After 25 years with the studio, Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells is retiring from Naughty Dog.
The choice had lots of “frustrating and conflicting feelings”, Wells said, however included he was “material” with his time at Naughty Dog and whatever the group had actually achieved throughout his period.
“There’s never ever an ideal time to step away, however I’m extremely positive that I’ll be leaving the studio in the very best hands,” Wells composed in a declaration.
“Neil [Druckmann, Naughty Dog’s co-president] and the rest of the capable and vibrant Studio Leadership Team are completely fit to make sure Naughty Dog continues to lead the market – not just in the video games we make, however the environment in which we make them.
“I am positive that Naughty Dog will continue to press the market and our medium forward.”
During his 25 years with the studio, Wells has actually been included with whatever from Crash Bandicoot to The Last of Us.
“Every significant life turning point I can track with a Naughty Dog job,” Well continued. “I fulfilled my spouse throughout Crash Team Racing, we took our honeymoon after shipping Jak 2, had our very first kid E3 week when we revealed Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and our 2nd kid was born right in the thick of advancement on The Last of Us.”
Not having the ability to see the studio’s present tasks to conclusion will be “difficult”, he included.
“I believe Naughty Dog will reach brand-new heights and continue to raise the bar for the cutting-edge.”
In action to Wells’ news, Druckmann said he was sad to see his coach leave, however that Wells’ “unequaled tradition will permanently belong to Naughty Dog”.
After 25 unbelievable years, Naughty Dog Co-President Evan Wells reveals he will be retiring later on this year. We’re so grateful for his skills, assistance, and management in assisting to form our studio.
Read more from Evan here: https://t.co/K2kev1KkQi pic.twitter.com/7GrK5XClWp
— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) July 11, 2023
Naughty Dog is presently dealing with its standalone Last of Us multiplayer game.
While the studio assured we would hear more about its “enthusiastic” job at some point this year, in May it was revealed that Naughty Dog had “decreased” advancement after Destiny maker Bungie – which has actually been separately examining Sony’s numerous “video games as a service” tasks considering that its was gotten in 2015 – raised issues about The Last of Us multiplayer’s “capability to keep gamers engaged for an extended period of time”.
Naughty Dog has actually said little about what it’s dealing with aside from this job, however fans have actually hypothesized some mysterious, fantasy inspired artwork discovered on a wall in the studio’s The Last of Us Part 1 may provide hints to its next video game.
In addition to this, The Last of Us Part 3 rumours started making rounds once again previously this month, with reports recommending “significant shooting” for the series’ next instalment might begin as quickly as this year.
