inFAMOUS Second Son PS4 PlayStation 4

We've heard it before, but a huge advantage of being part of PlayStation Studios seems to be shared technology and experience between developers. That said, it's very rare we hear of any specific examples. In a recent interview with Game Informer, Naughty Dog provides one such anecdote, explaining how it called upon a fellow first-party studio while working on The Last of Us: Part II.

Co-president Evan Wells remembers a point "early on in The Last of Us: Part II development" when the team spoke with Sucker Punch Productions. Naughty Dog knew the game would take place largely in Seattle, a city that had been recreated for the open world of inFAMOUS: Second Son. "We said, 'We’re not going to use the assets in the game, but we want to quickly feel out the space, so can we get access to those assets?' And they said, 'Sure,' and sent it over," Remembers Wells. "We were able to quickly rough out the environment. That was a huge help."

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It's a fascinating little story, and a glimpse into how PlayStation Studios teams are able to tackle something together. This isn't the only example of the two studios teaming up, though; Neil Druckmann recalls another time Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch have joined forces. He recalls "talking about mo-capping a horse for The Last of Us Part II, and we were looking for ways to do it, and they were like, 'Oh, we’re about to do the same thing [for Ghost of Tsushima]. Let’s double up our efforts.'" The studios were able to "approach the problem together and use similar data, sometimes the same data for both games".

Isn't that cool? We'd love to hear more stories like this — we imagine there must be many similar examples.

[source gameinformer.com]