It’s hard not to imagine Naughty Dog as a studio that wasn’t tied under Sony. PlayStation consoles all saw some incredible title releases from the talented folks at Naughty Dog. But before the Sony PlayStation, the studio was independent. It wasn’t until in the early 2000s that we saw Naughty Dog sell themselves to Sony. Now, looking back all these years later, the co-founder of the studio chimes in on why exactly they opted to sell off the studio.
Andrew Gavin was one of the co-founders of Naughty Dog, and during their time there, they witnessed the amount of money it took to bring a AAA game into the marketplace. Recently, Andrew posted on their LinkedIn page, where they brought up a question they constantly get asked. Fans have always wondered why Naughty Dog sold, and it was simply due to the stress that came with keeping up the costs to develop and publish a game.
But back in 2000, we were still self-funding every project, and the stress of financing these ballooning budgets independently was enormous. It wasn’t just us. This was (and still is) a systemic issue in the AAA space. Developers almost never have the resources to fund their own games, which gives publishers enormous leverage.
Selling to Sony wasn’t just about securing a financial future for Naughty Dog. 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. AAA games have only gotten more expensive since then. Today’s big budget games can easily cost $300, $400, or even $500 million to develop.
Would we have been able to keep up? Maybe. But selling — to the right party — gave Naughty Dog the stability it needed to thrive — and to continue making the kinds of games we’d always dreamed of! – Andrew Gavin
The co-founder noted that in the early 1980s, developers could make a new AAA game for under $50,000, but that number continued to bloom. They witnessed costs go from under $50,000 to nearly $50 million by the time Jak 3 was released in 2004. So rather than dealing with publishers who would have enormous leverage to fund the games or worrying that one mistake could end the studio, they opted to sell and fall under Sony.
That move allowed Naughty Dog to secure a solid financial future. They could continue to make new AAA games without fearing the skyrocketing costs of funding a video game. Of course, since they made that move, we have seen several blockbuster releases come out, such as the Uncharted and The Last of Us series. Meanwhile, we know that their latest title release is coming out in the form of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which saw its initial announcement during The Game Awards 2024. So, it looks like they might have made the right move.
