Interesting Naughty Dog interview

[Gizmo_Duck]

They’ve mostly been silent since releasing TLOU2 so this was somewhat cool to hear.

Speaking about that legacy, Naughty Dog has had such an interesting history. It started making kid-friendly platformers and almost every project has gotten more mature. Can you talk about that progression?

Evan Wells: A lot of it comes through our staff maturing but also the industry and the medium maturing. Back when we were making Crash Bandicoot, we couldn't conceive of making a game like the The Last of Us, it just wasn't technically achievable. As creators we've grown through the years and we've progressed with the hardware and actually tried to stay ahead of that curve. With Crash Bandicoot, we had to have a big head with big features just so you could read the character expressions. Then when we move to PS2, we could get more detail we could go more humanoid. With the PS3, we could finally get that subtlety where you have emotion between the lines and really get the subtle facial features. Each hardware production has allowed us to delve into more interesting content.

Neil Druckmann: We have more flexibility now. Now we have the luxury of picking and choosing what style, and what kind of story, and what kind of game we want to create.

Do you have any desire to go towards lighter fare or return to your roots, to those kid-friendly games?

Evan Wells: If we had endless resources and time it would be super fun to do that. You look at what Insomniac is doing with Ratchet and Clank and it's exciting. It's great to see that stuff. We're just limited with time, you know, I'm 48 years-old and how many more games do you get to make, so you got to pick and choose.

Neil Druckmann: Once we finish a project, we spend quite a bit of time entertaining all sorts of different directions, whether it's going to be something new or if we're going back to some old franchise. We really take our time with it, and if you were to see our folders of concept art you'd see unused concepts that are all over the gamut. Then we look at everything and we ask ourselves what are we excited by? What's something that's going to challenge us and push us, and push the medium as far as games that can be? Because that inspiration is so important to carry through years of production.

Some companies seem to be moving away from the big, story-driven single-player games. For example, Ubisoft recently announced that it would be developing more long-tail, free-to-play games. Do you feel that story-driven, single-player games are still Naughty Dog's future?

Evan Wells: Absolutely. Yeah, and it's sort of in our DNA to tell these stories. I think that's going to continue. Single-player experiences are near and dear to us. It's what has attracted a lot of people to Naughty Dog, and that's what inspires them, so I think we're going to keep at it as long as we can.

Neil Druckmann: And again, going back to who Sony is, there has never been a mandate like, "Oh, this is where we see the winds shifting. Can you start making these kind of games instead?" We know just as they know that when you work on something you're excited by, something you're passionate by, you're going to do great work.

You basically put a bow on the Uncharted series, but you still have that The Last of Us multiplayer project in the works. Do you want to continue to work on the IP you've established or do you have a desire to create new properties at this point?

Evan Wells: I think the easy answer is: both. I think there's excitement to develop new IP, but there is still a ton of love for Uncharted and The Last of Us, and I think you'll see both kinds of projects from us in the future.

Naughty Dog has such a proven track record, but that hasn't come without cost. Over the years, you've come under fire for studio crunch. Could you speak to your personal experience with crunch and how that's affected the studio?

Evan Wells: I have definitely personally worked very hard over the years. I think some of that has helped me get to where I am in my career. As a studio, we've all worked hard together, and we are working very hard on every project to find the right balance, just like we do in all of our technical aspects of creating a game. We have post mortems and we look at how the animation went and we look at how the design went and we dig really deep into all the things that could have been better and the things we got right. We do the same thing with production. We look at how the whole game was created, and where we can make improvements and how we can strike the right balance between giving people the opportunity to – as I mentioned earlier – leave their mark on the industry and advance their craft in ways that have never been achieved, but also find space along that spectrum.

Neil Druckmann: We have so many talented people that are good at solving problems, whether they're creative or technical. Let me go back to The Last of Us Part II; some pillars that were important to us were diversity, diversity in the people we hire and the characters that we have in our game as well as accessibility and how do we make our games more accessible. Likewise, we're looking at quality of life for preventing burnout, to employ the brain power we have in our studio, and we started coming up with working groups to talk about the areas in the studio where we can improve. We worked a particular way when we're 40 people, now we have to evolve as we keep growing.

Evan Wells: Something else that we're really focused on is increasing the level of management at the studio. We have more directors and more leads, all with the end goal of giving the entire team more opportunities to provide feedback and check in on their well-being.

 

[Deep_Black_Conscious]

They probably have multiple teams now similiar to Insomniac
TLOU team
New IP teams
I expect to see TLOU3 at the end of gen but I would not be surprised if ND releases more than one standalone TLOU quality games (Savage Starlight and ?)
I expect TLOU Remake, DLC content, Factions, and TLOU3 for the TLOU franchise
Savage Starlight as either a new franchise or a standalone new IP (rpg?)
Maybe one more standalone game

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

They probably have multiple teams now similiar to Insomniac
TLOU team
New IP teams
I expect to see TLOU3 at the end of gen but I would not be surprised if ND releases more than one standalone TLOU quality games (Savage Starlight and ?)
I expect TLOU Remake, DLC content, Factions, and TLOU3 for the TLOU franchise
Savage Starlight as either a new franchise or a standalone new IP (rpg?)
Maybe one more standalone game

they mention they have more directors and more leads (i didn't post that part of the interview) it seems they've expanded a lot. I would expect TLOU remake, Factions or whatever it ends up being, new IP, and TLOU3 to be a cross gen game

 

[Deep_Black_Conscious]

they mention they have more directors and more leads (i didn't post that part of the interview) it seems they've expanded a lot. I would expect TLOU remake, Factions or whatever it ends up being, new IP, and TLOU3 to be a cross gen game

oh hell nah
The only cross gen game will be Factions, by the time TLOU3 comes out (2025-2027 at the earliest), there should be plenty of PS5s for it to be PS5 exclusive. foh w/ this cross gen talk I better not see no major cross gen first party games past 2022
Imagine a game like TLOU3 being held back by the PS4

 

[Diondon]

ND might be the GOAT

 

[Chris Cool]

ND might be the GOAT

They got the crown since rockstar sold out.

 

[Deep_Black_Conscious]

ND might be the GOAT

they're set to release multiple gotg games this gen, will release a remake that will probably be so good it will also be considered for GOTY (I expect new content like Joel's savage days with his brother, add TLOU2's combat ), will have a franchise with each entry being a gotg game (TLOU2 being the most controversial) since I assume TLOU3 will be a gotg game with only potential issue being story execution or outcomes people don't like since it's Neil(I expect Ellie to die miserably in TLOU3 and Abby to live scratch free Neil loves Abby Some miserable ending should be expected), and a new IP (obviously Savage Starlight) that can be a new TLOUesque franchise or be a unique standalone game similar to what TLOU what supposed to be.
TLOU was teased in a similar way to Savage Starlight.
Maybe one more new IP or a Savage Starlight sequel

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

oh hell nah
The only cross gen game will be Factions, by the time TLOU3 comes out (2025-2027 at the earliest), there should be plenty of PS5s for it to be PS5 exclusive. foh w/ this cross gen talk I better not see no major cross gen first party games past 2022
Imagine a game like TLOU3 being held back by the PS4

cross-gen next gen, please settle, ddidn't mean to so casually drop the CG word

but i have a feeling tlou3 is gonna be another end of gen game like the prior 2. faction and a new IP between now and then. not even counting the remakes or directors cuts

Naughty Dog released 3 games last gen without the last of us remaster.

 

[Tunez]

Which team is working on TLOU2 for PS5?

 

[HoldThisL]

I just want Factions back for TLOU and Uncharted multiplayer to go back to Uncharted 2 style