Has Michael Unsworth left Rockstar Games?

[Reemer]

No big deal

[Agent Edward]

10 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

Different control schemes they've added help with this, there is a good one called Standard FPS 2 (I think, been a while) in GTA V that puts sprint on RB/R1, allowing you to move, aim, shoot and sprint at the same time. They've gotten a lot better with QoL stuff like that in more recent years, current GTAO has the option to turn sprint from a tap to a hold too IIRC.

It's just that I'm used to the standard controls in both games already, but I'll try them. Another thing is the lack of the switch shoulders button in both HD era GTA games (GTA4 and GTA5), which in my opinion is even more annoying than the lack of crouching in GTA5, while both RDR1 and RDR2 has it and even MP3, go figure.

[Jason]

1 minute ago, daltontigerboy said:

RDR2 controls perfectly fine after making a few critical settings tweaks in the game's settings. (Switching run from tap-X to click L3 is one example, also adjusting aim sensitivities, accelerations and deadzones)

 

That doesn't fix the problems at all, it just alleviates them.

 

1 minute ago, daltontigerboy said:

 Is Arthur supposed to float around or control like a Dark Souls character?

 

No, but I didn't say that he did, you did.

 

The camera controls in particular in a GTA/RDR are very clunky which results in a very poor free aim experience, auto aim assisted gameplay may be enjoyable for some - and I'm not saying they should remove that option at all - but they could also create a game that feels great to play with complete free aim. We know they're capable of this. Fixing this alone would be a complete overhaul of R* controls as it'd be a complete deviation from their norm.

 

In terms of the actual character controls their games do frequently become clunky, the solution to this doesn't have to be "turn it into Dark Souls", but given how they're putting a heavy emphasis on things like interacting with the environment and picking things up have to go back and forth to line your self up in the right place so you can get the pop up to pick up the thing you want to pick up isn't something I would call good controls. Fixing this doesn't have to come at the cost of what make R* games feel unique to play, but it is something that can be improved a lot.

 

Even cover is generally terrible to use, your character is still often highly exposed in a lot of cover and the ways you can enter and exit cover aren't great resulting in a cover system that results in you taking far more damage than you should, which isn't fun.

[sanjay3207]

49 minutes ago, Jason said:

Tbh what's funny is that I actually looked at his LinkedIn a week or so ago and saw it exactly as it was and just assumed it meant he's still working there, but someone views the wording another way and now the community "reporters" are putting out BREAKING news bulletins on something despite the fact that we literally have no idea at all if it's true. 

 

Top tier reporting from our community reporters once again, lmao.

 

This is kinga where I am at. "Community reporters"  will jump into conclusions instead verifying whether it's right or not. I used to check the michael unsworth's linkedin page. He was always in-active. So people taking "-2023" in his linkedin page and coming to conclusion that he left the company doesn't sit right with me. If anything he probably got promoted. Dan houser was Vice president of creative of rockstar, After his departure no one took his place and Michael Unsworth was still vice president of writing. He might got promoted to VP of creative considering he was co-writer along with dan houser. Linkedin might have updated his profile due to inactivity. If he did leave the company, something official would have come out. When Leslie and dan left T2 communicated that it to the public through their press release. When lazlow left he communicated it through his instagram page. Whereas michael unsworth or T2 haven't said anything. Michael isn't just any random dev, He is vp of writing and T2 would have communicated it to the investors.

 

57 minutes ago, Edward RDRIII said:

Is this even a confirmed thing or are you people arguing over nothing again?

 

So far we only have linkedin thing. Nothing official yet. 

[Jason]

Just now, sanjay3207 said:

If he did leave the company, something official would have come out. When Leslie and dan left T2 communicated that it to the public through their press release. When lazlow left he communicated it through his instagram page. Whereas michael unsworth or T2 haven't said anything. Michael isn't just any random dev, He is vp of writing and T2 would have communicated it to the investors.

 

Eh, R* have rarely been a company to announce when every so so has left and Unsworth, like virtually all R* staff, keep a pretty damn low profile so if it is true perhaps he just wanted to slip out quietly. But yea, none of them have social media, none of them really do interviews outside of promoting new games and even then it's text based. They, as DisCrafted rightly pointed out, intentionally do not single out individual developers and instead they put the emphasis on the team - which as I've said before on this same sorta topic is why I've always found it silly that the community puts individuals on a pedestal, because the studio its self doesn't.

 

Dan's farewell announcement was likely because one he's largely seen as one of (with Sam) the godfathers of R* and GTA and also cause if R* do have any developers whose names are public knowledge it's the Houser's. Even Benzies wasn't widely known before the drama with him and the Houser's kicked off.

[sanjay3207]

16 minutes ago, daltontigerboy said:

RDR2 controls perfectly fine after making a few critical settings tweaks in the game's settings. (Switching run from tap-X to click L3 is one example, also adjusting aim sensitivities, accelerations and deadzones)

Controls shouldn't be tweaked in the first place. When the game releases, The game ought to have come out with the best controls it is capable of.. The game went through lot of QA. Many QA devs must have told about the controls, but the higher management ignored it. Nobody likes tap-x controls. Clicking L3 should have been default. Another problem with the controls is how rockstar communicates it with the players, a small black box at the top left of the screen. This has been a problem with most of rockstar games.

 

22 minutes ago, daltontigerboy said:

To say it needs a "complete overhaul from top to bottom" is a bit much. Is Arthur supposed to float around or control like a Dark Souls character? There is obvious intent with how the characters move and control in Rockstar's RAGE era titles.

It does need a complete overhaul, atleast imo. If we check latest AAA games, They have really good controls compared to RDR 2. One good game with satisfying shooting mechanics is TLOU2 and MP3 [A Rockstar title with the best mechanics].

 

There is no intent in how the characters move and control. It's just input lag. Digital foundry did a really good video about it. Rockstar should figure out the input lag and make it negligible. Instead of figuring it out, Rockstar uses the auto-aim, which is kinda lazy in my opinion. They knock it out of the park in every department i.e, Story, Presentation, Music and Characters, But they refuse put effort in their controls or mechanics.

 

29 minutes ago, daltontigerboy said:

personality and charm that has made Rockstar's last handful of titles so grounded

The personality and charm from rockstar comes from their dialogue, open-world, characters, presentation, physics and the classic rockstar humor and dialogue, not controls. People have been criticizing rockstar controls since GTA 4. But, the criticism got buried because of the overwhelming positive response to other aspects of rockstar's games.

 

32 minutes ago, daltontigerboy said:

It very well might not even be possible for Rockstar to make the player character control as free-and-loose as other games while retaining the physics and realism that we all love from RAGE/Euphoria.

GTA 5 didn't have euphoria and the controls in the game compared to other games is still bad. Rockstar's physics and realism could be retained. Better button placement and improving input lag will not effect RAGE or Rockstar games charm and personality.

 

35 minutes ago, daltontigerboy said:

An open-world story driven Rockstar game cannot be designed to control like Max Payne 3 where the character is feels light-of-foot, constantly in a jog while aiming his guns forward, and ready to dive behind cover at the drop of a hat.

I am not asking the characters in RDR 2 or GTA 4 to dive like Max payne. What I am asking is no or negligible input lag and better controls. Rockstar could still make a grounded game by better controls.

 

Rockstar's games are excellent with their presentation, open world and storytelling. I just wish they had better controls.  Just imagine RDR 2 with TLOU2 controls, the game would literally be perfect. 

[Jason]

3 minutes ago, sanjay3207 said:

GTA 5 didn't have euphoria

 

Small correction, it sorta does.

 

From what I understand R* had a bespoke version of the Euphoria engine built into RAGE, but it's obviously something they've tweaked and messed with for years.

 

Basically what is known as Euphoria is just RAGE's physics engine nowadays.

[sanjay3207]

6 minutes ago, Jason said:

Small correction, it sorta does.

 

From what I understand R* had a bespoke version of the Euphoria engine built into RAGE, but it's obviously something they've tweaked and messed with for years.

 

Basically what is known as Euphoria is just RAGE's physics engine nowadays.

 

I think GTA 5 has a toned down version of euphoria. But, I still think rockstar could retain the physics and have better controls simultaneously. 

[Jason]

4 minutes ago, sanjay3207 said:

 

I think GTA 5 has a toned down version of euphoria. But, I still think rockstar could retain the physics and have better controls simultaneously. 

 

In a sense it was toned down, but it was more a change in design mentality really. People still adore IV's character physics and while they were fun to mess around with the idea that everyone turns into inept and stumbling brainless being the moment you get nudged isn't quite what I'd call realistic, lol.

[Zapper]

I'm curious about one thing: does anyone have any idea what that page used to say, like a few years ago?

[daltontigerboy]

1 hour ago, sanjay3207 said:

Controls shouldn't be tweaked in the first place. When the game releases, The game ought to have come out with the best controls it is capable of.. The game went through lot of QA. Many QA devs must have told about the controls, but the higher management ignored it. Nobody likes tap-x controls. Clicking L3 should have been default. Another problem with the controls is how rockstar communicates it with the players, a small black box at the top left of the screen. This has been a problem with most of rockstar games.

I 100% agree with this and I think this was a huge blunder that caused a lot of the "bad controls" discourse in certain circles when RDR2 released. If only Rockstar could have made certain tweaks and changed some default settings to other values, it would have eliminated the majority of the complaints imo. The default settings/values are that bad.

 

1 hour ago, sanjay3207 said:

It does need a complete overhaul, atleast imo. If we check latest AAA games, They have really good controls compared to RDR 2. One good game with satisfying shooting mechanics is TLOU2 and MP3 [A Rockstar title with the best mechanics].

 

There is no intent in how the characters move and control. It's just input lag. Digital foundry did a really good video about it. Rockstar should figure out the input lag and make it negligible. Instead of figuring it out, Rockstar uses the auto-aim, which is kinda lazy in my opinion. They knock it out of the park in every department i.e, Story, Presentation, Music and Characters, But they refuse put effort in their controls or mechanics.

Again those games you just named are designed with different goals in mind in regards to gameplay, and I even gave an example of how you simply cannot have your cake and eat it too.

 

Max in MP3 and Ellie in TLOU2 cannot realistically ragdoll when jumping out of a moving car, off a horse, or full-sending themselves off a cliff in those games. Believe it or not, there is a correlation between how good the physics in games like GTAIV and RDR2 are in regards to the player character, and how weighty/slow the movement feels when controlling them. Also, saying "there is no intent" in how the characters move and control is not true at all.  I do fully agree that the aiming in Rockstar's RAGE games leaves a lot to be desired though and that's something they should work towards making viable for free-aim gunplay as apposed to lock-on.

 

1 hour ago, sanjay3207 said:

The personality and charm from rockstar comes from their dialogue, open-world, characters, presentation, physics and the classic rockstar humor and dialogue, not controls.

To think the character's physics we love so dearly in games like GTAIV and RDR2 aren't inherently also related to the weight/lumbering in their movement, is just wrong and shortsighted.

 

1 hour ago, sanjay3207 said:

People have been criticizing rockstar controls since GTA 4.

Coincidentally, the first open world Rockstar game built on RAGE/Euphoria with some of the best physics we've ever seen in a video game, and still holds up favorably against most games released since. Hmmmm, interesting.

 

1 hour ago, sanjay3207 said:

GTA 5 didn't have euphoria and the controls in the game compared to other games is still bad. Rockstar's physics and realism could be retained. Better button placement and improving input lag will not effect RAGE or Rockstar games charm and personality.

GTAV does have Euphoria but its toned down significantly compared to the likes of GTAIV and RDR2....and it also feels easier and lighter to control than any of Rockstar's other open world RAGE games - but surely there's no correlation and that's just a weird coincidence, right?

 

1 hour ago, sanjay3207 said:

Just imagine RDR 2 with TLOU2 controls, the game would literally be perfect.

And once again, you cannot simply have your cake and eat it too. Yeah that sounds awesome and who wouldn't want that? But is it actually possible to have RDR2 retain its character physics while controlling as snappy and responsive as something like TLOU2 or MP3? Very, very likely that the answer is no.

Edited August 26, 2023 by daltontigerboy

[Zapper]

52 minutes ago, sanjay3207 said:

People have been criticizing rockstar controls since GTA 4.

 

Nope. That's not true at all. There have been vocal minority detractors of R*'s controls and aiming ever since the PS2-era. It certainly didn't start with IV.

 

You can see in the VI leaks that 'Tap X/A to Sprint' is still the default option, and I don't expect it to change at all. There'll definitely be several options to customise it to your liking, though, like V or RDR2.

[TheOverlookHotel]

1 hour ago, sanjay3207 said:

Nobody likes tap-x controls. 

Speak for yourself. 

[Zapper]

In their RAGE games, the physics are not the only thing that makes them feel different. It's animation priority. That is one of the biggest reasons why IV, RDR1, or V look good in motion compared to many other games of that era.

 

Plus, the animations themselves are longer than what's usually seen in other similar games. That has nothing to do with RAGE or euphoria. It's purely a design decision. People often mistake this length of animation for input lag.

 

However, there's definitely a slightly higher input lag that comes along as a result of making the animations and transitions look smooth enough. Technology like motion matching can help alleviate a lot of that.

Edited August 26, 2023 by Zapper

[sanjay3207]

1 hour ago, Zapper said:

I'm curious about one thing: does anyone have any idea what that page used to say, like a few years ago?

 

In 2022 it used to say Vice president of writing [2021- Present]

In 2023 it says Vice president of writing [2021-2023]

[sanjay3207]

@daltontigerboy I kinda agree with some your points and I also understand your explanation about the correlation between physics and controls. But, I still think that there could be improvements made to the controls. isn't there anyway where rockstar can retain their physics and also have better controls? Better controls for RDR 2 would be have been excellent.

[Jason]

To say definitively that you can't have your cake and eat it when it comes to controls and the feel of a game is a bit simplistic and highly speculative.

 

It's true R* games control in a unique fashion, it's got a heavier feel but as Zapper alluded to/mentioned, it's more in the animations than physics, and it's a deliberate design choice. Physic based player movement aint really a thing AFAIK, it'd result in some weird stuff.

 

But yea, to say R* couldn't tighten up the movement when you need to be more exact (like when you're rummaging in a small space in RDR2) because of the physics or without hurting the feel of R*'s games... yea, I dunno about that.

 

RDR2 for example has a big hefty piece of "lag" as you move from a standing start, which is a part of the issue, but that could be improved or refined in some way. Another big issue is the inability to really side step properly, which is a key element of how we (humans) move. Again, this is another reason why RDR2 and GTA can feel so clunky because when you're trying to line your self up to something to get in range to be able to pick it up if you're not lined up you typically have to walk back and spin around to align your self properly, cause you can't really side step. One of the ways around this in V and RDR2 is to switch into first person where the controls become much more responsive and you have far more control on character movement in general, it's not uncommon for people to loot in RDR2 or other games with highly interactive worlds (like BGS games) in first person because of this.

 

But yea, to believe this can't be improved upon without retaining the unique feel of R* games is.. no for me. It's not as if I personally would want every R* game to feel the same, RDR1, IV, V, RDR2, they've all been tweaked and refined in terms of movement and I have no doubt GTA VI will have it's own feel too.

[daltontigerboy]

30 minutes ago, sanjay3207 said:

@daltontigerboy I kinda agree with some your points and I also understand your explanation about the correlation between physics and controls. But, I still think that there could be improvements made to the controls. isn't there anyway where rockstar can retain their physics and also have better controls? Better controls for RDR 2 would be have been excellent.

There likely is.

 

Even if Rockstar could retain the quality of physics from a game like GTAIV, while also making it control as well as V did, that alone would be a huge win as V is easily the best controlling of the RAGE open world games.

 

Since there was enough complaints about RDR2’s controls online (and that was one of the very few things really complained about regarding that masterpiece along with mission design), I imagine Rockstar is likely putting a priority on more responsive controls for VI than they have in the past.

 

I just really really hope that it doesn’t come at the expense of top-notch physics for the player character. Sacrificing physics quality for a lighter and easier controlling character is not exactly a trade-off I’m happy to make. We saw that trade-off with V and it left a lot of fun on the table when it came to “dicking around” in that game’s sandbox.

 

I’m sure Rockstar could find a way to make VI be the best controlling RAGE game ever while also retaining the player-physics quality of something like IV or RDR2 but it would likely require a lot of work and programming magic. We can only hope after all these years that they’ve cracked the code.

Edited August 26, 2023 by daltontigerboy

[American Venom]

6 hours ago, Spider-Vice said:

Your Neil Druckmanns and Cory Barlogs are gonna quit one day too.

Kinda off-topic and not to be mistaken by ND haters in the comments, but in my opinion Druckmann is kinda like the worst example in this situation.

No doubt that there is a chance for a LOT of the famous creatives to either leave their current positions (like Barlog, Miyazaki) or retire (Kojima, Todd Howard and the second houser) in coming years, but I can confidently say that it wont be the case about Druckmann. He's not going anywhere for a long long time.

Not to get too much into the whole PS worldwide studios politics which is unrelated to the topic, but his work has been nothing short of an extraordinary and important achievement for what Sony is trying to reach in general. also the irony is that the last two past presidents of Naughty Dog stayed with the company all the way until their retirement later down the line, so I cant imagine it being any different for Druckmann at all. I will say that Barlog is pretty safe in his position in the SMS too, and he is easily next in the line for spearheading the company, should he want or have interest in doing so. but like I said, nowadays Druckmann is pretty much defines Naughty Dog (along the contributions of the other excellent leads and devs over there) and there wont be a day when we find out about his departure by scrutinizing LinkedIn entries or by the mother company's damage control statement being sent to the US SEC in Monday morning.

Edited August 26, 2023 by American Venom

[Jason]

Barlog seems exhausted every time he releases a game these days cause of the scale and time it takes to make a AAA release, it wouldn't surprise me if he steps down in the relatively near future and returns to smaller projects.

 

But yea, the modern AAA industry and the figures who have dominated it and shaped it to what it is today all got into the industry in either their 20's or early 30's and they've all been around for well over two decades so... do the math, we're going to be losing a lot of historic people in the coming years as they either step down to do something else in their twilight years or just flat out retire.

[sanjay3207]

4 minutes ago, American Venom said:

Druckmann is pretty much defines Naughty Dog (along the contributions of the other excellent leads and devs over there) and there wont be a day when we find out about his departure by scrutinizing LinkedIn entries or by the mother company's damage control statement being sent to the US SEC in Monday morning.

 

Druckmann has like 3 games under his leadership. Whereas michael unsworth co-wrote every rockstar game since gta 4 release. Neil druckmann is no where near michael unsworth, rupert humphries, leslie benzies or the housers. 

 

The only reason druckmann is really revered by the community because [On top of his writing capabilities], he does a lot of interviews, connects/interacts with fans etc. 

 

If the rockstar creatives interacted with fans like neil druckmann, they would be 10x popular. Even a hardcore ND fan agreed that dan houser's writing is much better than neil druckmann's and cory barlog [Technically cory didn't write gow, bet he was a creative, so he had his infuence on the story].

 

I am in no way downplaying neil or cory, they are talented af. But they are no where near dan, unsworth or rupert.

[tuliohenriquebc]

51 minutes ago, sanjay3207 said:

 

Druckmann has like 3 games under his leadership. Whereas michael unsworth co-wrote every rockstar game since gta 4 release. Neil druckmann is no where near michael unsworth, rupert humphries, leslie benzies or the housers. 

 

The only reason druckmann is really revered by the community because [On top of his writing capabilities], he does a lot of interviews, connects/interacts with fans etc. 

 

If the rockstar creatives interacted with fans like neil druckmann, they would be 10x popular. Even a hardcore ND fan agreed that dan houser's writing is much better than neil druckmann's and cory barlog [Technically cory didn't write gow, bet he was a creative, so he had his infuence on the story].

 

I am in no way downplaying neil or cory, they are talented af. But they are no where near dan, Unsworth or rupert.

Isn't Neil focusing on directing TV now? He wrote and directed episodes for an HBO show, won awards for it and is Emmy nominated for pretty much everything. If they are doing Season 2, I'd say he will be busy with Craig Mazin, not video games. He already won enough GOTYs.

 

But back on topic, I'm sure R* will be fine regardless. 

Edited August 26, 2023 by tuliohenriquebc

[Short Dawg]

3 hours ago, Reemer said:

No big deal

Exactly , he wasn’t a big deal not too long ago when most people were completely ignoring and disregarding his work when they were glazing Leslie Benzies & Dan Houser for leaving 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Short Dawg

[Spider-Vice]

This is a bloody Rockstar Games related thread, derailing this discussion to crap on other games' narratives and going on about feminism and "wokeism" or whatever other arguments is very obvious bullsh*t bait and will be removed. It's literally completely off-topic nonsense. This is a thread about Michael Unsworth and one guy starts going on deranged rants about TLOU 2? Nope.

 

Thanks Leonida Man for trying to keep it sane but I'm just gonna nuke it.  Edit: Cleaned up and unlocked.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Spider-Vice
Fixed name

[VitoSpeed]

Has this been confirmed?

[SpiderVice_Sucks]

9 hours ago, VitoSpeed said:

Has this been confirmed?

No, just his Linkedin says 2021 - 2023 and people think he left because of that

[sanjay3207]

41 minutes ago, ionutx02 said:

No, just his Linkedin says 2021 - 2023 and people think he left because of that

Would be funny if once 2024 starts and his linkedin profile changes from "-2023" to "-2024"

[Xerukal]

This, in isolation, shouldn't be that big of a deal. If it's even true. But if we consider the fact that Rockstar has been bleeding old school talent for a while now, this entire issue moves beyond people fixating on one creative leaving.

 

It's starting to add up, and for me personally? It's about why they left. As was already mentioned, a lot of veteran Rockstar employees are getting up there in years, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to scale things back or even just retire outright. 

 

But if there was some sort of creative disagreement or friction within the company that's making or nudging people to leave earlier than planned, then I'd say the concern is completely justified. We may never know until we either get more insider accounts, or one of Rockstar's main games takes a genuine quality hit. 

[Tez2]

If it's true, considering he's a veteran, 16 years in a single studio is a long time and his cue to leave. I expect anyone who has spent over 10 years to seek other industries or retire all-together. The changes made to the NYC studio could have played a role in his decision-making. I mean Sam went back to Rockstar North after Dan's departure. You kinda expect higher-ups like him to be where Sam is. The costs of moving to another studio to accommodate that is simply not worth it. People just seek other studios or other jobs in cases like that.

 

In terms of writing, it's a team's effort so I expect the quality to be as good as before. Even so, if it's true that he left this year, he has already overseen VI's and the next title. VI's pre-production dates back to 2014 and the brainstorming/planning stage dates back to 2012. At this point, brainstorming and the planning stage on the next title may have already been concluded. The title after the next title would be the one in which he hasn't contributed any input to.

[Jason]

8 minutes ago, Tez2 said:

I mean Sam went back to Rockstar North after Dan's departure.

 

Where did you hear that?