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Power and influence degrades in a half life. Spider Man 2 being kind of bad, is not the end of the world because of all the previous goodwill. Spider Man 2 being kind of bad and Wolverine being shit, now there are consequences. Look how long it took Star Wars to be destroyed. Look how long it took people to get off the Sony pony.
I imagine Insomniac is going to have more oversight from now on. Unfortunately that oversight is also retarded and gay.
People forget that going into Concord, Tony Hsu's resume was all but literally gold-plated, being the senior vice President over Destiny up through the Taken King.
How people think it works: Studio lead: Hey C-Suite. I have a cool idea. It's blah blah blah blah blah. C-Suite: Interesting. Make sure you regularly brief us on concept art, gameplay structures, test demos, and such so we can make sure you're making a game teenage boys will love.
How it actually works: Studio lead: Hey C-Suite. My last 10 years of work have driven billions in revenue. You should let me do what I want. C-Suite: Okay, here's funding. Keep us abreast of finances and spending.
Death Stranding 2 shit its pants and sent the franchise into a death spiral, reducing Kojima's clout.
He won't give Sony ownership or any rights other than "first"
Now let's go through the people you think were doing worse, and what happened to them.
Tony Hsu (Concord): Previous franchise was Destiny, which made a billion dollars. Sold full ownership to Sony. Did not have a pants-shitting failure ahead of Concord. Sony retains full ownership. Got fucking fired*.
Joel Eschler (Horizon Hunters): Horizon franchise has so far made a billion dollars. Sold full ownership to Sony. Has not had a pants-shitting failure yet.
Jade Raymond (Haven Studio): Previous creation, Watch Dogs, made a billion dollars. Sold full ownership to Sony. Did not have a pants-shitting failure before the debut of Fairgame$. Sony retains full ownership. Got fucking fired*.
The ownership angle is important. There's no equity to write down with a contractor, so when you pull the plug on the relationship, you report a smaller loss. With something you own, the cost of shut_it_down.jpg on your quarterly sttaement includes the entire value of the studio, so you have a significant financial incentive to keep it alive. If Kojima wanted Sony to stay in the game, he should have sold them an equity stake. Womp womp. Them's the rules.
Obviously it'll be better for Kojima for his latest game (now on Xbox lol) to be at least "decent" instead of "middling/boring" like Death Stranding 1 & 2 were, but even if it's just another wet fart he still comes out of this kerfuffle w/Sony smelling like roses compared to Sony themselves. Backing shit like Marathon (which proves daily it cannot drive adequate sales to justify its developer's continued existence) while giving the boot to "le popular auteur wot still moves units even when the games aren't good" and being so publicly slimy about it is a pretty shitty look.
Kojima can still coast on reputation for another few years. Sony is busy watching the last remaining embers of theirs burn up.
Obviously it'll be better for Kojima for his latest game (now on Xbox lol) to be at least "decent" instead of "middling/boring" like Death Stranding 1 & 2 were, but even if it's just another wet fart he still comes out of this kerfuffle w/Sony smelling like roses compared to Sony themselves. Backing shit like Marathon (which proves daily it cannot drive adequate sales to justify its developer's continued existence) while giving the boot to "le popular auteur wot still moves units even when the games aren't good" and being so publicly slimy about it is a pretty shitty look.
Kojima can still coast on reputation for another few years. Sony is busy watching the last remaining embers of theirs burn up.
People still like the idea of Kojima rather than what Kojima puts out. Death Stranding felt like a tech demo and then following it up with Death Stranding 2 diminished him in the eyes of many. If his next game is great, then he is safe for now. If it's kind of bad, you'll see the Kojima haters start crawling out of the woodwork.
They do, but they are a prisoner of their employees. If they say get rid of Miles Morales or sideline him for Spiderman 3, then their employees will flip shit. If they stop adding gay shit or making Wolverine look like anything other than an FAS weirdo, they they will flip shit. If they make a female character attractive then their employees will flip shit.
This has been a problem with media for at least a decade. They have grown distant from the economic reality of making something people want to play. The funding has been coming from someone else's pocket and that pocket is usually pension funds.
If the insane run the asylum, then that is on you. If you are afraid they will flip shit, call it lay-offs or restructuring and mass fire. After that, see who is willing to work that is also competent and hire them.
Sure. Firing him under normal circumstances make sense in that case. HOWEVER, when you know that your next few first party games will flop, you don't fire the guy who still has a fanbase. You need to have a success and Kojima was the closest to that. The two live service games will flop most likely. Laufey is God of War without Kratos. Intergalactic follows the second season of the TLOU show and thus no one is exited for it. And I suppose Until Dawn 2 is there as well.
Sony has been going multiplatform for a while so I don't doubt that a lot of time and money were poured on ports. As for ownership, after Konami and MG, I get it.
Tony Hsu (Concord): Previous franchise was Destiny, which made a billion dollars. Sold full ownership to Sony. Did not have a pants-shitting failure ahead of Concord. Sony retains full ownership. Got fucking fired*.
Joel Eschler (Horizon Hunters): Horizon franchise has so far made a billion dollars. Sold full ownership to Sony. Has not had a pants-shitting failure yet.
But all such live service games are very expensive and risky. Why not have a Kojima game helped with the potential loses of those games? Unnecessary risk.
Jade Raymond (Haven Studio): Previous creation, Watch Dogs, made a billion dollars. Sold full ownership to Sony. Did not have a pants-shitting failure before the debut of Fairgame$. Sony retains full ownership. Got fucking fired*.
The ownership angle is important. There's no equity to write down with a contractor, so when you pull the plug on the relationship, you report a smaller loss. With something you own, the cost of shut_it_down.jpg on your quarterly sttaement includes the entire value of the studio, so you have a significant financial incentive to keep it alive. If Kojima wanted Sony to stay in the game, he should have sold them an equity stake. Womp womp. Them's the rules.
It would certainly be a risk to not have ownership. However, it is in my opinion still worth it as the PS5 has no games. PC parts are expensive and they increased the price of the PS5. Any new games that they can argue are better on their console is good.
People still like the idea of Kojima rather than what Kojima puts out. Death Stranding felt like a tech demo and then following it up with Death Stranding 2 diminished him in the eyes of many. If his next game is great, then he is safe for now. If it's kind of bad, you'll see the Kojima haters start crawling out of the woodwork.
I think Insomniac is done after this. Didn't the leak reveal there's like a hard quota of sales they have to reach with Wolverine if they want to continue having access to Marvel properties? Something like 5 million in a certain timeframe?
I get they just hit 2 million, but I think it's going to sit there for a while. The hate train is going at full force for the game it feels like.
And at this point, I don't think Insomniac can just go back to Ratchet and Clank.
That sales goal also ignores a looming juggernaut in GTA 6 - we have a month and a half, but considering how most games have their sales begin to crater after the second week and word of mouth gets around? Even with the comically blatant bot campaign, I can only imagine what kind of jew-jitsu they're doing to fudge the numbers.
Also considering the last R&C game, honestly probably for the best...
Any day that ends with Schreier taking a L is a Good Day. I'd hope he's being roasted for just making shit up a la Blizzard, but he's probably got everyone who's ever said anyone negative blocked - hell he had me blocked and I never interacted with the thin skinned fuck.
The problem with Death Stranding and Death Stranding 2 is that they have as many cutscenes as MGS4 but the actual gameplay segments of MGS4 are fucking awesome and the non cutscene parts of DS and DS2 are lame and gay.
None of what you said is how businesses work. I won't go through it point by point because your overall correctness is zero. You have people in this forum who have started and run businesses, people who have reported to execs, people who have had to go over business cases, and more, telling you how businesses work, and all you keep doing is repeating that C-Suites at normal companies base funding decisions on "goodwill" and let contractors lose money out of moral obligation.
You can insist over and over that Sony execs should look at "goodwill" instead of money, that money shouldn't have strings attached if the guy spending is "beloved," and that equity ownership shouldn't play a deciding role, but what I am telling you is that no business works that way. None of them. not Sony, not Microsoft, not Activision, not Pepsico, not Caterpillar, not AMD, not Disney, not Trane, not Texas Instruments, etc. Nobody works the way you think they do. That's just reality. At any given business, equity ownership buys you a longer timeline than contract work. At any given business, people with a recent success have a much wider latitude to take risks than people with a recent failure. At any given business, "I need more money," is going to be met with, "then I need more control," and being Hideo Kojima, Creator of A Popular Game During The Clinton Administration does not change that.
It's not a Sony thing. Its' a business thing. You just keep coming back with, "Well, that's not how I think businesses work," and I am telling you, that's how they work. They make decisions mainly based on financials, and past financials dominate discussions, especially at Fortune 500 company.
No, Death Stranding 2 did not make a billion dollars. I will repeat, Tony Hsu got wide latitude on Concord because
a) Destiny made over $1b
b) He sold control to Sony
Kojima got a short leash on Physint because
a) Death Stranding 2 likely lost around $150m
b) He sold nothing to Sony
Have you ever in your life been involved in a business decision? Like even just at the level of having been in the room while people looked over financial statements.
None of what you said is how businesses work. I won't go through it point by point because your overall correctness is zero. You have people in this forum who have started and run businesses, people who have reported to execs, people who have had to go over business cases, and more, telling you how businesses work, and all you keep doing is repeating that C-Suites at normal companies base funding decisions on "goodwill" and let contractors lose money out of moral obligation.
In the entertainment industry, losing good will is detrimental. Here is an example: The first Mission: Impossible movie was good and successful. The second one was bad but was carried by the good will of the first and was even more successful but costed good will. The third movie was a failure despite acclaim because the previous movie sucked.
Entertainment companies should care for customer satisfaction.
At any given business, "I need more money," is going to be met with, "then I need more control," and being Hideo Kojima, Creator of A Popular Game During The Clinton Administration does not change that.
And if you are going to tell him to kick rocks, you better have his replacement ready. Yes, they kicked him out because he was not doing exactly what they wanted but beggars can't be choosers. Sony does not have exclusives people want. They wrote themselves into a corner by overspending on flops and the PS5 is becoming a worse deal by the day.
No, Death Stranding 2 did not make a billion dollars. I will repeat, Tony Hsu got wide latitude on Concord because
a) Destiny made over $1b
b) He sold control to Sony
It wasn't as good as selling the ownership but not as bad as having the biggest flop in a while to the point "Concord" has become a unit of measurement of time. Not as high, not as low.
Have you ever in your life been involved in a business decision? Like even just at the level of having been in the room while people looked over financial statements.
Only Kojima could get this goofy prestige/goodwill argument given to him by so many.
Imagine if people tried to say this shit about Todd Howard today? Oh man, Fallout 4 and Starfield blew chucks, but think of his pedigree? Skyrim sold like a bajillion!
Good will will only get you so far and Kojima burnt that ages ago with the fail and AIDS that was MGS2. Not to mention was long time asking to get fucked with no lube and should be thankful he didn't get fucked by an AIDS infected cum spewing cock.
No one gives a fucking shit about Kojima if he's not making Metal Gear. End of fucking story. Death Stranding was his chance to be an artist and auteur and he failed miserably. And no one wants a bootleg Metal Gear but not really with the non sexy Skarsgard brother, unless he can do it dirt fucking cheap and churn out a trilogy of games in four years in terms of quantity over quality.
The money they are burning on his abomination could just as well be funnelled into either buying Metal Gear outright from Konami or even just bribing them into remaking OG Metal Gear 1 while Hayter is still alive to voice Snake. Or make Metal Gear Solid 2: Damn fucking Straight We're decanonizing Konami's dog shit and giving you what you fucking wanted in the first place: Snake kicking ass taking names and no Raiden or Kojima's only underage girls must love my games, not teenage boys or young men! garbage that made MGS2 a franchise wrecking a front to God and Man
Prestige and a buck fifty will get you a hot dog and Coke at Costco.
For some reason, people don't grasp that corporate execs don't really participate in online gamer culture. Kojima is just a guy who ran a pretty successful IP for decades, then demonstrated he wasn't anything special and got too big for his britches. Look at someone else who had a ton of prestige, John Carmack. He got exactly one big pants-shitter, Rage, and now nobody wants anything to do with him. Yeah, yeah, he "left gaming because it wasn't interesting." If Rage had been finished, and on time, and massively successful, you really think he would have left?
Only Kojima could get this goofy prestige/goodwill argument given to him by so many.
Imagine if people tried to say this shit about Todd Howard today? Oh man, Fallout 4 and Starfield blew chucks, but think of his pedigree? Skyrim sold like a bajillion!
Sony has few studios that can match what he does. This is no praise to Kojima. Calling him one of their better devs is like calling him one of their tallest midgets.
Why can't people understand that you can be neutral to Kojima? He might have needed firing but Sony needs better devs to be hired before they start firing one of their guys with a fanbase.
Imagine if people tried to say this shit about Todd Howard today? Oh man, Fallout 4 and Starfield blew chucks, but think of his pedigree? Skyrim sold like a bajillion!
Because Todd Howard doesn't have pedigree. Every game of his was buggier than the last and everyone could tell that Bethesda was approaching complete unplayability with their games. There was this song that mocked him even.
No, but there are people that check for that. Not saying that I expect to get DMed by Hulst but I do expect people to notice that something is controversial or even hated about a game.
Look at someone else who had a ton of prestige, John Carmack. He got exactly one big pants-shitter, Rage, and now nobody wants anything to do with him. Yeah, yeah, he "left gaming because it wasn't interesting." If Rage had been finished, and on time, and massively successful, you really think he would have left?
76 alone was enough. Starfield was a post-mortem blow to his reputation. It was dead already. Never was a fan of his. This level of unapologetic "the fans will fix it" attitude goes to my nerves.
Only Kojima could get this goofy prestige/goodwill argument given to him by so many.
Imagine if people tried to say this shit about Todd Howard today? Oh man, Fallout 4 and Starfield blew chucks, but think of his pedigree? Skyrim sold like a bajillion!
Queen Asha straight up told Todd to stop fucking around and actually took the Fallout IP from them. And Bethesda actually makes money for MS.
Kojima ballwashers are fucking insane. MGS3 was 22 YEARS AGO
I gave up video games in general (including my PS5) a year ago. Been seriously contemplating getting another one just to play some older titles that I'd likely still enjoy and maybe a few new ones I'd pick up on sale later.
Seeing Sony being almost rabidly anti-consumer sure cured me of that. They might as well tell us "Fuck you, fuck good games, fuck your digital title ownership, fuck decent PS Plus pricing, and fuck affordable consoles. Because."
