MotorStorm dev Evolution was acquired by Sony. Have things changed after going from indie to corporate monolith? Says Evolution's Paul Hollywood:
There is commercial pressure from Sony who want us to create a viable business product but we're more after the critical acclaim. I think there's less pressure now because when we were an independent developer we had the pressure of paying the wages every month. Now we don't have to worry about the next game or what we're going to be doing.
That's right, you're doing MotorStorm 2, and we're pretty sure it'll do fairly well. So, yeah, everything's coming up Evolution! About that sequel, which was inspired by Hawaii's beautiful island setting, Hollywood points out that the game has "no hula" and "no Elvis." No Elvis? Wha?! Two words: "Big" and "mistake."
MotorStorm 2 Interview [Next-Gen]