[WHAT HAPPENS?] - Let's face it, why is Polyphony Digital so slow in content production?

[ScottPuss20]

First-hand, let me tell you some of my personal experience with Polyphony Digital and the reasoning behind why some content production is slow. For those who aren't aware, I voiced the GT Sport game last year and the narrator you'll hear on all of the Racing Etiquette/Circuit Experience/Driving School videos is myself.

Now, to do this, I had to travel to Tokyo for some of the voiceover work and I had the chance to go and see the Polyphony Digital office in Tokyo one evening at around 22.00, and let me tell you that it is quite large and still had around 30 people working late at that time of night. There are hundreds of people at Polyphony, all of whom put in some incredible hours with one aim: perfection. Anything less is really not good enough and attention-to-detail is everything. Japanese culture is incredibly different to how the rest of us work in the Western parts of the world and the team at PD will quite literally spend days in the office at a time - I really am not joking, as there were beds under desks for people to sleep and get up the next day to start working straight away!

The person who showed me around the offices explained that Kaz has a great working relationship with all of his employees and he believes that this is the reason for the quality of GT. His trust in the people who he works with is crucially important (and is typical of culture within Japanese companies) and that is why all work regarding car modelling, track designing and so on is all done in-house. In short, it makes communication easier between people - could you imagine trying to design a code for a track and having the person you're working on it with in America some 14 hours behind? It would be a nightmare!

So much of an emphasis on quality over quantity has gone on with GT Sport to try and bring the franchise back to its core values. If we have to wait a while for cars and circuits to appear then perhaps this will give you a greater understanding why. Perhaps I'm more patient because of this first-hand knowledge, but Polyphony Digital has to be one of the best companies I've had the pleasure of working for and their standard for work is incredible.

This is why I love the series so much. It's a quality product.

 

[Tornado]

Japanese culture is incredibly different to how the rest of us work in the Western parts of the world and the team at PD will quite literally spend days in the office at a time - I really am not joking, as there were beds under desks for people to sleep and get up the next day to start working straight away!

I don't know my laws from country to country so I'm going to throw some assumptions out there, but staying to work may not be a liability issue over there like it would for labor laws on this side of the planet. We don't know their exact situation over, it could be they truly are passionate as per Tom's words, or they do it because they feel they have to.

Tom, so pleased you were able to give real life insight rather than Western based speculation, including the key differences in Japanese culture.

They are not forced to sleep in the office, they do it because it's their dedication and they see their work as much more than just work.

I understand this isn't uncommon for Japanese studios and work ethic, but this could be exactly why GT has production problems.

It's not a "Japanese culture" thing. It's not a "Polyphony Digital employees are so passionate and dedicated to perfection that they never go home" thing. It's a "videogame industry" thing.




To be perfectly frank, there's nothing particularly special about PD employees working such long hours that they might as well (and do) sleep at work.

 

[Blown03Cobra]

From what I have been reading since release is that they indeed started completely over. The content created for GTS is so detailed that the PS4 and televisions available on the market are nowhere near powerful enough to actually show the detail. It was done this way so that they won't have to start over again in the future. The plan is to slowly but surely just continue adding content.

Just imagine how detailed it really is if Sony used GTS to show off their new 85" 8k TV.

 

[Downhill Dino]

It's not a "Japanese culture" thing. It's not a "Polyphony Digital employees are so passionate and dedicated to perfection that they never go home" thing. It's a "videogame industry" thing.




To be perfectly frank, there's nothing particularly special about PD employees working such long hours that they might as well (and do) sleep at work.

I'd like to note I wasn't necessarily talking about culture, just labor laws and what could or couldn't be allowed. Although, I guess there could be correlation? Hmmm.

 

[V12orchestra]

Is the game still played ? I am not playing it since mid december , i have to get a PS Plus sub . Btw i think that PD should change their working method . You can't a release a game with less than 20 tracks in 4 years . Forza has better looking tracks and they are a looot more . PD excels on car models though , their attention to detail shines there .

 

[Tornado]

I'd like to note I wasn't necessarily talking about culture, just labor laws and what could or couldn't be allowed. Although, I guess there could be correlation? Hmmm.

Whether it's actually allowed or not in the country in question doesn't have much effect on its occurrence, since there's frequently no additional compensation for such working conditions.