Naughty Dog Co-Founder Believes Selling to Sony Was the “Best Decision”

Naughty Dog co-founder Andrew Gavin recently shed some light on a question that often pops up about the studio: why did they decide to sell to Sony? As you might guess, the answer boils down to the financial situation they were in at the time.

Gavin took to LinkedIn, and Tech4Gamers caught his remarks about the skyrocketing budgets for game development. Back in the 80s, making a game could cost around $50,000, but this figure exploded to a staggering $15 million for titles like “Jak and Daxter,” one of Naughty Dog’s well-known franchises. It’s pretty clear that financial stability was a sensible motivator for their decision.

While Naughty Dog could handle expenses running into a few thousand or even several hundred thousand dollars, dealing with budgets in the millions was a whole different ball game in the 2000s. It was simply too much for the studio to manage on its own back then.

The exact amount Sony paid for Naughty Dog isn’t public knowledge, but estimates suggest it was somewhere between $50 and $200 million in 2001. This investment certainly paid off as Naughty Dog has since become a crucial part of Sony’s lineup, especially with its flagship series like “The Last of Us.” They’re also working on a new IP called “Intergalactic,” which is their first original project since 2013.