Summary
- Naughty Dog co-founder Andrew Gavin has revealed the reason behind the studio’s acquisition by Sony was due to rising game development costs.
- Sony purchased Naughty Dog right after the release of Jak & Daxter, which apparently cost $15 million to make.
- Gavin says that the purchase secured a financial future for the studio, and stopped it from stressing over ballooning budgets.
When you think of the long list of talented studios under the PlayStation umbrella, chances are that Naughty Dog is the first that comes to mind. The Last of Us, Uncharted, and Crash Bandicoot are all PlayStation heritage, and Naughty Dog was behind all of them, making it pretty hard to imagine a time in the world in which the studio wasn’t owned by Sony.
That was the case once upon a time though, as Naughty Dog was completely independent before it was purchased by Sony in 2001. It had big titles like Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter under its belt by then, meaning it was a massively successful studio at the time, and it probably could have gotten away with remaining independent if it wanted to. There’s not much info out there on exactly why the purchase happened though.
Naughty Dog Co-Founder Reveals Reason Behind Sony’s Acquisition
Over the holidays, Naughty Dog co-founder Andrew Gavin took to LinkedIn (thanks Gameranx) to answer that particular question, revealing that it was primarily the ballooning cost of game development that forced the sale. Gavin explains that games only cost roughly $50,000 to make back in the 80s, but that number was rapidly increasing with each project, with Crash Bandicoot’s budget rising to a whopping $1.6 million.
Jak & Daxter then set Naughty Dog back $15 million, and it was then that Gavin admitted that “the stress of financing these ballooning budgets independently was enormous”, which then probably made Sony’s offer in 2001 extremely tempting. Gavin also thinks that the sale pretty much guaranteed that Naughty Dog would have a solid financial future, without having to worry about going bust over any massive mistakes.
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“Selling to Sony wasn’t just about securing a financial future for Naughty Dog,” says Gavin. “It was about giving the studio the resources to keep making the best games possible, without being crushed by the weight of skyrocketing costs and the paralyzing fear that one slip would ruin it all. Looking back, it was the right call.”
Of course, these days your studio can still go belly up even if you’re owned by a massive corporation like Sony – I’d actually go out on a limb and claim it’s more likely. However, Naughty Dog has got so much credit in the bank with Sony that any mistakes would likely be brushed under the rug, as we’ve seen with the cancelation of The Last of Us Factions 2. Here’s hoping that the recently announced Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophecy is a return to form.
Naughty Dog
Part of PlayStation Studios, Naughty Dog has a long history of creating great games for the platform, from Crash Bandicoot to Jak & Daxter. It is perhaps better known now for the smash hit series The Last Of Us and Uncharted, games that push the boundaries of great storytelling and action-packed set pieces.