Ready at Dawn Co-Founder describes difficult relationship with Sony

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Andrea Pessino, one of the founders of the shut-down studio Ready at Dawn Studios LLC, shared insights into their endeavor to create a fresh concept during the development of The Order: 1886, released in 2015.

Pessino Describes The Tense Relationship Between RAD And PlayStation During Development

During an interview with Minnmax, Pessino discussed the challenge of producing a Triple-A caliber game with a Double-A sized team. Moreover, he mentioned that shifts in PlayStation’s leadership during that period only increased the challenges faced during the game’s development and eventual launch.

Based in Irvine, California, Ready at Dawn was established in 2003 by a team of ex-employees from Naughty Dog and Blizzard Entertainment. Initially, their primary aim was to create games exclusively for the PlayStation series like God of War and Daxter.

In 2015, delve into “The Order:1886”, the initial intellectual property (IP) from Ready at Dawn. This is a third-person shooting game, set during the Victorian era. The characters you control are knights of the round table, armed with weapons that have a steampunk aesthetic. These knights engage in fierce battles against vampires, werewolves, and the treacherous plots surrounding them all.

During the interview, Pessino notes that Shuhei Yoshida, who was the President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide at the time, had been deeply involved with the RAD team in developing The Order. However, due to organizational changes within PlayStation, such as internal reshuffling, promotions, and restructuring, it became difficult for Yoshida to be contacted as frequently as he used to be.

Since that incident, our situation underwent a significant shift. Those we thought were aligned with us were absent, yet they remained in higher positions of authority. However, navigating around them wasn’t an option, so the level of tension and the dynamics began to evolve from that moment onwards.

Pessino Explains Back And Forth Conversations With Higher Ups About Anything And Everything, No Matter How Small

Despite keeping the explanation concise, it’s clear that Pessino expresses some annoyance over the persistent tension and stress that characterized the partnership between him and PlayStation throughout most of the game’s creation process.

“The fact we were constantly fighting them about the dumbest, stupidest sh*t possible,” he added.

In simpler terms, Pessino went into detail about all the parts that were removed from the game; what used to be interactive segments were transformed into non-interactive cinematic scenes.

Many people, including gamers and critics, often pointed out that the game was too short, its plot was unclear, and it had an excessive amount of cinematic sequences.

Sony takes great pride in its work, and justifiably so. If critical reception had been slightly higher, even in the ’70s, a sequel would undoubtedly have followed. A few minor improvements could have made it acceptable, but with the ratings dipping into the ’60s, it was essentially doomed,” Pessino stated.

According to Pessino’s perspective, it wasn’t the underperformance in sales that was the issue, but rather how the game was perceived by both critics and gamers, which may have been the reason behind PlayStation not approving a follow-up game.

Regardless of worries about another bumpy phase, Pessino remarked that Ready at Dawn would have welcomed the opportunity to revive the franchise by releasing a new game.

In ten years, Ready at Dawn’s endeavor for a fresh intellectual property remains vivid in our minds. It remains to be seen if the series will experience another bright phase under the light of the moon again.

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2025-02-11 20:09