People Can Fly has entered into an agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment on production of a game using Sony's IP, codenamed "Project Delta"
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yurinka
Member
I don't care who the head of the Japanese team is, he's just listed there like the head of the EU team is too.
And yes, multiple producers from EU did work on it, starting with the most important one, the executive producer I highlighted, plus the senior online producer (now working at Firesprite as Tech Production director), an associate producer (who also did work at the Until Dawn remake), in addition to the business planning manager of the project.
I have to overexplain it because you don't seem to know the basic things. As an example, XDEV doesn't only manage the production of 2nd party games / 1st party games with a lead dev team not owned by Sony.
They also manage/handle the production of the job made by internal support teams or external support teams for internally developed 1st party games, 2nd party games and even in some very rare case where Sony supports them, 3rd party games. Mostly gamedev support but also QA, localization, marketing, PR etc.
It isn't a product development department, it's the SIE and SIEA HQ, which also features game development support stuff including their XDEV team.
The SIE HQ is in 2207 Bridgepointe Pkwy, Foster City (San Mateo, California):
https://maps.app.goo.gl/1ai5joyJNJKqAScX6
The HQ sometimes it's called 'San Mateo Studio' because Foster City is in San Mateo County (in the San Francisco Bay Area): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster_City,_California
That HQ has three five-story building where in addition to do SIE HQ global stuff, SIEA HQ stuff (regional things for the Americas) they also do development related stuff:
- They are the home of XDEV American team once some of them were moved there from SSM many years ago
- Sometimes mentioned as SIE San Mateo Studio or Foster City Studio before that, always focused on producing/managing/supporting 2nd party games made by other teams, but sometimes also internally developed 1st party games from NA studios
- They were the home/office of the Pixel Opus incubation project
- They handle game/studio specific (and SIE-wide, in some things for the Americas) development support, sales & marketing, PR, finances, legal, IT, plus PS OS/PSN/PS+ stuff etc.
- It has 17 sound studios and a mix master room where they make sound effects for SIE games
- It has a Q&A area, a playtesting area, server rooms and a big conferences room
They weren't established in 2020, Sony had their American external development team since the PS1 (a team here in Foster City, other in SSM during the Journey and similar era), as you mentioned producing 2nd party games made by the back then not acquired Naughty Dog, Insomniac or Sucker Punch.Their main purpose is the produce games made by SIEA subsidiaries, like Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch and Insomniac. They also used to be the main producers of externally-developed games up until 2020 when XDEV America was established, but they continued to work on the external projects that started before this, hence them producing both Helldivers 2 and Firewall Ultra.
This is what the true XDEV America team looks like, from Concord's credits. None of these people worked on Helldivers 2 or Firewall Ultra:
And like, no fucking shit the XDEV social media account never posts about Helldivers 2. It's not their game.
Games way before XDEV America was established, read what I wrote above.
Click there in the names of John Sanders, David Thach, Dais Kawaguchi, Tyler Chan, Ernesto Corvi and you'll see them working in many 2nd party (plus internally developed 1st party mostly for support teams) games previous to 2020 like Predator Hunting Ground, Returnal, Déraciné, Shadow of the Beast, Murasaki Baby, Sports Champions, Detroit, Bravo Team, Hidden or the SotC/Demon's Souls/Medievil remakes.
Obviously not all these producers / product managers / etc. work in all the 2nd party games (outside people like their bosses Scott Rohde and Hermen). Each project only needs a few of them, and some of them got their position closer to recent releases or way before.
Their American team sometimes have been credited (more recently) as XDEV, but also as 'External Development', or 'Second Party team', or simply as SIE producers / project managers / product developers normally in the chunk dedicated for the SIE/SIEA HQ chunk or PS Studios chunk because it is what they mostly are.
They aren't like a separate studio with a XDEV America banner in the door of the building, they are just the people who manages the external production/development from America, in the same way there's another team doing the same in their Japanese HQ buillding (and during some years were part of Japan Studio, before they were merged with Japan Studio were separate).
She was in Business Development in the XDEV team of Japan Studio, later moved to Localization Producer in the XDEV team of SSM and later in 2019 moved to the Foster City SIE HQ XDEV team where she has been associate producer and producer.
So no, as shown her first project wasn't TLOU2R.
In Gran Turismo 7 and Death Stranding she didn't work as localization producer, she already was associate producer in the San Mateo SIE HQ:
As I said yes, Japan Studio supported in multiple Gran Turismo games. Developers, not producers.
XDEV normally does production/product management work of external teams, normally non Sony owned lead teams or support teams. But sometimes they directly provide support with their own coders or artists they have there.
When their Japanese external development team was inside Japan Studio, sometimes they supported Polyphony (team which started as a spinoff of what later was known as Japan Studio).
As an example, out of Japan studio artists who recently worked in Astro Bot or Astro's Playroom, minimum Kyoung Mo Sung, Noriyuki Katsumura, Seiichiro Kuroki did work in Gran Turismo 5 modelling cars or stage effects, in addition to other Japan Studio artists who are no longer there (in most cases their last credited game was TLG or Knack 2) like Yasusuke Ohnami, Tomohiro Ise, Aya Osaka.
Or same goes in GT Sport with Yuka Mafune, who helped modelling cars but also did work in Astro Bot and Playroom.
I'm lazy to search it know, but I remember similar cases of Japan Studio workers who did support GT4 or GT6.
Yes, it's the example to prove you wrong when you said that the EU team didn't really had a hand on Sterllar Blade
Yes, normally the XDEV of each region is the one who handles the projects of their region, even if they collaborate.
But in case of Helldivers 1 & 2 it was handled by the XDEV team from the SIEA HQ in Foster City instead of from their EU XDEV team from Liverpool.
Pretty likely because back then before Helldivers 1 was released in 2015 Jim Ryan still didn't have unified their external development teams globally to have a better coordination, and since the US team did the 1 also wanted to do the 2 having the same external development producer for both games (Eduardo Zamora, the other one left/was fired, maybe due to the 5 years long Helldivers 2 delay).
I assume that with the Jim Ryan change they wanted to avoid in the future these things and make sure the lead dev team and the xdev team are in the same region.
Because it is a mess, years ago I did work with our office in Spain (similar timezone than XDEV EU or Arrowhead) having the HQ in San Mateo (having Capcom USA as neighbors in the next door) and we were working while they were sleeping, and for the meetings with them we had to wait to start it until 6 or 7 in the afternoon, when some people in our office was supposed to go home 1 hour or 2 before that. We later got bought again and having the HQ in Paris, aligned with our timezone, it was way smoother: in my case I was able to chat with my boss without needing to wait until the next day to get a reply email or to make meetings late.
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I feel like being somewhat obligated to reply to your long ass posts. Well, here we go...
Once, once again, I'm not saying that XDEV Europe did not help on this one, but rather, that it was led by the Japanese studio.
Let's keep this simple enough; please explain why none of these games were ever posted by the official global XDEV account on Twitter, when they have posted about Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, Concord, Until Dawn, Death Stranding 2 and Saros.
www.gamedeveloper.com
In the past, three of SIEA's studios (San Mateo, Santa Monica and San Diego) that would produce games from external partners and even owned developers depending on where they were located; which explains why SMS was involved with PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale when Sony owned SuperBot, for example.
Around 2016-2017, Sony put an end to these groups in SMS and SDS, and only letting external development operations remain in San Mateo Studio.
It was in 2020, that they established a separate external development department that would go under the global XDEV Group. Product Development Department/San Mateo Studio would stop these operations for the most part, except for keeping to support prpjects that fully started before this time like Firewall Ultra and Helldivers 2. Concord was their first ever project (that they kept supporting even after Sony acquired Firewalk).
But if you keep insisting, I want you to come with solid proof that all of this was consolidated under something called -San Mateo Studio'.
And 2020 makes the most sense as both David Thach and John Sanders didn't become directors until that year, and it can't be the same team that supported previous externally-developed games, as once ONCE again, that same team worked on Helldivers 2 AT THE SAME TIME.
David Thach? Senior director at the localization department at SIEA from 2014 to 2020.
Dais Kawaguchi? Producer at the localization department at SIEA from 2009 to 2020.
Tyler Chan? Producer at the localization depsrtment at SIEA from 2015 to 2020.
Ernesto Corvi? Senior technical project managaer for, once again, localization at SIEA.
What do all of these people have in common? That they've been working at external development since 2020!
Arnaud Saint-Martin is credited on every XDEV Japan game, Nick Ryder is credited on every XDEV Europe game, yet David Thach could not even get credited on Helldivers 2? Why is it that XDEV never posted about HD2 on social media, then?
sonyinteractive.com
Her moving in October 2019, when DS1 was already done for, means that she purely worked on localization.
The biggest clue on GT7 is the fact that the credited 'Senior Producer' on the game is the same Senior Producer role for AMERICAN LOCALIZATION he held on every previous Gran Turismo game.
Also, Santa Monica Studio was not doing localization anymore by that time. That's a whole different department.
Helldivers 3 will 100% be handled by XDEV America.
Please answer why XDEV never posted about Helldivers 2.
Never argued against this.
Please understand what I'm telling you. Most of those are executives, management. Staff below these positions is what I meant with ""normal"" producers, and the only one from XDEV Europe found at this game was Lucy Jones, who was an associate producer at that.
Once, once again, I'm not saying that XDEV Europe did not help on this one, but rather, that it was led by the Japanese studio.
Which is ironic as you seem to get a ton of shit wrong.
Only in the case of Firesprite and Housemarque (with both being part of the XDEV Group). Specifically NOT with Naughty Dog, as it's part of the Product Development Group, like most of the rest of the studios. I will use Media Molecule as an example.
Funnily enough, while it can work as a general statement, it's not always like that. See: Firewall Ultra, Helldivers 2 and Lego Horizon Adventures.
Let's keep this simple enough; please explain why none of these games were ever posted by the official global XDEV account on Twitter, when they have posted about Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, Concord, Until Dawn, Death Stranding 2 and Saros.
Making shit up again, this has never happened. The SIE staff you happen to see credited in games like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth are part of the partners relations teams, nothing to do with XDEV.
Different departments, different departments, different division (lol).
Why would they call the HQs a 'studio'? It's just the product development department within these HQs. This is from Spider-Man 2018 (an externally-developed game). Both Connie Booth and Grady Hunt had those very same roles on internally-developed games like The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima and Spider-Man Miles Morales, all internally-developed games.
You know that there is a San Mateo city within the San Mateo county, right? SCEA used to be located in Foster City, until they moved their HQs in 2013 to the city of San Mateo, both part of San Mateo County.The SIE HQ is in 2207 Bridgepointe Pkwy, Foster City (San Mateo, California):
https://maps.app.goo.gl/1ai5joyJNJKqAScX6
The HQ sometimes it's called 'San Mateo Studio' because Foster City is in San Mateo County (in the San Francisco Bay Area): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster_City,_California
Sony Headquarters Moving To New San Mateo Office
SCEA announced today that it has signed a long-term lease for a new office in San Mateo, California, which will serve as the company's new headquarters for the foreseeable future.
Absolutely no relation with each other. The current XDEV America people were never part of that branch.
In the past, three of SIEA's studios (San Mateo, Santa Monica and San Diego) that would produce games from external partners and even owned developers depending on where they were located; which explains why SMS was involved with PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale when Sony owned SuperBot, for example.
Around 2016-2017, Sony put an end to these groups in SMS and SDS, and only letting external development operations remain in San Mateo Studio.
It was in 2020, that they established a separate external development department that would go under the global XDEV Group. Product Development Department/San Mateo Studio would stop these operations for the most part, except for keeping to support prpjects that fully started before this time like Firewall Ultra and Helldivers 2. Concord was their first ever project (that they kept supporting even after Sony acquired Firewalk).
Not sometimes, they always did that, and still do to this day (except for games made by other internal departments like Santa Monica Studio).
San Mateo Studio definitely never handled any of those things outside of development support and IT.
All different departments, once again.
But if you keep insisting, I want you to come with solid proof that all of this was consolidated under something called -San Mateo Studio'.
Since the PS1? Please let's keep it in the last 7 years or so, because it's clear that you will have even less idea before that. Just because they had several external development teams all across the years doesn't mean that they're somehow related to the current one.
And 2020 makes the most sense as both David Thach and John Sanders didn't become directors until that year, and it can't be the same team that supported previous externally-developed games, as once ONCE again, that same team worked on Helldivers 2 AT THE SAME TIME.
See? This is why you absolutely suck at doing the most basic of research. These people were credited on all these games? Yes, but not for the roles you think.
David Thach? Senior director at the localization department at SIEA from 2014 to 2020.
Dais Kawaguchi? Producer at the localization department at SIEA from 2009 to 2020.
Tyler Chan? Producer at the localization depsrtment at SIEA from 2015 to 2020.
Ernesto Corvi? Senior technical project managaer for, once again, localization at SIEA.
What do all of these people have in common? That they've been working at external development since 2020!
Oh no, you're pretty wrong there. Normal producers don't need to work on every game, yes, but management IS definitely credited on every project.
Arnaud Saint-Martin is credited on every XDEV Japan game, Nick Ryder is credited on every XDEV Europe game, yet David Thach could not even get credited on Helldivers 2? Why is it that XDEV never posted about HD2 on social media, then?
How can you not even realize that she is credited on Puppeteer in your own pic from the other post? And Business Development was never part of External Development, lol. Notice how they are totally different departments.She was in Business Development in the XDEV team of Japan Studio, later moved to Localization Producer in the XDEV team of SSM and later in 2019 moved to the Foster City SIE HQ XDEV team where she has been associate producer and producer.
So no, as shown her first project wasn't TLOU2R.
In Gran Turismo 7 and Death Stranding she didn't work as localization producer, she already was associate producer in the San Mateo SIE HQ:
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sonyinteractive.com
The biggest clue on GT7 is the fact that the credited 'Senior Producer' on the game is the same Senior Producer role for AMERICAN LOCALIZATION he held on every previous Gran Turismo game.
Also, Santa Monica Studio was not doing localization anymore by that time. That's a whole different department.
I'm exclusively talking about production.
Cool, where are the producers?
It never happened, not for any Gran Turismo game since 2.
How so when it's about Rise of the Ronin? You haven't proved anything.
Helldivers 2 started production in February 2016, which means that it was handled ny the exact same team as HD1. By 2020, it was too late to change the project over to XDEV America, so they just kept going.
Helldivers 3 will 100% be handled by XDEV America.
Please answer why XDEV never posted about Helldivers 2.
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yurinka
Member
I shown you the receipts that almost half of the XDEV people who worked on it are from the EU team but you can't accept it with weird twists and excuses like saying that they don't count because doesn't have certain rank, as if executive producers and associate producers wouldn't do anything. This is what you're telling to me.
No.
Firesprite, Housemarque or Media Molecule aren't part of XDEV. The EU XDEV team has their own office in Liverpool, unrelated to Firesprite, Housemarque or MM. They originally were inside SCEE Liverpool Studio until they branched out, as later did the XDEV SSM team when merged with the Foster City/San Mateo one to become their US team in their SCEA/SIEA HQ building, and as later the JP team branched out from Japan Studio to become again an standalone team with their own separate office even if still continuing inside their JP HQ building.Only in the case of Firesprite and Housemarque (with both being part of the XDEV Group). Specifically NOT with Naughty Dog, as it's part of the Product Development Group, like most of the rest of the studios. I will use Media Molecule as an example.
When they all 3 (Firesprite, Housemarque and MM) weren't owned by Sony and were external teams, the XDEV EU team, who was the first one to use the XDEV brand instead of mentioning 'External Development' or 'Second Party Team' when weren't simply listed as production staff of their regional HQ, was the one handling them as happened with all 2nd party games.
Same goes when working for Quantic Dream, Until Dawn or for when asked people like Sumo, Tarsier or Double Eleven to work on LBP etc. All these projects were managed by XDEV EU.
Both when owned or not, XDEV also provides support from internal or external teams to the different 1st (which includes 2nd) games. The type of support varies depending on the project, ranging from basic stuff like marketing, PR, CM, localization etc. to the typical development support when they need some extra coders or artists.
Product development is just a role or department that all games have.
As explained above, their external development group provides their 1st/2nd party (and in rare cases 3rd) all the kind of support they may need. One of them -at least for the EU team- is CM / social media.
Depending on the game/team, they decide that the PS/studio/brand/game account will be enough, sometimes they ask for support from XDEV, who sometimes uses their XDEV account or sometimes XDEVs handles the game/brand accounts.
Regarding Helldivers 2 they already had a community and had a very strong internal CM team who did a great job both from their own accounts and also via guerrilla viral marketing on Reddit or Twitter and securing a very strong streamer and youtuber support. So I assume they didn't need extra XDEV support in this area or decided to spent that part of budget on getting a bit more gamedev delay.
Regarding Firewall, I have no idea. Maybe being a PSVR game they promote them in other way. Regarding Lego, maybe what Sony signed with Lego that they were going to focus CM on the PS and Lego accounts or something like.
I don't know, they don't do the same for all their projects. Depends on each game/team.
Sure, Jan. As a few examples more, why SIE appears listed as subcontractor in Forspoken, or why SIE's localization team was the one who localized Kena?
Yes, XDEV (or most producers in general that aren't producers of only department of a game) doesn't only manage a single department or division. When they manage a 2nd party game they manage the entire project, its budget and all the departments and divisions that will apply for that project.
And when they only provide help for a specific thing for an internal or external project they only do that. As could be to find and manage an external porting team to port USFIV to PS4 and publish it, or to support Kena by making their localization, or to find and manage some additional art support team(s) for an internally developed 1st party team etc.
With that, I don't mean things like that the external development team localize the game themselves. They act as communication between SIE/PS Studios management, Kena devs and SIE's localization team, set the budget and roadmap, double check that milestones are set, then do the same with the localization QA, etc. They have a few internal engineers, artists etc but normally they normally what do is to manage the work of other support teams.
In some cases, some of the people who does these services also happen to be in the same office even if they belong to a different team, while in other don't. As an example, Sony's American FPQA team is in the SIEA HQ, like their US XDEV team, but this doesn't mean they are part of it. Not sure it continues being the case, but decades ago Sony also had a FPQA team in their Liverpool office, where Liverpool Studio & XDEV were, but that didn't mean FPQA are part of XDEV.
I think you may know who people like Connie Booth or Mark Cerny are and that they don't only work in that specific development team and that they work for most if not all 1st and 2nd party stuff, they do/did 'HQ' work.Why would they call the HQs a 'studio'? It's just the product development department within these HQs. This is from Spider-Man 2018 (an externally-developed game). Both Connie Booth and Grady Hunt had those very same roles on internally-developed games like The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima and Spider-Man Miles Morales, all internally-developed games.
I assume they did choose San Mateo Studio (and Foster City Studio before that) because they also had many other teams using the name of where they were, like Liverpool Studio, San Diego Studio, London Studio or Santa Monica Studio.
As an example, Ubisoft in my city has two Ubisoft Barcelona studios (even if one wasn't in the city itself but in its metropolitan area), and in Paris they had up to 5 different studios and their HQ, all called Ubisoft Paris. Some of them in the new HQ building and other ones in their old HQ building. And both buildings aren't strictly in the Paris city, but in its Metropolitan area, in a city that is next to it.
Some companies decide to use the name of the city following some name convention for when they don't have a specific name for the studio.
Yes, the San Mateo city is next to Foster City. Both SIEA/SCEA HQs, the new and the old are basically in the border between both cities. These two office locations are like 5 minutes away from each other.You know that there is a San Mateo city within the San Mateo county, right? SCEA used to be located in Foster City, until they moved their HQs in 2013 to the city of San Mateo, both part of San Mateo County.
Sony Headquarters Moving To New San Mateo Office
SCEA announced today that it has signed a long-term lease for a new office in San Mateo, California, which will serve as the company's new headquarters for the foreseeable future.
When they moved in 2013 their SCEA HQ they obviously also moved the external development team they had inside to the new campus. A handful years later SCE merged with SNEI creating SIE, turning that new campus as the global SIE HQ.
Their "external development"/"XDEV"/"second party" team from Foster City Studio / San Mateo Studio always have been part of the SCEA/SIEA HQ staff, since the PS1 days. They never -this includes now- have been a separate entity or have been in a separate office. They never had a separate subsidiary company or their own office separated from the SCEA/SIEA HQ.
Some time ago, as you mention, some teams like SSM, Liverpool Studio or Japan Studio handled 2nd party stuff themselves, basically games made by external teams from their region. In the case of SSM they handled games like the RaD titles (GoW PSP, The Order), the ThatGameCompany titles or many other less known ones -but still great- like Sound Shapes or Hohokum.
Out of the three regions, the most successful ones with 2nd party games were the Liverpool team, which got branched out from SCE Liverpool getting their own separate office and team and later mostly centralized (even if there were still a few exceptions) their EU 2nd party team work and keeping SCE Liverpool focused on internal developed games only.
So Sony followed that strategy for the other studios. First removed the 2nd party management stuff in NA from SSM to keep SSM focused only in internally developed games only, leaving the NA 2nd party management stuff only for the HQ/San Mateo team, who would centralize it for NA similarly to how XDev did did for EU.
San Diego is different, because they have there a big team of Creative Arts team: a big team dedicated to instead of managing 2nd party games, the support work itself with many artists or animators who do support stuff for a lot of both internally developed 1st party games and 2nd party games.
Later did the same in Japan, they moved the Japan Studio external development team to become formally again a separate team as originally was, even both Japan Studio (now Team Asobi) and their external development team continue in the same Japanese HQ building but in different, separate offices. The idea with that move was also to help their Japanese XDEV team grow in a new office, because they were starting to manage not only Japanese 2nd party games, but also games from the rest of Asia.
It was in 2021, when they made that restructuring in the Japanese office, when their Japanese external development team started to report to XDEV instead of to the related local internal development team, and when XDEV started to work as a global coordinated team, working together and helping each other even if each regional team normally is in charge of their 2nd party stuff (there's the Helldivers exception that is a remnant of the past since the sequel started back in 2016 and continued the work made in Helldivers 1).
But again, like in EU and JP, their Foster City/San Mateo NA HQ have been managing 2nd party games since the PS1 days. They handled the production, product development, marketing, publishing etc. of games like the early (originally they were 2nd party games, Sony did acquire their lead dev studios time later) Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Syphon Filter, Ratchet, Sly Racoon, Ratchet, etc.
Back then in these early days they had a smaller team in their American HQ, they didn't have dedicated people there for external development stuff. Back then the people who handled their 2nd party games were basically the same who handled the internally developed games. As they kept growing over time they created more specialized positions, which in case of production/product development/marketing etc. meant some people focused on external development.
Yes, they also produced internally developed games developed in other internal studios since the PS1 days. In a few cases (a Jet Li game and the Pixel Opus games) they even developed in that SCEA/SIEA HQ their own games.
I said sometimes because in most games they don't appear in the creadits listed as Foster City Studio or as San Mateo Studio, but instead just as SCE/SIE/SCEA/SIEA staff.
San Mateo Studio (or Foster City before it) is just one of the informal names they had for their SIE global HQ/SIEA HQ/SCEA HQ office. This is why they are normally just credited as SCEA or SIEA, specially in the early days, before they started to specialize people into a '2nd party team' or 'external development' or rebranded it as 'XDEV'.
If you search any subsidiary company with San Mateo Studio or Foster City Studio names you'll find out that never existed. Unless I missed somethign, you won't find San Mateo Studio or Foster City Studio in game credits either. If you search the San Mateo Studio or Foster City Studio address you'll find out it was the same one of the old and new SCEA/SIEA HQ. They never have been a separate thing of their American HQ.
And obviously in their American or global HQ they do many things other than (in this case) to produce 2nd party or internally developed 1st party games. The ones I listed are some of them.
As I explained before they have been handling production of 2nd party games / external development from that Foster City / San Mateo office (their American HQ) since the PS1 days, I listed just a few examples.
They didn't start doing it a few years ago, they always did that. You can check the game credits of their 2nd party NA games and you'll notice that since the PS1 days until now their Sony production/product development/marketing folks are from there (outside the SSM cases).
You can go to their personal LinkedIn for these people who worked in these PS1-PS5 games and you'll see they list to work during that period at SCE/ SCEA / SIE / SIEA / PlayStation (not San Mateo Studio, not Foster City Studio, not XDEV), and listing as location Foster City or San Mateo.
These two guys mentioning "External Development" or XDEV in their LinkedIn profile doesn't mean that their San Mateo / Foster City team did start to do this job there or that they did become a separate new team.
As an example, that John Sanders (who since November is in Ember Labs btw) has listed before his "Director, Product Development, External Development (XDEV) at PlayStation Studios (Director of product development with external partners for PlayStation Studios)" position another one that indicates they were doing the same there "Executive Producer, Global 2nd Party Games at San Mateo (Production oversight and business development for SIE/PlayStation Published titles with external developers)".
Some people may list name differently their studio, team or job position but they always managed 2nd party games from there. Some day started to specialize people in 2nd party, or external development, later at some point made a regional related team in US and Japan, and later in US and Japan started to call it more formally XDEV until finally all 3 NA, EU and JP teams joined into a global group.
Names may change, some people may move to other departments or companies, some join or leave, but their San Mateo / Foster City HQ office had since the 90s people publishing externally developed games handling their production, product management, publishing etc from the Sony side and finding (and managing/producing) them support of other teams on areas where needed.
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yurinka
Member
You're the one who "suck at doing the most basic of research" or are simply lying.
Localization is one of the many different departments managed, budgeted, overviewed etc by producers of a game, in this case XDEV for externally developed games or first/2nd party games where they do provide external support.
"What do all of these people have in common?" That none of them worked in any localization department and all of them were already working in external development since way before 2020, some of them from the SIEA HQ and other ones (before moving to the HQ) from SSM.
According to their personal LinkedIn
- David Thach 2014-2020: "Senior Director, International Software Development & Special Operations, WWS America" (nothing specific to localizaiton)
- Dais Kawaguchi 2015-2020 "Producer, International Software Development" (nothing specific to localization)
- Tyler Chan 2019-2020 "Associate Producer, International Software Development & Special Operations" And adds "Responsible for game production and publishing support for PlayStation platforms. This includes coordinating cross-functional teams and resources to bring first party games to market on PlayStation 5, with past experience on PlayStation 4 and PSVR. My day-to-day involves managing collaboration with diverse disciplines such as development, marketing, legal, localization, PR, QA, user testing, and international counterparts to ultimately facilitate successful project execution. Projects included: Demon's Souls Remake, MediEvil, Returnal, PSVR Demo Disc 2, Bonus Content applications for many first and third-party titles." (nothing specific to localization, it's just of many things they handle).
- Ernesto Corvi: can't find his LinkedIn
- David Thach (nothing related to localization)
- Concord: Senior Director under SIE: External Development
- Stellar Blade: Spècial thanks under SIE PS Studios, XDEV: Production Support
- Many internally developed 1st party or 2nd party games more: Senior Director under International Software Development & Special Operations
- Many 1st/2nd party games more: Director, International Software Development under WWS America or SIE WWS America
- Dais Kawaguchi: (only Demon's Souls mentions something about localization)
- Concord: Producer under SIE: External Development
- Stellar Blade: Special Thanks under SIE PS Studios, XDEV: Production Support
- Returnal: "Producer, XDev" under SIE: XDev
- Astro's Playroom: Producer, External Development under External Development
- Demon's Souls: Producer, under SIE WWS: Localization - International Software Development & Special Operations
- Inmortal Legacy: Producer, under WWS America - International Software Development & Special Operations
- Déraciné, SotC remake, : Producer under SIE, WWS: International Software Development & Special Operations
- TLG, Bloodborne, Rain: Producer under WWS America or SCEA: WWS America
- Tokyo Jungle: Assistant Producer under SCEA Santa Monica Studios
- Gran Turismo PSP, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue: special thanks under SCEA - Santa Monica Studios
- Tyler Chan (only Demon's Souls mentions something about localization)
- Stellar Blade: special thanks under SIE PS Studios, XDEV: Production Support
- Concord: Associate Producer under Sony Interactive Entertainment: External Development
- Astro's Playroom: "Associate Producer, External Development" under External Development
- Demon's Souls: Associate Producer under SIE WWS: Localization - International Software Development & Special Operations America
- Medievil: Associate Producer under SIE WWS America, International Software Development & Special Operations America
- Erica: Associate Producer under SIE, International Software Development & Special Operations
- Blood & Truth: Associate Producer under International Software Development & Special Operations
- Inmortal Legacy: Assistant Producer under Worldwide Studios America: International Software Development & Special Operations
- Déraciné: Assistant Producer under SIE WWS: International Software Development & Special Operations
- SotC remake: Assistant Producer under SIEA: International Software Development & Special Operations
- Ernesto Corvi (nothing related to localization):
- Concord: Senior Staff Technical Project Manager under SIE: External Development
- Kena: Additional Engineering (in the middle of mostly Ember Lab game staff, not any specific Sony team)
- Medievil remake: Senior Technical Project Managers under SIE, WWS America: International Software Development & Special Operations America
- Iron Man VR: as 'Camouflaj would like to thank'
No, I'm not wrong. You're wrong: management sometimes is credited, sometimes isn't. As an example, Arnaud Saint-Martin isn't credited in every XDEV Japan game he worked on.
He was hired in September 2020 while the XDEV Japanese team was still inside Japan Studio, so he was there when they worked in Death Stranding Director's Cut (released in 2021 on PS5) and its PC port (released 2022 in PC) but he isn't credited under any role there, even if many Sony people is credited under XDEV or under Japan Studio:
Game credits of Death Stranding Director's Cut:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/1727...ectors-cut/credits/windows/?autoplatform=true
And well, if something, the main difference that separates the US team from the EU & JP one is that the EU & JP teams have their own office.
In Puppeteer she is credited as "Business Management Dept.", yes. I said "Business Development", which is how she was credited in Rain and is basically the same, because it's what they'd do in a business management department:How can you not even realize that she is credited on Puppeteerin your own pic from the other post? And Business Development was never part of External Development, lol. Notice how they are totally different departments.
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To manage (a.k.a. develop) a business, in this case to handle/publish/produce/develop a videogame.
Meaning, if Japan Studio had at some point a 'internal development department', 'external development department' and 'business development department', in the first team there were the devs who worked in internally developed games like Puppeteer, in the external development department would work the devs who worked in externally developed games as would be Bloodborne and in the business development would work product developers, producers, marketing, etc.
So in that business development department, as she was credited in Pupppeteer is where people like the producers, product developers etc would be.
This is how she is credited in the games (Japan period):
- Rain: Business Development under SCEI (Sony Computer Entertainment Japan)
- Puppeteer: Business Management Dept. under SCE Japan Asia
This is how she is credited in the games for her SSM period:
- Bloodborne: Assistant Producer under SCEA: WWS America
- The Tomorrow Children: Assistant Producer under SIEA: WWS America
- Death Stranding: Associate Producer under "SIE WWS America, Product Development"
This is how is credited in her Foster City period:
- Death Stranding Director's Cut: Associate Producer under SIE WWS America, Product Development
- Gran Turismo 7: Associate Producer under SIE, PS Studios
- TLOU2R: Producer under SIE, PS Studios
- Helldivers 2: Producer under SIE, PS Studios
True, what SSM had was an internal development team doing GoW games and an XDEV team where she worked as Assistant/Associate Producer.
Assistant/Associate is an entry/low level rank for producer. Pretty likely this is the reason of why in her SSM period instead of managing entire games she was limited to make the production tasks related to localization.
As she explains, as Associate Localization Producer she wasn't the localizator who translates the games. The localization team pretty likely was in a distant city.
Later in 2019 when she moved to the SIE HQ is when she started to producer of whole projects.
Ok. I was talking about XDEV, who do many things more.
Some examples:
- GT7: under 'Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Studios'
- GT Sport: under WWS America / International Software Development & Special Operations, or under WWS Europe - International Software Development
- GT6 under WWS America
- GT4 under Sony Computer Entertainment America Production
Sure Jan, the people I posted in this post and in the previous reply plus more that there may be there never existed.
The game credits lists under its XDEV team these people from the XDev EU team:
- Executive Producer: Jason Paul Stewart
- Senior Director: Tim Preece
- Business Planning Manager: Nick Ryder
- PA and Team Assistant: Laura Darley
- Associate Producer: Lucy Jones
- Senior Online Producer: Jean-Paul Roberts
- Executive Assistant: Maria Ledson
- Special Thanks: Alessandro Gaudiosi, Neil Johnson, Charlie Newport, Dave Bickley, Mark O'Connor, Shaun Rees
As I mentioned before I don't know why XDEV social media accounts didn't post about Helldivers 2, they don't post about many of the projects they worked on. CM is one of the areas where XDEV can (or not) support the projects where they work. In the past they also handled the CM of internally developed games or corporate accounts.
Helldivers 2 is a GaaS, and CM is very important for these type of projects and to have it very close to the devs to speed up communication in both sides, so they did put a strong CM team inside Arrowhead that is doing a great job with their social media accounts, Reddit, Discord or securing support from streamers and youtubers. Pretty likely they did put their CM money inside Arrowhead instead of keeping a part of it for the XDEV account.
Another possibility is that since the game had a 5 years long delay, maybe originally was under XDev EU, and due to the big delay some XDev people in charge of it got fired, probably some boss like Scott or Hermen got mad with XDev and decided to don't include the XDev brand in Helldivers 2 and to bring it to NA where they did handle HD1.
Another possibility is that since HD1 was handled by the American external development team (rare exception where a game isn't handled by the XDEV team of their region), they got happy with HD1 so decided to work on it from there in the sequel too. And HD2 started in 2015/2016, when the Foster City external development team of the American HQ still didn't use the XDEV branding name, so kept it like that.
Last edited:
TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
A new Live Service Socom game?
Gaf would collectively shit the bed... but you know, it could be sick AF.
GreatnessRD
Member
onnextflix5
Member
Killzone gass game no doubt, can’t think of any other PlayStation ip that would suit them.
Probably SOCOM is also possible but if I have to absorb any more SEAL media I’m going to lose my mind.
I'm tired, boss.
How do I know that you can't read? Because I never stated that Media Molecule was part of the XDEV Group, and I actually posted a pic showing that they were part of the Product Development Group.
Using Killzone (November 2004) and Wipeout Pure (March 2005) as examples, we can see that these projects have zero overlap in studio leadership. Michael Denny (NOT credited on Wipeout Pure) was the VP of External Development at the time, while Clemens Wangerin (NOT credited on Killzone) was the studio manager of Studio Liverpool at the time. No overlap.
<these are divisions>
April 1, 2020:
April 1, 2021:
Since you need my help to figure these things out, notice how this External Development Department was established to one division in April 2020, only for it to then be transferred to another one in April 2021? This was the exact time Sony changed the WWS structure to PSS (and we can know this from the fact that, Returnal, which went gold in March 2021, still listed WWS in the credits, while Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, the first game to go gold after April 2021, was also the first one that listed PSS in the credits).
Coming back to Japan, remember, these organizational changes only applied to the Japanese company located in Tokyo. They do NOT applied globally.
How do I know this? Simple! They specifically list Sony Interactive Entertainment Kabushiki-gaisha (株式会社ソニー・インタラクティブエンタテインメント) registered in Tokyo, which goes by the English name of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.:
sonyinteractive.com
I would tell you to fuck off, but I actually want you to ask the XDEV account on Twitter if they had a hand on any of these games. That, or show me about the XDEV Europe producers that worked on Lego Horizon, just like you tried with Ronin.
SIE handled Asian localization for Kena, yes, please explain where are the XDEV heads like Arnaud Saint-Martin or Jason Paul Stewart here:
XDEV also only coordinates with the people that work on THEIR projects. They aren't out there managing the localization or QA of stuff like Intergalactic. Be fucking real now.
The Asian localization of Kena quite literally doesn't need XDEV, and it didn't. LOCALIZATION DEPARTMENTS CAN WORK ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT XDEV.
Looking at the organization at PSS Japan, again notice how Team Asobi is part of the Product Development Group, External Development in part of the XDEV Group, and QA is part of the Product Development Tools & Services Group.
XDEV doesn't have the power within SIE that you believe they do.
Connie Booth, though? Head of Internal Production for SIEA subsidiaries (previously head of San Mateo Studio until late 2020), credited on...
Marvel's Spider-Man 2, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Insomniac Games)
The Last of Us: Part I, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Naughty Dog)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Insomniac Games)
Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Insomniac Games)
Ghost of Tsushima, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Sucker Punch Productions)
The Last of Us Part II, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Naughty Dog)
Marvel's Spider-Man, a game developed by an external developer in America (Insomniac Games)
Firewall: Zero Hour, a game developed by an external developer in America (First Contact Entertainment)
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Naughty Dog)
Farpoint, a game developed by an external developer in America (Impulse Gear)
Don't you see the pattern here? No Horizon Forbidden West, no Gran Turismo 7. Only these games.
Grady Hunt, current head of San Mateo Studio, credited on...
Marvel's Spider-Man 2, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Insomniac Games)
The Last of Us: Part I, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Naughty Dog)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Insomniac Games)
Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Insomniac Games)
Ghost of Tsushima, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Sucker Punch Productions)
The Last of Us Part II, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Naughty Dog)
Marvel's Spider-Man, a game developed by an external developer in America (Insomniac Games)
Firewall: Zero Hour, a game developed by an external developer in America (First Contact Entertainment)
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Naughty Dog)
Farpoint, a game developed by an external developer in America (Impulse Gear)
the exact same list as above (!)
San Diego Studio did have a external development group like SSM. Their last project was Starblood Arena in April 2017, 6 months later after SSM's last external project.
September 1, 2011:
April 1, 2016:
I'm convinced at this point that you just can't read.
Yep, the following mess of words below proves me right.
Right, you can't read. Because I'm not a cunt, I will explain it to you, slowly, once again. Sony has these separate groups, Product Development and XDEV. These groups aren't necessarily located anywhere, and they just encompass distint units globally. The XDEV Group, beyond encompassing the three different External Development Departments across California, Liverpool and Tokyo. As it's shown in official hirings by Sony, both Firesprite and Housemarque fall under this XDEV Group. What does this mean? That Firesprite (as we can see from the credits in Horizon Call of the Mountain, pic related), and Housemarque (as seen on Saros, tweet related) have their games produced by the External Development Department located in Liverpool.
How do I know that you can't read? Because I never stated that Media Molecule was part of the XDEV Group, and I actually posted a pic showing that they were part of the Product Development Group.
Debunked. Both XDEV Europe and Liverpool Studio were located in Liverpool, yes, but they were totally different departments.
Using Killzone (November 2004) and Wipeout Pure (March 2005) as examples, we can see that these projects have zero overlap in studio leadership. Michael Denny (NOT credited on Wipeout Pure) was the VP of External Development at the time, while Clemens Wangerin (NOT credited on Killzone) was the studio manager of Studio Liverpool at the time. No overlap.
Fanfiction, the external development group at SSM had already stopped being a thing ever since they released their last project in October 2016 (Here They Lie). The current XDEV America is also located in Santa Monica, but it never shipped a single game until August 2024 (Concord). Zero correlation.
Those changes already happened before WWS Japan became the current Japanese PlayStation Studios:
<these are divisions>
- these are departments
April 1, 2020:
April 1, 2021:
Since you need my help to figure these things out, notice how this External Development Department was established to one division in April 2020, only for it to then be transferred to another one in April 2021? This was the exact time Sony changed the WWS structure to PSS (and we can know this from the fact that, Returnal, which went gold in March 2021, still listed WWS in the credits, while Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, the first game to go gold after April 2021, was also the first one that listed PSS in the credits).
Coming back to Japan, remember, these organizational changes only applied to the Japanese company located in Tokyo. They do NOT applied globally.
How do I know this? Simple! They specifically list Sony Interactive Entertainment Kabushiki-gaisha (株式会社ソニー・インタラクティブエンタテインメント) registered in Tokyo, which goes by the English name of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.:
Well, most of that is true, but as I already showed, Housemarque and Firesprite both keep having their games produced by XDEV Europe. To add to all of that, this is what Sony had to say when it acquired Housemarque back in 2021
Sony Interactive Entertainment Acquires Housemarque, Developer of Recent PlayStation®5 Hit Returnal
SAN MATEO, Calif., June 29, 2021 – Sony Interactive Entertainment (“SIE”) announced today that SIE has completed the acquisition of Housemarque Oy (“Housemarque”), a leading game developer and long-time partner of SIE. Recognized for its extensive experience in the arcade-shooter genre as well...
sonyinteractive.com
Yet you keep NOT proving any of the stuff you're saying.
Nope, it's a general group as I already explanied above. Neither Housemarque nor Firesprite fall under this Product Development Group. Please learn to read.
I love how you go ALL in the fanfic shit when you just can't explain why neither Helldivers 2, Firewall Ultra and Lego Horizon Adventures were promoted by XDEV. "Strong internal CM team", "Sony signed with Lego".
I would tell you to fuck off, but I actually want you to ask the XDEV account on Twitter if they had a hand on any of these games. That, or show me about the XDEV Europe producers that worked on Lego Horizon, just like you tried with Ronin.
Are you for real? How does this prove that XDEV is behind it? Oh wait, I know, because you keep insisting on your retarded belief that XDEV is the one that does localization, while refusing to prove it in any way.
You literally answered yourself. IT'S THE FUCKING LOCALIZATION TEAM.
SIE handled Asian localization for Kena, yes, please explain where are the XDEV heads like Arnaud Saint-Martin or Jason Paul Stewart here:
No, you're getting it wrong. You can't have a single department manage another one, what these XDEV producers do is coordinate with these different departments in the realization of a project. That doesn't mean that fucking Hui-An Yang, a Chinese localization manager at the International Production & Localization department in Japan works at XDEV.
XDEV also only coordinates with the people that work on THEIR projects. They aren't out there managing the localization or QA of stuff like Intergalactic. Be fucking real now.
Holy fanfic! Give me the receipts.
The Asian localization of Kena quite literally doesn't need XDEV, and it didn't. LOCALIZATION DEPARTMENTS CAN WORK ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT XDEV.
Looking at the organization at PSS Japan, again notice how Team Asobi is part of the Product Development Group, External Development in part of the XDEV Group, and QA is part of the Product Development Tools & Services Group.
XDEV doesn't have the power within SIE that you believe they do.
You're starting to get it (I wish...). BTW, this is like, in the absolute most cases.
Mark Cerny doesn't work at SIE, not a factor there, and I didn't even mention him.
Connie Booth, though? Head of Internal Production for SIEA subsidiaries (previously head of San Mateo Studio until late 2020), credited on...
Marvel's Spider-Man 2, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Insomniac Games)
The Last of Us: Part I, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Naughty Dog)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Insomniac Games)
Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Insomniac Games)
Ghost of Tsushima, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Sucker Punch Productions)
The Last of Us Part II, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Naughty Dog)
Marvel's Spider-Man, a game developed by an external developer in America (Insomniac Games)
Firewall: Zero Hour, a game developed by an external developer in America (First Contact Entertainment)
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Naughty Dog)
Farpoint, a game developed by an external developer in America (Impulse Gear)
Don't you see the pattern here? No Horizon Forbidden West, no Gran Turismo 7. Only these games.
Grady Hunt, current head of San Mateo Studio, credited on...
Marvel's Spider-Man 2, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Insomniac Games)
The Last of Us: Part I, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Naughty Dog)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Insomniac Games)
Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Insomniac Games)
Ghost of Tsushima, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Sucker Punch Productions)
The Last of Us Part II, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Naughty Dog)
Marvel's Spider-Man, a game developed by an external developer in America (Insomniac Games)
Firewall: Zero Hour, a game developed by an external developer in America (First Contact Entertainment)
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, a game developed by a SIEA subsidiary (Naughty Dog)
Farpoint, a game developed by an external developer in America (Impulse Gear)
the exact same list as above (!)
Okay, that's not what you said, though. You said that San Mateo Studio was the entire American HQs, and that's not true. It's literally just the Product Development Department AT the American HQs, as I showed you in the pic you quoted about Connie Booth.
The external development team at San Mateo wasn't separate from the team that worked on games by SIEA subisidiaries, as I showed you above with the resume of both Connie Booth and Grady Hunt.Yes, the San Mateo city is next to Foster City. Both SIEA/SCEA HQs, the new and the old are basically in the border between both cities. These two office locations are like 5 minutes away from each other.
When they moved in 2013 their SCEA HQ they obviously also moved the external development team they had inside to the new campus. A handful years later SCE merged with SNEI creating SIE, turning that new campus as the global SIE HQ.
Except that this doesn't include these days, because XDEV America is located in Santa Monica.
I think I already explained way above how all of this is wrong.
Okay, mostly right here.
Creative Arts at San Diego =/= San Diego Studio. They're both located in the same San Diego HQs of SIEA, but that's about it.
San Diego Studio did have a external development group like SSM. Their last project was Starblood Arena in April 2017, 6 months later after SSM's last external project.
This is actually something that usually changed at WWS Japan. The Product Development Department, established in April 2016, was a merger of the Internal Development (Gravity Rush, Puppeteer, Knack) and External Development Departments (Oreshika 1/2, Everybody's Golf 6, Tokyo Jungle, Soul Sacrifice, Rain, Freedom Wars, Bloodborne) that were established in September 2011.
September 1, 2011:
April 1, 2016:
XDEV Japan reported to John Rostron in 2020 already, not the internal development department. That's still the case to this day.
Eh, they always were dedicated departments, I'm sure. SCEA was just departments when it was a simple division of SCEI in the early days.
Nope, it's just the Product Development Department. Always has been.
Exactly, you will find the Product Development department. What did I tell you in the first place? That those were just fancy names/labels/whatever for this specific deparment. But, DEPARTMENT, not for the entire HEADQUARTERS. This is for Jet Li: Rise to Honor, even Connie Booth is there! (who was already credited on games like Jak X, btw).
I'm not arguing over what Foster City San Mateo Studio has been doing, I know they did, but that stopped now that External Development is fully, ONLY handled in Santa Monica these days. We can see it on Concord, both Helldivers 2 and Firewall Ultra were leftover projects at San Mateo Studio when it still handled external productions. XDEV never promoted neither game, but they did promote Concord.
They're a separate new studio, they're located in Santa Monica, their project (Concord) was the only one to be acknowledged by XDEV.
Have you ever heard of moving on when your job requires it? The guy used to work in San Franciso before that, and he now works in Orange, California at Ember Lab. He was in Santa Monica from 2020 to 2024, alongside the rest of the XDEV America staff.
They don't manage it in San Mateo anymore. Firewall Ultra and Helldivers 2 were never recognized by XDEV, they're not XDEV projects, they're leftovers.
Lol, okay. I've been the only one constantly posting receipts, while your arguments purely consist on weak assumptions. Like the following thing below:
Dear lord, another whole fucking post...
BTW, you DO need producers, engineers, etc. for localization. I thought you were an actual game developer? How is that lost on you?
This is how they are called now, notice the 'International' bit.
Also, notice how it's a completely different thing to External Development!
Why isn't David Thach credited on actual new games like Helldivers 2 and Firewall Ultra (look this one up on YouTube)?
Also, you were utterly wrong when saying that it was part of XDEV, like many other things you also got wrong.
Where are the JAPAN STUDIO producers?
Also, where are the general managers, executives in Japan from that time? Where are Tomikazu Kirita, Yasuhide Kobayashi and Allan Becker?
We already went through Rise of the Ronin, I was obviously talking about Stellar Blade.
Do you seriously believe that Kojima needs this kind of help, yet XDEV always posts about DS2.
XDEV Europe was never part of the equation.
Just take the L, man. It's not that hard.
What in the actual hell do you think 'International Software' refers to? INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE.
You literally have tons of positions there DIRECTLY SPECIFYING that they do localization at International Software Development. It's a whole fucking department!
BTW, you DO need producers, engineers, etc. for localization. I thought you were an actual game developer? How is that lost on you?
This is how they are called now, notice the 'International' bit.
Also, notice how it's a completely different thing to External Development!
The ONLY example, and the Death Stranding Director's Cut credits are a total mess. They literally keep listing Japan Studio there.No, I'm not wrong. You're wrong: management sometimes is credited, sometimes isn't. As an example, Arnaud Saint-Martin isn't credited in every XDEV Japan game he worked on.
He was hired in September 2020 while the XDEV Japanese team was still inside Japan Studio, so he was there when they worked in Death Stranding Director's Cut (released in 2021 on PS5) and its PC port (released 2022 in PC) but he isn't credited under any role there, even if many Sony people is credited under XDEV or under Japan Studio:
Game credits of Death Stranding Director's Cut:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/1727...ectors-cut/credits/windows/?autoplatform=true
Why isn't David Thach credited on actual new games like Helldivers 2 and Firewall Ultra (look this one up on YouTube)?
The US one does as well. It's in Santa Monica.
Business Development is IT, strategy, planning, relationsc and financing stuff. Nothing deep about that.
Also, you were utterly wrong when saying that it was part of XDEV, like many other things you also got wrong.
Death Stranding Director's Cut is the same old credits, while Gran Turismo 7 is a localization leftover because that's what Taku Imasaki (senior producer) always did.This is how she is credited in the games (Japan period):
This how she explains it in Linkedin:
- Rain: Business Development under SCEI (Sony Computer Entertainment Japan)
- Puppeteer: Business Management Dept. under SCE Japan Asia
This is how she is credited in the games for her SSM period:
This is how she describes it in LinkedIn:
- Bloodborne: Assistant Producer under SCEA: WWS America
- The Tomorrow Children: Assistant Producer under SIEA: WWS America
- Death Stranding: Associate Producer under "SIE WWS America, Product Development"
This is how is credited in her Foster City period:
This is how she describes it in LinkedIn:
- Death Stranding Director's Cut: Associate Producer under SIE WWS America, Product Development
- Gran Turismo 7: Associate Producer under SIE, PS Studios
- TLOU2R: Producer under SIE, PS Studios
- Helldivers 2: Producer under SIE, PS Studios
Localization producers, like, never do the translation. They just manage that work which is usually contracted.
They don't, and I've proved that countless of times already.
Localization producers, can you stop wasting our times with that?
Where are the JAPAN STUDIO producers?
Because you never understand whatever the fuck you're reading. I asked you about Sony Japan producers, and you menioned a bunch of America localization work.
Also, where are the general managers, executives in Japan from that time? Where are Tomikazu Kirita, Yasuhide Kobayashi and Allan Becker?
My man, you seriously need to learn to read. Being from Spain is not an excuse.
We already went through Rise of the Ronin, I was obviously talking about Stellar Blade.
No no, they always post about every game they work on. Your shitty fanfic about them working on Forspoken or handling the CM of specific games only is stupid and false.
Do you seriously believe that Kojima needs this kind of help, yet XDEV always posts about DS2.
No, they never did.
LMAO. Okay, I'll bite, why did they post about Concord, then?
A pretty stupid theory, honestly. If San Mateo Studio worked on the first game, they would always work on the second game.
XDEV Europe was never part of the equation.
Rise of the Ronin started development in 2015, and it used the XDEV branding.
Just take the L, man. It's not that hard.
FalsettoVibe
Member
yurinka
Member
I'm tired, boss.
I'm convinced at this point that you just can't read.
Yep, the following mess of words below proves me right.
Right, you can't read. Because I'm not a cunt, I will explain it to you, slowly, once again. Sony has these separate groups, Product Development and XDEV. These groups aren't necessarily located anywhere, and they just encompass distint units globally. The XDEV Group, beyond encompassing the three different External Development Departments across California, Liverpool and Tokyo. As it's shown in official hirings by Sony, both Firesprite and Housemarque fall under this XDEV Group. What does this mean? That Firesprite (as we can see from the credits in Horizon Call of the Mountain, pic related), and Housemarque (as seen on Saros, tweet related) have their games produced by the External Development Department located in Liverpool.
How do I know that you can't read? Because I never stated that Media Molecule was part of the XDEV Group, and I actually posted a pic showing that they were part of the Product Development Group.
Well, most of that is true, but as I already showed, Housemarque and Firesprite both keep having their games produced by XDEV Europe. To add to all of that, this is what Sony had to say when it acquired Housemarque back in 2021
Sony Interactive Entertainment Acquires Housemarque, Developer of Recent PlayStation®5 Hit Returnal
SAN MATEO, Calif., June 29, 2021 – Sony Interactive Entertainment (“SIE”) announced today that SIE has completed the acquisition of Housemarque Oy (“Housemarque”), a leading game developer and long-time partner of SIE. Recognized for its extensive experience in the arcade-shooter genre as well...
XDev "Group", Product Development "Group", Global Accounting and Treasury "Group", Channel Sales "Group", General Affairs & Human Resources - Japan "Group", Tokyo PP "Group", Program Management Office "Group", Japan Marketing "Group", Global Accounting and Treasury "Group" and many other "Group" shown in that Greenhouse job board are groups to organize the job offers there, they don't use "Group" for everything outside that website. They could have used "Job Offers" instead of "Group".
As an example, they group these or other offers using other names for the groups in this other PS careers website, where you can find SSM offers related to "ExDev" (does it mean that according to you SSM is also under the "XDev Group"? xDDD):
No, if we check the "Animator (ExDev)" offer at SSM Studio we see it's just to be the animator who handles the communication with XDev, who provides SSM support from internal or external animation support teams. Because as I mentioned XDEV, in addition to produce 2nd party games, also manages/are the producers for the job made by the support studios for 1st and 2nd party games:
You can see more info in the equivalent "Character Artist (ExDev - Contract)" job offer for SSM Studio;
So if Firesprite and Housemarque have "XDev", "XDEV", "ExDev", "External Development" related offers pretty likely are for that role of being intermediate people between their studio and the support studios helping them. Same would happen with any other Sony studio like MM, because all of them receive support from external teams.
Before all Firesprite, Housemarque and MM were acquired XDEV produced their games, or also did with LBP related games when not developed by MM, or partially developed by external studios. Firesprite starting to work on Horizon CoM before were acquired, that may be the reason of why there are a couple of XDEV producers are listed on its credits.
But well, XDev can also continue working as producers for them, particularly for providing them support from other teams.
You didn't debunk a shit, before the XDEV team for Liverpool got their own office they were part of the SCEE Liverpool studio. As I explained before also happened in JP or US. And even before they started to use the XDev name in UE (they did it before than the US or JP teams) they produced externally developed games since the PS1, as in US and JP also did.
But in those early PS1 days, as I explained before, they didn't have a dedicated team for 2nd party games. Same people who did produce internally developed games also produced externally developed games and did it mostly from their NA HQ, JP HQ or Liverpool in addition to do from there other things such as internal develpment or FPQA.
Obviously, Michael Denny was credited in Killzone because it was an externally developed game, and not in Wipeout because it was an internally developed game.Using Killzone (November 2004) and Wipeout Pure (March 2005) as examples, we can see that these projects have zero overlap in studio leadership. Michael Denny (NOT credited on Wipeout Pure) was the VP of External Development at the time, while Clemens Wangerin (NOT credited on Killzone) was the studio manager of Studio Liverpool at the time. No overlap.
Clemens got credited instead in a SCEE Liverpool internally developed game.
XDEV, a.k.a. XDev Europe was inside Studio Liverpool since 2000 (when the team formally got that name) until they got their own office in 2012.
Let's check how many people from those credited under XDEV in Concord worked from Santa Monica and how many of them survived:
Liverpool:
- John Roston: VP, Head of External Production since 2020, before was VP, XDev Studio Europe since 2012 (when XDEV EU got their own office)
John Sanders: moved from executive producer of global 2nd party games to director of XDEV product development in 2020, in November moved to Ember Lab
- David: moved from ISD+SO to XDev on 2020, continues there
- Ryan Adza: joined Sony in 2019, continues there
- Nero: was XDEV US Finance Manager since London, moved to Santa Monica in 2023 and continues there
Karla: moved from International Software Development to Product Development in 2020, left after shipping CondordMiranda: moved from International Sofware Development and Special Ops to project manager at XDEV, left in february 2024- Tyler: associate prod. that in 2020 moved from ISD & SO to External Development, continues there
- Michael: continues as producer as he did since 2018
- Dais: in 2020 moved from International Software Development to XDEV, continues there
Alisa: in 2019 moved from Developer Relations to XDEV, in 2025 moved to 3rd party relations
- Bob: continues as SIE WWS/A producer position he had since 2016
- Sean: doesn't mention department in Linkedin, in 2021 moved from release manager to associate producer and a year ago got promoted to producer
- Lily: joined in 2022, continues there, mentions to be working in multiple XDEV projects and explains her many tasks as XDEV producer, including to produce localization among many others (finally found her Linkedin)
- Ernesto: engineer that supported in 2nd party games and Kena
Pretty likely due to the Concord disaster like half of them got axed, but they may continue in the future.
Those changes already happened before WWS Japan became the current Japanese PlayStation Studios:
<these are divisions>
- these are departments
April 1, 2020:
April 1, 2021:
Since you need my help to figure these things out, notice how this External Development Department was established to one division in April 2020, only for it to then be transferred to another one in April 2021?
Coming back to Japan, remember, these organizational changes only applied to the Japanese company located in Tokyo. They do NOT applied globally.
How do I know this? Simple! They specifically list Sony Interactive Entertainment Kabushiki-gaisha (株式会社ソニー・インタラクティブエンタテインメント) registered in Tokyo, which goes by the English name of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.:
Across years Japan Studio (now Team Asobi and their XDev Japanese team, or originally SCEI) changed their internal departments a gazillion times, rebranded the studio multiple times, merged or separated them and did many organizational changes more.
But they have been doing external development there, producing externally developed games since 1993 with games like Parappa the Rapper. As an example Shuhei Yoshida did talk abous his job as producer for Crash Bandicoot from Japan in a recent video.
They didn't start External Development in 2020, maybe just created a department with that name but, like internally development games, they were doing 'XDev'/external development there since the PS1.
In 2021 they did other restructuring moving their XDev team to a separate office and formally becoming part of the global XDEV team, reporting to them instead of to the local internal gamedev studio. At the same time that its internal development teams got downsized and merged into one of them: Team Asobi. The head of Japan Studio would continue as head of Team Asobi.
The rebranding from SIE WWS to PS Studios was announced in May 2020:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/sony-unveils-playstation-studios-brand-to-launch-alongside-ps5
But these folks change how they credit or list names of departments or teams from game to game. As an example, how they credited (or don't) external development over time. So yes, it's normal that they didn't change the branding in game credits just that moment. Who knows, pretty likely used WWS even later than in Returnal.
Go and check the Linkedin description of producers like Lily I mentioned before. Or related Xdev producer offers. Or just google 'XDev', or 'XDev interview' and you'll find explanations like this one:
https://playstation-studios.fandom.com/wiki/XDev
In the context of game development, product development refers to develop games. That includes both internal or external games. These two "Groups" were just to organize the job offers in that job listing page.
Housemarque, Firesprite, Naughty Dog, XDev and the rest are under PS Studios, an both PS Studios and Bungie (plus PS Productions and others) are under the SIE Studio Business Group. This is the organization, Firesprite and Housemarque don't belong to XDev even if they continued producing whatever project they had in the works when acquired.
You are the one who should fuck off if don't want to read.I love how you go ALL in the fanfic shit when you just can't explain why neither Helldivers 2, Firewall Ultra and Lego Horizon Adventures were promoted by XDEV. "Strong internal CM team", "Sony signed with Lego".
I would tell you to fuck off, but I actually want you to ask the XDEV account on Twitter if they had a hand on any of these games. That, or show me about the XDEV Europe producers that worked on Lego Horizon, just like you tried with Ronin.
XDEV means External Development, you moron. Any externally developed game is External Development a.k.a. XDEV.
Regarding localization, here you have an XDev producer saying that one of the many things they do is localization:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lillyarredondo/
Today Kyle Bossman also shared a video with Shuhei Yoshida where he explained how he contributed to the localization of the first Crash Bandicoot back when he was producer at SCEI (doing what which today would do their XDEV Japanese team).
And talk to me respectfully, you idiot.
You keep twisting it and I told you many times: XDev are mostly producers, product developers, etc.You literally answered yourself. IT'S THE FUCKING LOCALIZATION TEAM.
SIE handled Asian localization for Kena, yes, please explain where are the XDEV heads like Arnaud Saint-Martin or Jason Paul Stewart here:
They don't develop games like Death Stranding: they produce the job made by external teams like Kojipro and the many support teams in many areas that help Kojipro.
Same goes with all these many areas (I shown the example of art or animation for SSM above): they don't do the art or animation: they find a support team and produce that job and overview the deliveries, budgets, communicate with both sides, etc.
Same goes with the localization: these Sony localization teams do the locazation, not Xdev. The external development (Xdev) producers manage that job as explained above: find the localizators needed for that team, do the communication between the localization team and the lead dev team, set the budgets and deliveries, manage the deliveries etc.
I never said that the localizators work at XDev. You are the one saying it.
XDev manages either external lead dev studios for 2nd party games, or support teams for 1st or 2nd party games (and in some very rare exception 3rd party).
Remember the Sony Santa Monica job offers I mentioned above.
I already did above and in previous posts.
Lily list as one of her tasks as XDEV producer:
"- Represent one or more franchises, both internally and externally, to ensure the smooth progress of projects and launch through all SIE departments, including finance, legal, marketing, public relations, QA, XDEV, and operations on a worldwide basis."
- Manage and track process/project deliverables, localization assets, and deliverable schedules to ensure the timely completion of products.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lillyarredondo/
Connie Booth always worked at SIE HQ, SIEA HQ, SCEA HQ, San Mateo Studio and Foster City Studio, which are different names for the same (counting that they moved from the old to the new office) and she obviously was never the head of that.
It's an HQ, so obviously in addition to game production and product development they make many things, I listed in a previous post many other things they do there, that you refused to believe. And well, obviously like any HQ they do HQ stuff.
You keep insisting that product development being something separated from external development, as if it would apply only for internally developed games, when isn't the case.
In the context of videogames, product development means being in charge of game development: they overview production, studios management, editorial and related resources. In the context of Sony, as I said that includes both 1st and 2nd party games.
This is shown seeing that she always worked since the PS1 in both internally developed 1st party games and externally developed games like the 2nd party game Crash Bandicoot, produced by her (in SCEA side), Mark Cerny (in Universal side) and Shuhei Yoshida (in SCEI side). She started there as senior producer and kept being promoted until later moved to product development.
As the HQ they (SCEA/SIEA/...) obviously oversaw all the projects handled by the studios under them, not only the ones being produced from there, both 1st and 2nd party.
No, as I shown to you in the case of Concord there are XDev members / external development producers in different NA locations.
No, you're the one who is wrong. What I said is totally correct.
I didn't say that. They are in the same place, but are different teams.
True, I forgot about San Diego.
But after seeing that there are some XDev producers from Santa Monica and San Diego who worked in Concord, considering Sony started to work in Concord in 2018 now I'm started to think that maybe they never stopped in both locations.
Product development is in charge of both internal and external development. It's the management of everything of everything related to develop games.
Doesn't matter if they call it in one way or another, if are in the same department or split in different ones or if they rename the department or teams.
At the end of the day, since the PS1 they did in that building both internally developed 1st party games and production/support of externally developed games.
I don't know when exactly the external development team within Japan Studio did stop reporting to the local studio and started to use the XDEV brand and to report instead to Rostron, but I know it was before they did move away to their new office in 2021. So yes, pretty likely 2020.
As usual, made out bullshit with no source.
Connie Booth is also credited in over 100 games, that doesn't mean anything:Exactly, you will find the Product Development department. What did I tell you in the first place? That those were just fancy names/labels/whatever for this specific deparment. But, DEPARTMENT, not for the entire HEADQUARTERS. This is for Jet Li: Rise to Honor, even Connie Booth is there! (who was already credited on games like Jak X, btw).
https://www.mobygames.com/person/41950/connie-booth/credits/
She is credited as an example as Director of Product Development under Sony Computer Entertainment America Product Development in Wipeout Pure, or as VP, Production Development under Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios America in The Last of Us.
Now that you accepted that Foster City Studio / San Mateo Studio isn't separate from the HQ you made out -again, with no sources- that it's just that department.
I shown you receipts that prove that didn't stop and that they aren't only in Santa Monica: I shown from where the XDev team members / external producers of Concord and Helldivers did work from their LinkedIn accounts.
Show me any receipt proving they did stop doing external development outside Santa Monica. Show me any receipt proving they did start a new studio for barely half a dozen people in Santa Monica instead of just working from the SSM office as they did in the past.
All Sony published externally developed games have producers who manage external development, independently if they use the XDEV brand or not. XDEV doesn't need to recognize anyting, they have been doing that same job since the PS1 and there is absolutely no receipt proving that they did stop.
In your dreams maybe. Talking about drems, time to sleep here. I'll reply the other post tomorrow.
Hudo
Member
The only sane post in this thread.
Boob intermission!
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
First MAGG is not an industry insider, so I doubt he came across any actual information. Second, he associates himself with a known grifter and is a grifter by association. Third, I didn't remember any reference to Delta or Delta Team from Syphon Filter, so I did a pretty surface level search across the internet for the reference and found none, except a special forces team that gets wiped out. Gabe Logan was not a member of Delta One.
StueyDuck
Member
da hell is this thread, hopped in to see what it could be and there's like 500 pg novels about locations and HQ.
you guys on crack, People can fly make decent stuff, keen to see what this ends up being.
my money is on this being a HD2 situation and will be on PC day 1
you guys on crack, People can fly make decent stuff, keen to see what this ends up being.
my money is on this being a HD2 situation and will be on PC day 1
Last edited:
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
Not even sure if they'd be making the full game or if they're just working on putting together a prototype that a larger team could them build off of.
I can totally see why Sony would farm something like that out as to not bog down an internal team on something that doesn't come to fruition.
FinalBossWithTheMostPower
Member
I hope it’s not SOCOM, because I don’t want to see them try to make a tactical shooter mainstream and ruin it. But I’d be fine with any other dormant IP. Honestly prefer first person for this one too since there are so few at Sony. I think Sony got a little lazy relying on Call of Duty marketing association even if it was never first party.
XDev "Group", Product Development "Group", Global Accounting and Treasury "Group", Channel Sales "Group", General Affairs & Human Resources - Japan "Group", Tokyo PP "Group", Program Management Office "Group", Japan Marketing "Group", Global Accounting and Treasury "Group" and many other "Group" shown in that Greenhouse job board are groups to organize the job offers there, they don't use "Group" for everything outside that website. They could have used "Job Offers" instead of "Group".
As an example, they group these or other offers using other names for the groups in this other PS careers website, where you can find SSM offers related to "ExDev" (does it mean that according to you SSM is also under the "XDev Group"? xDDD):
No, if we check the "Animator (ExDev)" offer at SSM Studio we see it's just to be the animator who handles the communication with XDev, who provides SSM support from internal or external animation support teams. Because as I mentioned XDEV, in addition to produce 2nd party games, also manages/are the producers for the job made by the support studios for 1st and 2nd party games:
You can see more info in the equivalent "Character Artist (ExDev - Contract)" job offer for SSM Studio;
So if Firesprite and Housemarque have "XDev", "XDEV", "ExDev", "External Development" related offers pretty likely are for that role of being intermediate people between their studio and the support studios helping them. Same would happen with any other Sony studio like MM, because all of them receive support from external teams.
Before all Firesprite, Housemarque and MM were acquired XDEV produced their games, or also did with LBP related games when not developed by MM, or partially developed by external studios. Firesprite starting to work on Horizon CoM before were acquired, that may be the reason of why there are a couple of XDEV producers are listed on its credits.
But well, XDev can also continue working as producers for them, particularly for providing them support from other teams.
You didn't debunk a shit, before the XDEV team for Liverpool got their own office they were part of the SCEE Liverpool studio. As I explained before also happened in JP or US. And even before they started to use the XDev name in UE (they did it before than the US or JP teams) they produced externally developed games since the PS1, as in US and JP also did.
But in those early PS1 days, as I explained before, they didn't have a dedicated team for 2nd party games. Same people who did produce internally developed games also produced externally developed games and did it mostly from their NA HQ, JP HQ or Liverpool in addition to do from there other things such as internal develpment or FPQA.
Obviously, Michael Denny was credited in Killzone because it was an externally developed game, and not in Wipeout because it was an internally developed game.
Clemens got credited instead in a SCEE Liverpool internally developed game.
XDEV, a.k.a. XDev Europe was inside Studio Liverpool since 2000 (when the team formally got that name) until they got their own office in 2012.
Let's check how many people from those credited under XDEV in Concord worked from Santa Monica and how many of them survived:
Liverpool:
San Mateo:
- John Roston: VP, Head of External Production since 2020, before was VP, XDev Studio Europe since 2012 (when XDEV EU got their own office)
Santa Monica:
John Sanders: moved from executive producer of global 2nd party games to director of XDEV product development in 2020, in November moved to Ember Lab
'Greater Los Angeles Area' (compatible with Santa Monica, maybe as remote/hybrid):
- David: moved from ISD+SO to XDev on 2020, continues there
- Ryan Adza: joined Sony in 2019, continues there
- Nero: was XDEV US Finance Manager since London, moved to Santa Monica in 2023 and continues there
Karla: moved from International Software Development to Product Development in 2020, left after shipping CondordMiranda: moved from International Sofware Development and Special Ops to project manager at XDEV, left in february 2024- Tyler: associate prod. that in 2020 moved from ISD & SO to External Development, continues there
Alameda (San Francisco):
- Michael: continues as producer as he did since 2018
- Dais: in 2020 moved from International Software Development to XDEV, continues there
San Diego:
Alisa: in 2019 moved from Developer Relations to XDEV, in 2025 moved to 3rd party relations
Madison, Wisconsin (remote):
- Bob: continues as SIE WWS/A producer position he had since 2016
- Sean: doesn't mention department in Linkedin, in 2021 moved from release manager to associate producer and a year ago got promoted to producer
??? (can't find his Linkedin):
- Lily: joined in 2022, continues there, mentions to be working in multiple XDEV projects and explains her many tasks as XDEV producer, including to produce localization among many others (finally found her Linkedin)
Apparently many people from different locations worked on it, but over half a dozen from Santa Monica, yes. So probably they created again an external development in Santa Monica (at least one of them mentions to be in Playa Vista, where SSM is) again for Concord.
- Ernesto: engineer that supported in 2nd party games and Kena
Pretty likely due to the Concord disaster like half of them got axed, but they may continue in the future.
Across years Japan Studio (now Team Asobi and their XDev Japanese team, or originally SCEI) changed their internal departments a gazillion times, rebranded the studio multiple times, merged or separated them and did many organizational changes more.
But they have been doing external development there, producing externally developed games since 1993 with games like Parappa the Rapper. As an example Shuhei Yoshida did talk abous his job as producer for Crash Bandicoot from Japan in a recent video.
They didn't start External Development in 2020, maybe just created a department with that name but, like internally development games, they were doing 'XDev'/external development there since the PS1.
In 2021 they did other restructuring moving their XDev team to a separate office and formally becoming part of the global XDEV team, reporting to them instead of to the local internal gamedev studio. At the same time that its internal development teams got downsized and merged into one of them: Team Asobi. The head of Japan Studio would continue as head of Team Asobi.
The rebranding from SIE WWS to PS Studios was announced in May 2020:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/sony-unveils-playstation-studios-brand-to-launch-alongside-ps5
But these folks change how they credit or list names of departments or teams from game to game. As an example, how they credited (or don't) external development over time. So yes, it's normal that they didn't change the branding in game credits just that moment. Who knows, pretty likely used WWS even later than in Returnal.
Go and check the Linkedin description of producers like Lily I mentioned before. Or related Xdev producer offers. Or just google 'XDev', or 'XDev interview' and you'll find explanations like this one:
https://playstation-studios.fandom.com/wiki/XDev
In the context of game development, product development refers to develop games. That includes both internal or external games. These two "Groups" were just to organize the job offers in that job listing page.
Housemarque, Firesprite, Naughty Dog, XDev and the rest are under PS Studios, an both PS Studios and Bungie (plus PS Productions and others) are under the SIE Studio Business Group. This is the organization, Firesprite and Housemarque don't belong to XDev even if they continued producing whatever project they had in the works when acquired.
You are the one who should fuck off if don't want to read.
XDEV means External Development, you moron. Any externally developed game is External Development a.k.a. XDEV.
Regarding localization, here you have an XDev producer saying that one of the many things they do is localization:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lillyarredondo/
Today Kyle Bossman also shared a video with Shuhei Yoshida where he explained how he contributed to the localization of the first Crash Bandicoot back when he was producer at SCEI (doing what which today would do their XDEV Japanese team).
And talk to me respectfully, you idiot.
You keep twisting it and I told you many times: XDev are mostly producers, product developers, etc.
They don't develop games like Death Stranding: they produce the job made by external teams like Kojipro and the many support teams in many areas that help Kojipro.
Same goes with all these many areas (I shown the example of art or animation for SSM above): they don't do the art or animation: they find a support team and produce that job and overview the deliveries, budgets, communicate with both sides, etc.
Same goes with the localization: these Sony localization teams do the locazation, not Xdev. The external development (Xdev) producers manage that job as explained above: find the localizators needed for that team, do the communication between the localization team and the lead dev team, set the budgets and deliveries, manage the deliveries etc.
I never said that the localizators work at XDev. You are the one saying it.
XDev manages either external lead dev studios for 2nd party games, or support teams for 1st or 2nd party games (and in some very rare exception 3rd party).
Remember the Sony Santa Monica job offers I mentioned above.
I already did above and in previous posts.
Lily list as one of her tasks as XDEV producer:
"- Represent one or more franchises, both internally and externally, to ensure the smooth progress of projects and launch through all SIE departments, including finance, legal, marketing, public relations, QA, XDEV, and operations on a worldwide basis."
- Manage and track process/project deliverables, localization assets, and deliverable schedules to ensure the timely completion of products.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lillyarredondo/
Connie Booth always worked at SIE HQ, SIEA HQ, SCEA HQ, San Mateo Studio and Foster City Studio, which are different names for the same (counting that they moved from the old to the new office) and she obviously was never the head of that.
It's an HQ, so obviously in addition to game production and product development they make many things, I listed in a previous post many other things they do there, that you refused to believe. And well, obviously like any HQ they do HQ stuff.
You keep insisting that product development being something separated from external development, as if it would apply only for internally developed games, when isn't the case.
In the context of videogames, product development means being in charge of game development: they overview production, studios management, editorial and related resources. In the context of Sony, as I said that includes both 1st and 2nd party games.
This is shown seeing that she always worked since the PS1 in both internally developed 1st party games and externally developed games like the 2nd party game Crash Bandicoot, produced by her (in SCEA side), Mark Cerny (in Universal side) and Shuhei Yoshida (in SCEI side). She started there as senior producer and kept being promoted until later moved to product development.
As the HQ they (SCEA/SIEA/...) obviously oversaw all the projects handled by the studios under them, not only the ones being produced from there, both 1st and 2nd party.
No, as I shown to you in the case of Concord there are XDev members / external development producers in different NA locations.
No, you're the one who is wrong. What I said is totally correct.
I didn't say that. They are in the same place, but are different teams.
True, I forgot about San Diego.
But after seeing that there are some XDev producers from Santa Monica and San Diego who worked in Concord, considering Sony started to work in Concord in 2018 now I'm started to think that maybe they never stopped in both locations.
Product development is in charge of both internal and external development. It's the management of everything of everything related to develop games.
Doesn't matter if they call it in one way or another, if are in the same department or split in different ones or if they rename the department or teams.
At the end of the day, since the PS1 they did in that building both internally developed 1st party games and production/support of externally developed games.
I don't know when exactly the external development team within Japan Studio did stop reporting to the local studio and started to use the XDEV brand and to report instead to Rostron, but I know it was before they did move away to their new office in 2021. So yes, pretty likely 2020.
As usual, made out bullshit with no source.
Connie Booth is also credited in over 100 games, that doesn't mean anything:
https://www.mobygames.com/person/41950/connie-booth/credits/
She is credited as an example as Director of Product Development under Sony Computer Entertainment America Product Development in Wipeout Pure, or as VP, Production Development under Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios America in The Last of Us.
Now that you accepted that Foster City Studio / San Mateo Studio isn't separate from the HQ you made out -again, with no sources- that it's just that department.
I shown you receipts that prove that didn't stop and that they aren't only in Santa Monica: I shown from where the XDev team members / external producers of Concord and Helldivers did work from their LinkedIn accounts.
Show me any receipt proving they did stop doing external development outside Santa Monica. Show me any receipt proving they did start a new studio for barely half a dozen people in Santa Monica instead of just working from the SSM office as they did in the past.
All Sony published externally developed games have producers who manage external development, independently if they use the XDEV brand or not. XDEV doesn't need to recognize anyting, they have been doing that same job since the PS1 and there is absolutely no receipt proving that they did stop.
In your dreams maybe. Talking about drems, time to sleep here. I'll reply the other post tomorrow.
yurinka
Member
Oh, I forgot about the little kid that mades out stuff.
I know, I have pending to reply your other long post. Don't worry, I'll do it later.
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
Perrott
Member
That's not what the current agreement stands for.
It is business as usual for game projects from an independent studio and a publisher to begin as a prototype contract, after which the latter would decide whether or not they want to move into full production and greenlight a whole game out of it. This "we'll sign you up for a prototype first" kind of agreements was the very nature of Sony first-party and From Software's collaborations in the past.
So this being a prototype contract very much only means it is still early days for whatever it ends up being.
yurinka
Member
Yes, writing something in capital letters doesn't change its meaning, it only makes you look rude.
You literally have tons of positions there DIRECTLY SPECIFYING that they do localization at International Software Development. It's a whole fucking department!
BTW, you DO need producers, engineers, etc. for localization. I thought you were an actual game developer? How is that lost on you?
This is how they are called now, notice the 'International' bit.
No, as I said in the list none of these 4 people had nothing to do with localization as seen in their credits or linkedin.
Tyler doesn't detail his tasks in Linkedin, but here you have the other two producers listing his tasks inside International Software Development before formally moving to XDev. They were game producers, handling the whole project and not only localization, but also development, marketing or PR:
Regarding the XDev engineer that supported other teams, Ernesto Corvi, I didn't find his LinkedIn but found out he has several patents related to emulation since 2021, because among other things what their International Software Development team does are the development of PS OS or firmwares: https://patents.justia.com/inventor/ernesto-corvi
Now I can't find him but saw another International Software Development engineer who listed about part of his recent tasks stuff for the PS Portal firmware.
As shown above inside that department they did many things, including producing externally developed games as in the case of these producers later credited in Concord under XDev. Or supporting external teams with tech stuff in case of Ernesto.
It isn't any mess, DS was released in 2019, when Japan Studio continued using that brand back then, and had its internal development teams and XDev Japanese team inside it until they were split in two during 2021, when they did stop using the Japan Studio branding in that 2021 restructuring.
Pretty likely because he and his external development team were working on Concord and didn't work in these other games, while other external development teams produced other games like Helldiver 2 or Firewall Ultra at the same time Thach was working on Concord.
As explained before, in case of Helldivers 2 in the game credits we see its external development producers were Eduardo Zamora and Tomoyo Kimura, who according to their Linkedin work in Foster City / San Mateo:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eduardo-zamora-24a653108/details/experience/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomoyo-kimura-bb608312/
No, you say that because a good part of the ones mentioned in the Concord credits are from there (some of them are no longer there), but I shown you in my previous post that a good part of that Concord team worked in other NA offices. And well, I also shown you that Helldivers 2 external producers, like many other externally developed NA games, were handled from the NA HQ. And many years ago some game was also handled from San Diego.
They do these things and many more. Like the ones I mentioned.
As I mentioned before, in the period she worked in these games she did these tasks. Notice she was in an associate entry level rank, so obviously she wasn't going to handle a whole project herself:
I didn't say that it was part of XDev.
Learn to read, I shown her LinkedIn showing that she was Assistand Localization Producer only from 2013 to Oct 2019, when she worked from Santa Monica in Bloodborne, The Tomorrow Children and Death Stranding.
She later moved to Foster City to work as producer in general, no longer as localization producer as she was in Santa Monica. Look at her Linkedin: while she was a producer in the Foster City HQ, she worked as SIE WWS A / PS Studios producer for Gran Turismo 7, TLOU2 Remastered and Helldivers 2.
Also in DS DC and TTC Phoenix can be leftovers of her job in the original games, yes.
Taku Imasaki was another SCEA /SIEA HQ producer, he wasn't a localization producer. Sometimes credited as American HQ staff, sometimes as PS Studios or WWS America staff and sometimes part under the American team of International Software Development & Special Operations (I shown you above the tasks of the producers of that department, they produce the entire project, being localization only one of the many parts of the project) or in earlier games as part of the Santa Monica -works both in the HQ and SSM- staff:
https://www.mobygames.com/person/37532/taku-imasaki/credits/
In a few games a long time ago was listed under Legal & Business Affairs, but normally has been credited as producer. Never as Localization Producer. Localization is only one of the many things that the producer of a games manages. They also manage its development, marketing, PR, QA and so on.
Yes
You didn't prove a shit
They aren't localization producers, there's other people listed as localization producers.
Japan Studio producers are at Japan Studio producing their own games. Polyphony is a separate studio that has their own producers, don't need the Japan Studio ones.
You are obsessed with localization, lol.
I have no idea, maybe they asked to don't appear in the credits afraid of being called localization producers by you xDD
Now seriously, don't need to produce GT games because Polyphony had their own publishers.
I have 20 years of experience in the gaming industry, and as example worked in a company that had its HQ in San Mateo, 5 minutes away from the old and new SCEA/SIE HQ. And also worked in a AAA publisher. You're the one who has no idea here and keep moving goalposts.
Regarding Stellar Blade, I was going to tell you to use google and Linkedin but I'm bored. This is the staff who isn't at their XDEV Tokyo team that are credited in their XDEV block:
Under XDEV Production:
- Seoul, South Korea: producer JunHo Lee
- Washington, USA: senior producer Barry Feather
- Greater LA, USA: producer Dais Kawaguchi
- LA, USA: associate producer Jake Muronaka
- Santa Monica, USA: senior director David Thach, director George Weising, Tyler Chan
- Liverpool, UK: Executive Assistant Maria Ledson, director Jason Stewart, senior director, Tim Preece, Director of Product Development at XDEV Europe Ray Khalastchi (working on DS2, Saros and multiple unannounced games), team assistant Laura Darley, senior producers Charlie Newport, David Brickley, Jean-Paul Roberts, Neil Johnson (now working in DS2), John O'Brien, associate producer Shawn Rees
- Tokyo, Japan: senior manager of sound design Keiichi Kitahara, Japan Studio & Team Asobi studio director Nicolas Doucet
- Seoul, South Korea: Jaeeun Shin
One of them details what a XDEV producer does:
Fun fact: Didn't work in Stellar Blade but in Liverpool there's also Carina Calvert, an associate producer who is working in an unannounced project
Sure Jan
Maybe because Firewalk only had 2 people working in social media: Chaka Ayana Cumberbatch (now working at Meta) and Kahlief Adams (now has a podcasts, before being at Firewalk he did work at Riot). And being a new IP and team needed some extra help to grow the community.
A pretty idiot and retarded comment, honestly.
It fits you very well.
So what? We saw them crediting external development in a gazillion different ways both in games of all 3 regions amd across time. And well, obviously Rise of the Ronin is from a different team and region than Helldivers 2.
In your dreams xD
Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
A prototype of an existing IP... read it again, that's not at all what From did with Sony.
Perrott
Member
Yeah, even those need to be prototyped. New vision, new mechanics, most likely an entirely new engine, than previous entries in whatever franchise People Can Fly have been asked to tackle. All of that needs prototype work.
Like, do you think even The Last Of Us Part II didn't go through an extensive prototype phase? Because it did: Naughty Dog experimented with a Bloodborne-inspired open-world structure, with making the entire combat melee-only... and even features and design philosophies that did end up making it to the game, such as the horse, went through a lot of prototype testing and scrutiny until they got them right in a way that served but also didn't break the game.