac was putting out mediocre shooters that sold poorly like Resistance, Naughty Dog was providing Sony with its most important New IP in a decade (Uncharted)

When Insomniac was putting out failed trash like Sunset Overdrive on THE XBOX, Naughty Dog was dropping fucking The Last of Us.

None of you would even mention their name in this thread without the blessings of Marvel providing them with 2 popular world renown IPs.

Their biggest and most famous IP is arguably Spyro, a dead franchise, no longer Sony exclusive. And Ratchet, the last game looked amazing, was very fun, but did nothing to push the genre forward.
 

mxbison

Member
Yes, they are the ones pushing the boundaries.

If TLOU2 didn't hurt so many feelings with Abby's biceps there would be a lot more talk about the aspects where it's way ahead of the competition like combat encounters and animation.
 

Lunarorbit

Member
I would but tlou has hit a saturation point for me in the last 2 years so I'm going to negativity score naughty dog for that.

Taking tlou part one remake away from that other studio, while not bad in a vacuum, made me think they have gotten too insular.

I've heard about factions for 3 years now and all I've seen is 3 pictures? Using your studios resources to remake a game that had no business being remade again? How about instead of tlou remake do uncharted golden abyss instead.

Press sneak fuck wrote that if a aaa game is put in development now than it wouldn't be ready till ps6. That's fucked.

ND has gotten too stuck making third person action games. How about taking some of that creative fluid and make something else we can appreciate? Bungie is helping you with your mp game so how about you develop something new? A different IP like everyone is clambering for? Or a different style instead of gritty realism.

At this point they probably won't make a Savage starlight game but even changing the setting of their games would make it less tedious
 

AndrewRyan

Member
My rankings:
Insomniac
Housemarque
Naughty Dog
Santa Monica Studios
Sucker Punch
Guerilla Games

What a terrific collection of studios. Every one makes you feel warm and fuzzy thinking about their games.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I actually rate then like this based on the last recent output
Santa Monica Studios
Polyphony Digital
Guerrilla Games
Insomniac
Naughty Dog
Sucker Punch
Bend Studios

They're All are good, there is not best to worse here.
 

Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
I like the spider man and god of wars guys better. Maybe if they make a feel good fun game I’ll swing back around but lost me with last of us 2. More uncharted dumb fun please.
 

Nvzman

Member
LMAO at all the Insomniac mentions, honestly.

When Insomniac was putting out mediocre shooters that sold poorly like Resistance, Naughty Dog was providing Sony with its most important New IP in a decade (Uncharted)

When Insomniac was putting out failed trash like Sunset Overdrive on THE XBOX, Naughty Dog was dropping fucking The Last of Us.

None of you would even mention their name in this thread without the blessings of Marvel providing them with 2 popular world renown IPs.

Their biggest and most famous IP is arguably Spyro, a dead franchise, no longer Sony exclusive. And Ratchet, the last game looked amazing, was very fun, but did nothing to push the genre forward.
Holy hyperbole Batman.

Resistance and Sunset Overdrive were very good games, especially Resistance 3. Sure Insomniac had some rough spots on their portfolio, but that's also because they churn out like three times the amount of games.

Thankfully though they seem to have returned to form. At least they seem to understand video games are video games, not movies 😂
 
Always has been, they the only studio who genuinely pushes the cinematic games medium forward.

They’re the leaders the other studios follow. Even when Ragnarok was coming out they spoke about how they were trying to match ND in accessibility features

I need to see Insomniac put out one industry defining game before i ever give them the title over ND. I feel like even wolverine will kind of be following the ND/SMS template for narrative driven, violent games
 
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The stories in both TLOUs made me feel feelings, and the combat in Part II is S-Tier, along with its graphics and animation.

On the flipside, I have to purchase an upgrade for Uncharted 4 to get 60fps on PS5 when that was a free patch for TLOU II. This also makes me feel feelings, but not the kind I like.

And I'm not too interested in Factions, which is their only upcoming release we know much about.

In conclusion, Naughty Dog is a land of contrasts.
 

murmulis

Member
Uncharted is basically "We have Tomb Raider at home". The first Last Of Us felt meh - didn't even finish it. Haven't played the second one and don't plan to.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
They're both, "we have Indiana Jones in games," who was based off of the real life Roy Chapman Andrews who was probably inspired by H. Rider Haggard's... Allan Quatermain character.

These are reductive arguments.
 

EDMIX

Member
I think its them, but others might say Insomniac or PD or Sony Santa Monic or even Bungie.

But that is a deeply debated thing based on how many solid developers are under Sony.
 

SLB1904

Banned
Yes by a huge margin. If you like they wokeness or not.

Their tech is far ahead from everyone in this industry

Animations
Graphics
Delivery

Nothing comes close.
Scrap that only Rockstar is up there. Everyone else is far behind
 
When was the last Crash Bandicoot game that anyone cared about? Warped?

Crash 4 just came out and got great reviews, everyone i know who played it enjoyed it. Theres also a new crash game coming out this year.

Crash Bandicoot is still far more relevant than Banjo, and thats saying a lot for a mascot platformer in 2023
 
LMAO at all the Insomniac mentions, honestly.

When Insomniac was putting out mediocre shooters that sold poorly like Resistance, Naughty Dog was providing Sony with its most important New IP in a decade (Uncharted)

When Insomniac was putting out failed trash like Sunset Overdrive on THE XBOX, Naughty Dog was dropping fucking The Last of Us.

None of you would even mention their name in this thread without the blessings of Marvel providing them with 2 popular world renown IPs.

Their biggest and most famous IP is arguably Spyro, a dead franchise, no longer Sony exclusive. And Ratchet, the last game looked amazing, was very fun, but did nothing to push the genre forward.

You're not wrong, but I don't know that you can really put that down to studio quality.

Uncharted has an 88 on metacritic with a 7.9 user rating. The game sold 4.8 million copies.
Resistance has an 86 with a 8.0 user rating. The game sold 2.5 million copies.

My point here is the games were really comparable.

Uncharted had an extra year of install base, less competition in the genre.

Ultimately, I think Resistance needed a bit more polish to hit home right and a more matured PSN. They had a tougher task for sure.

I also think Naughty Dog was able to dive a bit deeper in because they were first party and had been for some time. They also got a bigger boost by Sony as well, this I think really paved the way for Uncharted 2 and eventually the Last of Us.

It's interesting to think of what Insomniac could have done on a similar pass as Naughty Dog, but after Jak and Ratchet they've really diverged in different directions.

Insomniac does need their own big IP though and should hopefully be working through that. I think Ratchet should probably be left behind at this point no pun intended.

Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine will give Insomniac the size and growth needed to commit to their own IP in between Marvel games. They could grow significantly faster than Naughty Dog ironically. Linkedin headcount growth has Naughty Dog at 9 growth in the last 6 months, which is tremendous, especially in this economy. They only have a 2.2 year average tenure though. Insomniac, on the other hand, has 6% growth and 3.3 years average tenure. Think we'll see that number explode after Spider-Man 2 as the team turns its focus to Wolverine.
 

Ammogeddon

Member
Yeah I reckon so but the gap is narrowing.

What ND do, they do very well but it would be nice to see them try something else.

ND games

Beautiful graphics
Well written story / dialogue
Third person
Puzzle/platforming bit
Area with barriers signalling inevitable gunfight
Action QTE bit
Rinse and repeat
 

jm89

Member
My top 3

Insomniac
Naughty Dog
Guerrilla


Insomniac have variety. Resistance, ratchet and clank and spiderman

Naughty dog just about edges out guerilla. Loved killzone 2 and 3 which kept them close to naughty dog.
 
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Dream-Knife

Banned
Crash 4 just came out and got great reviews, everyone i know who played it enjoyed it. Theres also a new crash game coming out this year.

Crash Bandicoot is still far more relevant than Banjo, and thats saying a lot for a mascot platformer in 2023
I've heard next to no talk about that game. Crash isn't even a 3d platformer. 3d platformers were huge in the 90s.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
There is no "best studio" at this point. It's whatever studio creates the first super carrier (GAAS hit) for PlayStation. Everything up to this point has been in service of finding their next 10x title.

The frontrunners are Bungie, Haven, Bend Guerilla, and Naughty Dog.
 

itshutton

Member
I like SMS but they’ve only made one IP in like 20 years
I don’t see that this matters at all. Who remains at Naughty Dog from the pre-Uncharted era? And even if they are still there, they would be in vastly different positions.

Plus GOW 2018 shows an ability to make a completely different type of game. It’s as good as making a new IP.

I think you need to take the quality of the last decades worth of games, in which case, Naughty Dog have been a bit lacking. Neil Druckman has made two games with extreme quality but also extreme bloat. Both Uncharted 4 and TLOU Part II outstayed their welcome by about 15 hours each. I would suggest other studios have made more enjoyable, mechanically interesting games.
 

GHound

Member
The best first party title to release so far this generation came preinstalled on the system and nothing Naughty Dog develops can change that.
 
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Markio128

Member
Well, what’s the answer to the question: ‘Which Sony Studio has the most anticipated new game announcement?’
The answer of course is ND.
 
I don’t see that this matters at all. Who remains at Naughty Dog from the pre-Uncharted era? And even if they are still there, they would be in vastly different positions.

Plus GOW 2018 shows an ability to make a completely different type of game. It’s as good as making a new IP.

I think you need to take the quality of the last decades worth of games, in which case, Naughty Dog have been a bit lacking. Neil Druckman has made two games with extreme quality but also extreme bloat. Both Uncharted 4 and TLOU Part II outstayed their welcome by about 15 hours each. I would suggest other studios have made more enjoyable, mechanically interesting games.

I love TLOU2, less so Uncharted 4 but also loved The Lost Legacy probably more than both Uncharted 4 and 3 (and 1) so I mean, when you take their entire output into account their average is still vastly higher anything else as far as quantity and critical reception.

In fact, I dont think Naughty Dog has ever put out anything less than good. They either completely knock it out the park or they put out something thats just fun and entertaining.

I can’t really say the same for Santa Monica with stuff like Ascension, or if you want to count The Order. They also just put out less stuff than ND

Insomniac has been pretty up and down until spider-man. Ratchet is always at leat good, but resistance is inconsistent, their multiplatform games were inconsistent, and their VR titles were kind of whatever.

I think if anyone is close to Naughty Dog it would be Media Molecule. They haven’t put out a bad game since inception, and their games are very creative and not like anything else Sony makes
 
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