Naughty Dog co-founder Andy Gavin revealed the real reason why the development studio was sold off to Sony in the first place back in 2000.
Gavin posted on social media regarding the state of the studio's finances over the years since its inception. He described the sheer amount of money that was needed in order to create some of Naughty Dog's first few games,
Naughty Dog's Acquisition by Sony
He added that these ever-increasing numbers led the studio heads to negotiate the Sony deal and close it more than two decades ago. Gavin explained that the studio's 80s games cost less than $50,000 each to make.
However, "Rings of Power" saw the budget for each title rise to roughly $100,000 but was able to yield slightly more profit. Naughty Dogs rolled that profit in 1993 into a self-funded "Way of the Warrior."
However, Gavin said that "Crash Bandicoot" from 1994 cost the studio $1.6 million just to make. It was revealed that by the time the development company got to "Jak and Daxter" in 1999, the budget was already past the $15 million mark, according to Polygon.
And by 2004, Naughty Dog's AAA games, such as "Jak 3," had already soared to have budgets of around $45 million to $50 million. Gavin added that the numbers have only been on the rise since that time.
All of these factors led to the developer's heads negotiating the acquisition by Sony as the stress of financing its games grew to be enormous.
Gavin explained that selling Naughty Dog was not only about securing a financial future but also about giving the studio the resources it needed.
Ever-Rising Budget for Video Games
Gavin added that video game studios that are looking to make big-budget games almost never have sufficient resources to fund the titles.
This is a situation that simply forces developers to approach publishers, who then have "enormous leverage" over them, Game World Observer said.
The Naughty Dog co-founded added that development budgets are still on the rise, noting that a AAA game nowadays can cost around $300 million to $500 million to produce.
This is a somewhat accurate estimate, as even PlayStation's first-party teams need this much money to work on their projects.
One example is "Marvel's Spider-Man 2," which had an estimated total budget of $315 million. Additionally, Naughty Dog's "The Last of Us Part II" cost the studio $220 million to develop and bring to the public.
Gavin said that selling to the right party gave the studio the stability that it needed to survive in the video game industry. It was also able to give it the resources it needed to continue making the kinds of games that it had always dreamed of, according to 80lv.
