Naughty Dog | An Update from Studio President Evan Wells

Naughty Dog President Evan Wells shares some exciting updates about the studio and The Last of Us Part II.

[AspiringProGenji]

Naughty Dog, the Tom Brady of Game developers

[Neonridr]

because that makes sense..

[NXFather]

Hahaha lol.

[NXFather]

Let hime make it man.

[-Foxtrot]

Tom Brady couldn't even handle a fat New England guy sing Shipoopi on the playing field

[darthv72]

no just.... no

[gangsta_red]

Not this year!

[doos_vd_kak]

Sony still has the strongest line up this year.

[FITgamer]

Oh hell no. You better put some RESPEC on the Naughty Dog name.

[Skankinruby]

I hate Brady with every fiber of my being, but you're right, GOAT

[EverydayGuy]

Your saying Naughty Dog cheats?

[TheOttomatic91]

U WOT M8?

[InTheZoneAC]

Tom Brady without an OL=throwing passes into the ground, even with BB as the HC

Tom Brady with protection=one of the best all time

Just a FYI

[InTheZoneAC]

I guess no one remembers the Giants vs Patriots or Ravens vs Patriots a couple times in the playoffs?

[Foxhound922]

Skill-wise, you'd be correct. Everything else, you couldn't be more wrong.

[CobraKai]

G.O.A.T. Heck yeah

[subtenko]

ewww dont compare these fine developers to overpaid BS NFL people (not that I know much about tom brady tbh, I hate the NFL)

[-Foxtrot]

I just hope in the end Neil's feminist agenda dosen't become over blown...as much as he's a great director

[Eonjay]

Agenda? You do realize that all of us have opinions. You included. That doesn't mean you have an agenda just because I might disagree with you.

[-Foxtrot]

Not really an opinion though when you are trying hard to make it's fact

Take Uncharted female characters...Elena, Chloe, Rikka, Marisa, all pretty well written and grounded for what the games are. Then you have super soldier Nadine trying to prove a point because the writer is trying to please people like Anita.

See the difference? The former female characters were written the way they are for the game while the latter was a little bit of a statement from Neil thus being the least female character out of them all. It's not a coincidence.

[SoulWarrior]

@Foxtrot, you realise that Nadine got her arse kicked by Asav pretty badly a couple of times times right? Hardly a super soldier, I think you're really reaching there.

[-Foxtrot]

@CaptainSellers

You mean in Lost Legacy...the newer game set after Uncharted 4 where they took in fan feedback to try and make her likable

[OffRoadKing]

Agenda and opinions are very different things and some people clearly have an agenda.

[Silly gameAr]

If seems like everything he doesn't agree with is an agenda. Nadine especially, He has a deep hatred for that woman that I can't even begin to understand.

[thekhurg]

If you've read some of the hyper liberal/SJW stuff Neil posts online - you'd realize he does have an agenda.

Doesn't make his games bad - but he does have a ridiculous agenda.

[TricksterArrow]

Nadine gets b*** slapped and put in her place by Rafe in the original Uncharted 4.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Didn't you know? Women are all supposed to be weak and stay in their lane. Every single one of them. So in the rare occasion when a female like Nadine is strong, someone has an "agenda," because reasons.

I mean how lame do you have to be as a man to be complaining ad nauseum about feminist agendas because of a videogame character. Doesn't take much to threaten people in this world.

[TroubleShot]

Guy putting prominent women in his game = agenda. Said the crazy person.

[_-EDMIX-_]

What agenda? Are you seriously telling me that just because you disagree with something that anybody that makes a game about it must have an agenda?

Ironically speaking any social justice Warrior could come out and say that any game with a male protagonist. Straight is fitting some agenda I'm sorry but both arguments are completely stupid.

Any artist could make any game they want for any reason they want.

So are you telling me artistic design is not the ultimate agenda? They're not allowed to have that? Smh

Buddy if your biggest worry is about the main reason behind why someone wrote a specific game I don't know if you should even be playing games anymore if this is seriously what you're worried about, you could spend your entire life never even knowing why any designer writer artist singer film director game designer what have you did something....

[rainslacker]

I haven't seen this "agenda" make it's way into his games. Maybe some more representation of "progressive" groups, but he's made them fit into the games they are placed in. Ellie being gay was the first thing that showed up, and that wasn't blatant. Beyond that, what else has he done to indicate that his opinions will shape his games for the worst? Every writer or director has some of themselves in their writing. All that matters is if it's done from the point of view of proper representation because it can make a good story, or if it's forced in to try and make some political statement. Ellie being gay didn't seem like a political statement, nor did Nadine being made black after her initial creation. They were just aspects of the character which were either handled well in the case of Ellie, or were fairly inconsequential to the character in UC, except in the case of Nadine, at least it made sense based on her back story.

[RememberThe357]

It seems like some people feel threatened when cliches are flipped. What the hell is threatening about powerful women? More power to em. If it adds to the story or feel, do it. We ask for more dynamic, interesting characters and he gives them to us. I hope he keeps pushing his characters into narrow places, the results are almost always fantastic.

[rainslacker]

I think back on ND more recent games like UC or TLOU, and I keep thinking about how they have quite a few female characters. Without fail, they tend to be strong women, with their own personalities, and they have their own usefulness to the story or in some cases the game play.

I find it rather funny that Foxtrot singles out Nadine, when you had Elena who was a successful journalist, and could hold her own in a gun fight, and was often smarter than the main character himself.

You have Chloe who was just as capable as the main character, could kick ass, could hold her own in a gun fight, and was often smarter than the main character himself.

You have Ellie, who despite being a 14 year old teen, could pick up a rifle for the first time that was much more powerful than she should have been able to handle given her weight and strength, and could snipe enemies from 100 yards away, sneak around and use her head to get through stressful situations, and could wail against clickers and thugs alike with ferocious violent intent to kill, and no one said a word.

You have Riley, who despite being a young teenager, is smart, and can hold her own in a fight, and is knowledgeable about a lot of things which someone in her situation really shouldn't be knowledgeable in. '

You have Tess who is probably more in charge than Joel is in their smuggling ring. Is a capable fighter, and can hold her own in a gun fight.

You have Marlene who is the leader of the only known resistance group in TLOU. She's smart, passionate, and despite not shown that much, can hold her own in a fight. No reason for her to be black, but she is. No explicable reason why she is the leader of the fireflies, but she is without complaint, and given the context of the story, commands a great deal of respect, and is feared by whatever establishment exist to keep order.

You have Marlowe, who is a cold and calculating leader of a secret society, and is apparently very successful in life, and commands respect...even among the protagonist. No explicable reason why she's a female, but she is, and no one says a word.

But then you have Nadine. A trained soilder with a real cause and reason for being the right hand man of the main protagonist, and suddenly, there is no explicable reason for her being able to fight other than some SJW agenda. Her being black makes no sense, despite being the daughter of a war monger from South Africa.

FoxTrot in particular has really zeroed in on this character, but seems to ignore all the women in ND games past and present, even though half those women were around before Druckman's agenda was made more public.

[Death]

How does Ellie’s sexual preference being known make the game better? Not knowing a characters preference makes them relatable to all gamers. Knowing can isolate them. If establishing a characters sexuality doesn’t drive the story forward, it is simply pushing an agenda.

[UCForce]

@Death Can you say the same thing with Halo 5 campaign ? I played Halo 5 campaign and there was some parts that have agenda in it. I won’t spoil it, but you will know where it is. Naughty Dogs games are always about story telling and characters development. I’m sorry, but you are just one blindsided without seeing two or three.

[rainslacker]

@Death

I prefer it before Druckman said she was gay. Before that, it could have been interpreted as a intimate moment between two close friends. It didn't have to be based on sexual preference. Everything up to that point just seemed like two close friends.

I was disappointed when Druckman said that was his intent, because the rest of the game left a lot of things open to discussion.

That being said, if you ignore what was said, her sexual preference was moot, and still is unless you explore it further outside the game. Just like Bill's sexual preference was moot. It was added without noticeable pretext, and whatever their sexual preference was, it didn't change their character. Bill's sexual preference had nothing to do with the story, but it did establish the character and gave you more insight into who they were. Sometimes, story is more than just driving narrative, because the characters and how they fit into the narrative is part of telling a story. Sometimes these things are done in a way that works, other times it's done in a way that seems forced. Like in Mass Effect 3, it seemed forced. In ND games, it doesn't feel so as much, because it's more of a side note than a focus.

Like I said, something of the author is going to always be present in their work. It can't be avoided. It doesn't mean it's for an agenda. He may have an agenda, but it's not like he's beating us over the head with it.

[RememberThe357]

@death It gives her character a depth, makes her different than Lara Croft. It's offbeat for female leads and helps lessen her as a sexual object (to keep up tension and all that other kind of crap while actually playing). I love Aloys hips when she's walking and the same with Lara Croft, it lightens the tone, not saying that's bad though. There are a number of reasons why Ellie's story, as it was told, was worth telling.

[Mr Lahey]

Fox, just go play something else then..

[gangsta_red]

The agree/disagree ratio tho. Go get 'em Fox!

[UCForce]

Do you think that Fox always right ? You, me and Fox aren’t always right. We can be hypocrites, overthinking and be a jerk. Fox maybe right, but he just being hyper sensitive.

[Gazondaily]

^^WTF

[Eonjay]

Congrats Neil!

[sprinterboy]

Congrats to all, it wasn't just Neil you know.

[Avengerz43]

Best studio in gaming, can't wait to lose my everyday life to TLoU 2 when it launches.

[AspiringProGenji]

I hope I don’t die before TLoU 2 comes.

[mch2011uk]

Well done Neil for getting rid of Amy.

[AspiringProGenji]

Lol

[Skankinruby]

TLOU and uncharted 4 are the best two games they've made, I can't wait for this

[jznrpg]

2 was better than 4 imo but I can see why some may disagree

[Skankinruby]

A civil difference in opinion, how about that lol. 2 had better storytelling but 4 was better in everything else imo, story, villain, boss fight, character development. I would even put 3 above 2 if Marlowe wasn't such a weird villain, although Lazarovic wasn't very good either

[Kumakai]

Congrats, Neil and team!

[Pancit_Canton]

Congrats.

Can't wait for The Last Of Us II and other future projects.

[neutralgamer1992]

amy henning i bet you by now you miss sony/nd. You picked EA over sony and you lead ND during the weakest UC game(Uc3)

[IamTylerDurden1]

Amy deserves respect and is an excellent writer. She wrote on the first three games and helped make the franchise what it was.

[AmUnRa]

And poor Amy Henning is now without a job, here fault ore not??

[Death]

Doesn’t that depend on why she left? Without knowing the circumstances, it’s hard to form an intelligent opinion.

[UCForce]

@Death Amy left not because Neil and Bruce. It’s Chris Evan who the president of Naughty Dogs. Both of them have a argument for hours eventually Amy decided to leave. Chris Evan asked Neil and Bruce to do Amy works. At first, both of them denied but Chris Evan gave them a full creative freedom without restrictions. So both of them accepted their Boss offer.

[neutralgamer1992]

death

don't matter when it comes to gaming publishers EA for sure isn't better than sony or for that matter anyone else. She was jealous that neil and bruce made the best UC game(UC2) moved onto to make TLOU(a master piece) while she worked on a good not great UC game(UC3)

[IamTylerDurden1]

She can pick her studio, Amy is a legend. The dialogue in Uncharted 2 was phenomenal.

[1nsomniac]

With everybody leaving & all the massive restructuring going on at Naughty Dog. There’s clearly something very wrong going on their.

Yes I know that statement is going to automatically get me huge amounts of downvotes from this site. So I have to explain that I think TLOU was possibly the greatest game ever made. Which makes me even more worried that TLOU 2 is going to be nothing like their previous work.

[AspiringProGenji]

One director left, two more were promoted, and neil is Vice President. Hardly anything wrong going on. ND has lots of talented devs

[1nsomniac]

Several top people have left over the last few months.

Reports have also stated there is a severe unhappiness at the pressure & conditions being applied to staff over the last year or two.

Last interview I seen with Neil he didn’t seem to have a clue what was going on or being done at their offices. He was completely out of touch with the company it seemed.

[generic-user-name]

Hennig left, Balestra left, Straley left and the guy behind Lost Legacy left too.

It's at least a little suspicious.

[AspiringProGenji]

Balestra wanted to retire and so he left. Straley left on his own accord to take a break from AAA development, and LL Director... who was he again? Aah one of the talented people there that got the role of director that no one knew before. What does that tell you about the devs at ND and what can you expect from the new directors now?

There’s hardly any suspicion here about people leaving a job. Henning may be the only suspicious case but after the sucess of U4, again, No one cares anymore

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed I find most people who say this in gaming don't really know what they're talking about so because most of this news is not something that's made public, they have this weird idea that because they hear one or two people leaving that something is devastatingly wrong with the studio ,when in reality people leave game development Studios literally every single day, we would literally have news articles literally daily if these were reported.

@generic - none of this is suspicious this is normal in game development that people come and go especially considering the majority of the industry's actually contracted.

I would argue it would be even more suspicious if some company came out and said 100% of their team was intact and not a single individual was fired laid off or let go or quit or anything like that.

That ironically would be suspicious I'm sorry but some of you guys just don't know what you're talking about I think you're under the strange believe that no one gets fired or quits or gets laid off or has their contract ended in gaming just because you didn't read it on a news site, did you just seriously believe that the vast majority of the studios just have 100% permanent employment?

So in order for you guys to even say this is abnormal stranger suspicious you actually have to prove that this is not common in the game development Community you would literally have to find a studio in which no one leaves 😂😂😂
28514;

I'm sorry but this is just the most naive argument I've read in a long time it literally sounds like you guys are just too young to understand how business works so you don't really know that it's normal for people to come and go and companies and you think because you read it that it's somehow not happening everywhere else.

I mean based on that logic Nintendo never fires anyone 😂😂😂

Some companies have non-disclosure agreements that when they let people go that it's not something that's openly announced only from employer to employer.

Some of you guys just need to grow up and enter the real world and understand that this is not something that is so wild and abnormal.

Especially if you can't even prove that this doesn't happen in gaming in general.

[AspiringProGenji]

Naughty Dog has already seen worse than this in the Uncharted 1 days... you really don’t know about their philosophy if you really worry about “several” people leaving so much. It happens all the time, and new people get promoted, and they hire more talented people (the best in the industry like they say). Moreover, ND work as an unit, over there every dev work as one instead of “Im the director, you are the writer.” Everyone regardless of position has a say and an idea. Even the janitors there can sit doen and write you code. So don’t worry about people leaving so much

As for work conditions, that is every game developer ever so don’t take that too serious either.

[Death]

If the janitor can write code, shouldn’t they put him in a different department and hire a janitor who doesn’t?

As for work conditions, if the janitor is busy writing code, the place is probably a mess. If the people that can write code are too busy cleaning, I can see why it seems like nothing is getting done.

[IamTylerDurden1]

I remember ppl were worried about Uncharted 4 because of Hennig leaving and the reported development issues. Ppl were also worried about Druck and Bruce turning it into TLoU, but we all know that Uncharted 4 went on to win GotY and sell 10 million physical. I'd obviously prefer that these ppl didn't leave, particularly Bruce, but ND isn't just a few talented ppl they are a whole studio full of talent. ND is talented 200 deep, only the best of the best get in. ND will be fine.

[sprinterboy]

You do understand that employees come and go in the work place right.

[wenaldy]

Not according to these business "experts".

[_-EDMIX-_]

Based on the logic of some of these individuals they literally think that there are companies that never fire anyone because they didn't read it from a new site 😂😂😂

I mean that is just extremely naive

[DeadSilence]

Lmao

[jc12]

well, that was pointless.

[Jls1]

alot of people have left ND makes me wonder how their next game will be

[G20WLY]

People said that when Amy Hennig left during Uncharted 4...i think we can all agree that turned out pretty well lol

[Jls1]

Uncharted 4 was walking/ climbing simulator compared to uncharted 2 which Hennig was a part off.

[UCForce]

That’s just your opinion. Uncharted 4 sold more copies and faster in few weeks. So yes, Uncharted 4 was successful. For me, Uncharted 3 was weakest part of Uncharted series and it was also made by Amy because Uncharted 3 have too many fillers. Uncharted 4 is more than climbing and walking simulator. Most people agree Uncharted 4 have more detail than previous Uncharted games. The animation, the graphics and the gameplay from UC4 are seamless and smooth. You have to remember that Neil and Bruce were part of Uncharted 2 Project team. Uncharted Lost Legacy was another strong recognition for ND team. And it wasn’t direct by Neil.

[Jls1]

One would hope the next generation game would have better animation etc. That dosent mean the story is better.

[UCForce]

The Story Of Uncharted 4 wasn’t supposed to be like Uncharted 2. For me, I like it. I like personal and grounded story.

[zivtheawesome]

Today: Vice President of naughty dog. Tomorrow, the world!

[Mr Lahey]

.

[wenaldy]

Did Druckmann forced himself to be Vice President? Jokes aside, congratulations!!!