The Sony-owned studio Naughty Dog has received a lot of positive acclaim this past generation for creating two of the most successful IP’s found on the PS3: Uncharted and The Last of Us. It may come as a surprise then to learn that one of Naughty Dog’s most influential employees, Amy Hennig, has officially left the studio as of March 4, 2014.
Amy Hennig served as the creative director and storywriter for the Uncharted series all the way back to its inception with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and has also held previous positions working on popular games such as Jak and Daxter and The Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Most recently, reports have indicated that she was hard at work on the upcoming Uncharted game for PS4, which makes her sudden departure all the more unusual.
However, rumors have been circulating that Amy may have been forced out of her development position on the upcoming game by none other than Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, of The Last of Us fame. While their positions as directors of the critically acclaimed The Last of Us are certainly commendable and would give them considerable pull within the company, it seems strange that they would force out a fellow visionary such as Amy Hennig, who had her own breakout success as director of the multi GOTY-winning Uncharted 2.
UPDATE:
Naughty Dog has directly responded to the rumors concerning Amy Hennig’s departure, and an excerpt of their statement can be read below:
“However, we feel it necessary to clear up a very important point that was unprofessionally misreported when the story broke. Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann were NOT involved in what transpired. It was very upsetting to us that dozens of stories were run, linking back to the same hurtful accusations in the original report. As co-presidents of Naughty Dog, we are responsible for all studio affairs.”
Well, I guess that settles the matter. Do you all think that Naughty Dog is giving us the true story, or are they just saving face in the wake of negative publicity targeted towards two of their studio leads? Let me know in the comments below!
