What is going on at Naughty Dog?
What´s Naughty Dog up to? Quite a lot so it seems.
Michael Knowland, the Lead Character Artist for the cult classic The Last of Us to, has left Sony Studios. Via his profile on Linkedin, he seems to confirm that he departed the Sony first-party studio this month.
Having worked as a Lead Character Artist on the PlayStation 3-exclusive title The Last of Us for over two years, his profile confirms that he was not involved in the creation of the next Uncharted game, which is currently under development for the PS4.
If you have been following the trend, in March, it was confirmed that Amy Hennig had left the company to join Visceral Games, where she is hard at work on a new Star Wars title (hopefully, a new Star Wars Battlefront ).
At first it remained open ended as to why she left the Sony family, when she announced her departure, but it was later confirmed she left on amicable terms. Speculation led many to believe she received a lucrative offer from Visceral Games, due to her sudden departure, and employment.
Not long after, Justin Richmond, who has been working on the Uncharted series since, Uncharted Drake’s Fortune, decided to depart, and had taken a position at Riot Games.
Adding salt to the wounds Naughty Dog already has, Just last week, Nate Wells, who worked as Lead Artist on The Last of Us, announced that he had moved over to Giant Sparrow, the creator of the PlayStation Network title, The Unfinished Swan.
And last but not least, Todd Stashwick, who was attached to Uncharted 4 in a voice over role, revealed on April, 21st that his role had been recast. He has now joined Hennig on the new Star Wars title over at Visceral Games. This could be due to a number of factors, including Henning trying to bring him into the fold, or an abundance of freedom of creativity.
But we will find out more soon, especially with E3 right around the corner. And the Last of Us Grounded DLC coming out May 5, 2014, the future is uncertain.
/Kenay Peterson
The Gaming Ground
