Neil Druckmann to receive Andrew Yoon Award at New York Game Awards

The co-director/writer of the Last of Us games is being awarded for his 20-year tenure at Naughty Dog and progressing from staff intern to co-president.

[Obscure_Observer]

Well deserved!

The man is a genius and gaming legend!

[Jin_Sakai]

Nah. The best games from Naughty Dog come from Amy Hennig and Bruce Straley.

Amy Hennig - Uncharted Director

Bruce Straley, Amy Hennig - Uncharted 2 Director

Amy Hennig, Justin Richmond - Uncharted 3 Director

Bruce Straley, Neil Druckmann - Uncharted 4 Director

Bruce Straley, Neil Druckmann - The Last of Us Director

Neil Druckmann, Anthony Newman, Kurt Margenau - The Last of Us: Part 2

[darthv72]

All of those games were great. And all three of them worked on three a piece, some even together. That doesn't take away from Obscures compliment or the fact Neil is getting an award for progressing up the ranks like he did. If Amy and Bruce were still there, Im sure they too would get similar awards. Maybe they did before they left...? I'll bet you they show up to watch him receive it though. They are all still friends.

[Crows90]

Uncharted 4 - my least favourite uncharted.
The last of us - best game from naughtydog some would say.
The last of us part 2 - by far naughtydogs worst game ever made...Maybe uncharted 3 takes that one though.

Their next game will really tell me whether naughtydog is worth any of my attention anymore.

[outsider1624]

The last of us 2 also had haley Gross iirc. And does it matter lol...all of them were/are with naughty dog. They all did their best.

[tay8701]

Not true at all. Amy had nothing to do with uncharted 4, the last of us and the last of us 2. That's 3 of naughty dogs best games. Go ahead and try to rewrite history if you like, but facts don't support your statement. The last of us is Neils baby. It is sonys most important IP. uncharted or any other sony owned IP haven't translated nearly as well as the last of us has to other media venues. People like to trash t.l.o.u. 2 but the fact is it won more game awards than any other game, until elden ring recently bested it.

[Cacabunga]

This guy will be the cause of this studio’s downfall.. mark my words

[lellkay]

Whilst I like all of these games, I personally prefer the games that Druckman was involved with. Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us are two my favourite games of all time and The Last of Us Part 2 is a game I am a big fan of to.

[Cacabunga]

Uncharted are all amazing.. somehow I enjoy them more on my second playthrough.

U3 has a mention because I was enjoying it in 3D it was really good

[shinoff2183]

Just nevermind. I don't feel like it today 😘

[neutralgamer1992]

oh please

this man has done well to push agendas and ruin franchises but go ahead and praise him. as the head of ND they have yet to make any impact on current gen

[ModsDoBetter]

Lol devan is a new account.
Oooh someone doesn't agree with my outlook, they must be a BIGOT! 😂 alphabet mafia final boss

[Crows90]

@Devan

The agenda where freedom of thought is looked down upon and follows whatever the mainstream media gets behind.

The real bigots are those that cant accept other viewpoints and leave well enough alone...Instead they are compelled to destroy individuals for wrongthink while claiming superior moral ground of which they have none. Especially considering that if Ellie was 14 in the last of us part 1 then she may have been 12 in Left Behind. This means Neil druckman sexualized a 12 year old...not even a teenager yet or barely one. Its utterly disgusting.

[Sonic1881]

He ain't no gaming legend. But then again I ain't no fan of LOU part 2

[Crows90]

Most arent. At least not with the story.

[thecodingart]

This man is an egotistical person who has practically ruined naughty dog…

[goldwyncq]

When I think of gaming legends, I think of people like Shigeru Miyamoto or Hideo Kojima, not a guy who made an unnecessary sequel and divided the fanbase because of controversial decisions.

[Crows90]

Nah. He barely had anything to do with any of naughty dog successes. If you read up on what he wanted from the Last of Us part 1 you would see how awful it would have been...hence the enormous divide in fans with the last of us part 2.

[Crows90]

@devan

Dude...you mean ps5? Now you're playing the console fanboy card? If youre going to claim such nonsense at least look through my history. Youre only showing how full of it you are. Grasping at straws boy.

Look if youre into 12 year old girls kissing and exploring 12 year old sexuality thats your thing and neils.

[-Foxtrot]

His original pitch before Bruce Straley sounded awful

https://www.thegamer.com/in...

Then you had TLOU initial pitch where Joel did something bad to Tess in the past which made her hunt him down with her small army across America before beating the shit out of him in the end. A story that sounds a lot like TLOU2 with Abby getting revenge on Joel with her friends and a story that Bruce rejected because he said it was unbelievable someone in that harsh world would hang onto for revenge for so long and could actually manage to get people to follow her on this personal vendetta.

People don't want to admit it but Bruce had a LOT to do with the first games success, Neil himself has said it into Reddit AMAs and the like how involved Bruce was with the game and story.

[Crows90]

@ Foxtrot
It is absolutely awful and most placed were giving him the boot.

Bruce was the only reason we came to love The Last of Us. Most are just not reading up on it themselves. Neil has only ever gotten in the way of good storytelling...hence now that he's in charge we get the massively divisive story of tlou2

Heck you can even see in my comment right now being split 10/10 which makes my comment true...funny.

[Vengeance1138]

Tell me you know nothing about naughty dog games without telling me you know nothing about naughty dog games.

[Brazz]

Rare for me to agree with you. it's becoming more common, but still rare.

[Kaii]

Oh my
*The Andrew Yoon Legend Award recognizes those who have propelled the gaming world forward, celebrating their profound impact on an industry that continues to captivate and connect people worldwide.

Revenge is bad, ok. Mutilate the character in front of the audience's eyes with a golf club and forgive'em in the last act because we must learn to forgive or learn it's an endless cycle of Naruto hate if with don't forgive this person.
"Runs away from this discussion because it'll only go one way, ./bows out"

[mkis007]

I never will understand the standpoint that joel was safe from any and all horrors just because he was the protagonist of the first game. It's not about forgiveness. It's purely about the cycle. What the people who hate 2 want has been done a million times before.

[Crows90]

I'll never understand that standpoint either...seeing as nobody is taking that standpoint...any other standpoints you want to project?

[spicelicka]

As opposed to character A gets killed by character B, character C takes revenge and kills character B at the end? How many times has that generic revenge template been used? At least 99%?

It always bewilders me that people have no problem with completely cookiecutter and generic story direction, but the minute someone tries to do something different everyone turns into the most snobby critic from Britain.

[StarcrossedBits]

This is a nonsensical award anyway. I worked with Yoon back at Joystiq in the mid 00s - he was just some guy. A minor videogame journalist who made one game and then died in a tragic accident.

The award was literally created by a friend/partner of his to keep his legacy alive, but he really didn't have a legacy and definitely wasn't a major contributor to the videogame world. No more than any editor / writer on IGN or something.

The only person who cares about this award is Yoon's friend. Definitely not something the people getting it particularly care about, since why would they? It's like me giving out the 'StarcrossedBits' award to Miyamoto.

[cloganart]

If something happened to you and there was an award dedicated to you, I'd be more than happy to receive it bro <3 :(

[CrimsonWing69]

I really enjoyed Last of Us 2, but I remember reading an interview with him where he wants to push diverse characters in a way that seems disingenuous and almost aggressive for the sake of brownie points and that doesn’t really sit well with me.

I felt The Last of Us 2 was handled fine with that, but I can see this guy getting way overzealous to the point it becomes too in your face.

Without balance you almost become the very thing you’re trying to champion against.

[Crows90]

Watch out for the bigot sandwich thrown your way. lol

We all know that people were using the word bigot all of the time in the past...wait...no thats just recently.
Expecting balance from neil is like expecting balance from todays society.

[outsider1624]

I dont see it as an issue if he wants to push diverse characters. Just as long as it doesn't feel forced. And some scenes though didn't sit right with me. Like that sex scene for eg. It just didnt make sense. All in all though truly an experience.

[CrimsonWing69]

I think it made sense. They weren’t ever truly over each other. Love can be messy like that. That was actually a realistic portrayal of how people have broken up, but still want each when one of them is involved with another.

[-Foxtrot]

"Like that sex scene for eg"

Abby pretty much forced herself on a very drunk Owen and took advantage

If it was the other way round it would have been called out.

[-Foxtrot]

As someone part of the LGBT+ community I didn't get or like the way they did Lev in TLOU2, they had someone so far into this post apocalyptic setting, brainwashed by a cult with no knowledge of the old world yet they still tried to do some sort of trans storyline like our real world views still applied. How could Lev so far into this cult and new world do what a typical trans kid would do today by cutting their hair, going by he/him pronouns, changing their name and the like when it took us in the real world so long to get to that point in our modern stable society. I'm sure people in the games Universe would be more worried about surviving each day than worrying if they were trans or hell even what trans was since again there's no knowledge of the old world and Lev grew up in an old fashioned like cult. Just seemed like the wrong kind of game to do it in, fair enough if it was someone older at Joels age who grew up in the old world but a young kid?

I just think it felt forced and honestly Lev wasn't done well at all. It came across like he cut his hair and changed his name/pronouns because he saw his sister got to become a warrior while he was chosen to be a child bride for this creepy old guy and he didn't want that. So to be with his sister he cut his hair thinking it would get him out of it, so he'd become a warrior like his sister but it actually put a target on his back instead. That's how it came off because of the writing. Once he got away he kept the name and new identity to remove himself from his old life and trauma.

Even Ellie with the whole bigot sandwich thing, why would Seth be a homophobic ass hole to her in this little community who are trying to survive together? I think 25 years into a devastating world wide catastrophe would have washed those old minded views right out of anyones system because at the end of the day it's all about surviving, not what sexuality they are or race, so why be sudden homophobic prick drunk or not.

[outsider1624]

As far as Lev's part, i have no idea how or what they feel. maybe you're right.

But with regards to Seth, the whole dance floor saw Ellie and Dina kissed.
And trust me when i say this..but there are people who when they see 2 people of the same gender kiss. It gets on their nerves. Its happened like that, it's happening now. And no matter how any years it takes in the apocalypse it'll still go on. Hence the bigot sandwich thing.

[-Foxtrot]

"Its happened like that, it's happening now. And no matter how any years it takes in the apocalypse it'll still go on"

Will it though? Even if you are a closed minded person 20 odd years into the future where you've managed to survive harsh conditions you've now fortunately found a haven, a community where you feel safe, would you really be that bothered about two people of the same gender kissing still? I think most people would just be glad they have someone safe to live and live their lives.

Also its Ellie, Joels "daughter", Joel as in the brother of Tommy who runs the place with his wife...why risk any trouble.

[isarai]

where's da GAMEZ!

[Hofstaderman]

Exactly. Insomniac is holding the fort this gen.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

That would be Frontwing

[-Foxtrot]

He's too busy blowing his load all over Hollywood to give a shit

He just knows if he leaves a full on stable high end job at ND to pursue his dream in writing it's a risky business, you're not guaranteed jobs and a steady income (look at the recent strikes for example)

[outsider1624]

They're being remastered. Be patience. Lol.

[jznrpg]

Never heard of this award. Good for him. Give us TLOU3 or the new sci fi game already!

[Stanjara]

Playing LOU2 is like drinking Soylent.
It just kills testosterone in a young man.

[babadivad]

K...

[anast]

He should win awards. He is one of the very few that is actually talented.

[shinoff2183]

For all the people talking bigot bigot bigot. I haven't seen one comment about someone calling someone a bigot. It's just a pretty wide circle jerk in this articles comment section

[Vengeance1138]

They give out awards for being a cuck now?

[crustcate]

Microsoft will buy every other 3rd party publisher in due time. https://projectfreetv.onl/
https://waplus.win/