In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Naughty Dog co-founder Andy Gavin revealed that the studio had worked “so hard” with Sony prior to the 2001 acquisition that “it might as well have been an original studio”.
Such was the relationship that former chief technical artist, Eric Iwasaki, said there was an “unusual level of trust” between the two parties. Reflecting on the Jak and Daxter beginning of the series, Gavin also said that despite having no contractual obligations at the time, Naughty Dog had a “gentleman’s agreement” with Sony that it would not “go and make a different game for Microsoft” because Sony was paying for some of the development bills.
“We were working so closely with Sony and we got along so well with them that we could very well have been an original studio,” Gavin told GamesRadar. “We didn’t have a contractual agreement on Jak and Daxter, but they were paying some of the bills, so we had a gentlemen’s agreement that we were not going to make a different game for Microsoft. “
According to Iwasaki, Sony has invested in Jak and Daxter although I didn’t know much about the game in the beginning. “Seriously, how many developers have sent successful games on schedule for four consecutive years? This kind of legacy allowed us to develop an original IP without even sharing much about it until [co-founder] Jason [Rubin] we felt that our game was ready to be presented ”, he added.
Jak and Daxter first released in 2001. Current Naughty Dog co-chairman Neil Druckmann joined the studio as an intern in 2004 to work on Jak 3.
[Source: GamesRadar]