Amy Hennig, lead writer and creative director for the Uncharted series who abruptly left developer Naughty Dog, has today joined Electronic Arts. She will be the creative director at Visceral Games for an upcoming Star Wars project.
Hennig was one of the main forces behind what made the Uncharted series special, and her departure from Naughty Dog seemed abrupt and strange, though the studio's heads denied any wrongdoings on their part. She has not been employed in the industry since her departure fron Naughty Dog almost exactly one month ago.
Hennig is thrilled to be joining EA again (she started her career there), and is a huge Star Wars fan. She took to Twitter to express her joy about her new position, sharing some thoughts in a series of tweets:
Very excited to share that I'm joining @VisceralGames as Creative Director on a new Star Wars project! https://t.co/QKGtguaDIr
— Amy Hennig (@amy_hennig) April 3, 2014
Also very excited to be working alongside my old friend Steve Papoutsis (@leveluptime) again! — Amy Hennig (@amy_hennig) April 3, 2014
I began my career @EA almost a quarter century ago (I have the 1991 Rising Star award from @realtriphawkins to prove it - ha! ;) ... — Amy Hennig (@amy_hennig) April 3, 2014
It's a privilege to have the opportunity to contribute to the Star Wars universe, after it's had such a formative influence on my life. — Amy Hennig (@amy_hennig) April 3, 2014
Two amazing things entered my life in 1977 - Star Wars and the Atari 2600...— Amy Hennig (@amy_hennig) April 3, 2014
This opportunity is the confluence of the 2 most influential experiences of my youth, and I couldn't be more excited to go on this journey. — Amy Hennig (@amy_hennig) April 3, 2014
Visceral Games VP Steve Papoutsis, Amy's former colleague she mentioned on Twitter, also posted a statement on EA's website, welcoming Hennig and describing her career positively:
"Amy has long been recognized as one of our industry's top visionaries, and is coming off an amazing run as the Writer and Creative Director of the Uncharted franchise. But her contributions go beyond the games she helped create at Naughty Dog and at Crystal Dynamics, where we worked together many years ago.
As both a colleague and friend, I've always admired her approach to creative development - focusing on nailing down the soul of a game first, and then making sure the writing, the gameplay, the design and the art comes together to form a unified, interactive experience for the player. This fits in perfectly with what we're trying to do here at Visceral and Amy's going to help us continue in our pursuit to make the most thrilling, immersive games in the world.
Over the last few weeks, Amy and I have spent a lot of time talking about what her first project would be. There are a lot of different directions we could have gone, but I could sense that what really excited her about this opportunity (because let's face it, we weren't the only ones knocking at her door) was Star Wars. Amy's a huge fan. We happen to be making a Star Wars game. Just thinking about the possibilities made both of us even more excited about having her join the team.
So welcome, Amy! This is a great day for our team at Visceral Games and EA."
