Naughty dog co-founder Andy Gavin said the decision to sell the studio to Sony stemmed from “skyrocketing” development costs. In a candid post on LinkedIn, Gavin revealed that management was under immense budgetary pressure, which led them to make the decision to sell Naughty Dog and secure its future.
Naughty Dog was founded 40 years ago and sold to Sony in 2001.
Founded in 1984 as JAM Software, Inc., Naughty Dog operated for nearly two decades before rising development costs prompted its sale to Sony Computer Entertainment. In his note (THANKS, Gaming World Observer), Gavin stated that between 1999 and 2001, Jack and Daxter The budget had “exceeded the $15 million mark.”
“In 2004, the cost of AAA games like James 3 had climbed to $45-50 million – and it’s been going up ever since,” Gavin revealed. “In 2000, we were still self-funding every project, and the stress of independently financing these growing budgets was enormous. »
Gavin added that budgets continue to be a major issue in AAA development, and Naughty Dog isn’t the only studio that has resorted to a sale to get the funding it needs to develop the games it needs. he wanted to create.
“In hindsight, it was the right decision,” the note continued. “Since then, AAA games have become more and more expensive. Today’s big budget games can easily cost $300, $400, or even $500 million to develop.
Gavin left Naughty Dog in 2004 with co-founder Jason Rubin.