Game director Bruce Straley of “The Last of Us 2” prequel recently announced his exit from Naughty Dog after working with the studio for nearly twenty years. Last year, the company said that Straley won’t be back to helm the second installment of the TLOU franchise.
Via his blog at Naughty Dog’s official website, Straley explained that this decision to depart from the studio is the hardest one he has made in his entire career. But he wrote that he is leaving the company with the most formidable team ever formed to date and it truly tells so much.
Naughty Dog's work culture
He added that besides the talent, what he will miss most are the people there. The game director also reminisced how Naughty Dog enabled him to forge friendships and he has huge respect for this admirable team. He shared that the company’s work culture means getting out of that chair and solving problems altogether.
In his message, Straley went on saying that he feels proud to be a part of the team and he is looking forward to seeing for himself what it creates in the future. He thanked the people he worked with on “Uncharted” series - Amy Hennig and Neil Druckmann including company president Evan Wells and the co-founders.
Straley's works
One of Straley’s remarkable works in his early years with Naughty Dog was the 1999 “Crash Team Racing,” his first title.
In more recent times, he directed “Uncharted 2” with Hennig as well as Uncharted 4” and “The Last of Us” with Druckmann.
It was late last year when news came out that Straley was not returning as director of “The Last of Us 2” and he would take a hiatus from the studio.
Leaving with a heavy heart
He ended his blog post saying that he closed this chapter in his life with a heavy heart and gratitude for everything the studio afforded him.
He does not have anything to announce about what’s next for him at the moment.
However, he said that he looks forward to the day he’d be able to share his next project with the gaming community. Naughty Dog has not yet issued a statement regarding Straley's departure.
Update on TLOU 2
In other news, the sequel to Straley’s phenomenal post-apocalyptic survival horror title is currently in development as an exclusive PS4 and PS4 Pro title.
The details remain scarce following its initial announcement at PlayStation Experience in December last year.
After it skipped E3 2017, it is expected that "The Last of Us 2" will headline the PSX 2017 in December. The game does not have a release date yet and recent reports suggest it's still in early stages of production.
