On Wednesday we reported on the departure of Uncharted creative director and writer, Amy Hennig from developer Naughty Dog. The report came from IGN and their sources, stating that Amy had been “forced out” of the studio after 10 years by The Last of Us' Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley. The news no doubt upset many people because with it came the image that Druckmann and Straley were not so nice guys. People created their own theories and it made matters worse.
Last night Naughty Dog Presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra released a public statement regarding the departure of Amy Hennig from the studio and how the news was handled “unprofessionally”.
“Earlier this week we had to confirm the regrettable news that Amy Hennig has left Naughty Dog. She will be missed and, as we stated before, we appreciate the significant contributions that she has made to Naughty Dog and the industry in general. We wish her the best. However, we feel it necessary to clear up a very important point that was unprofessionally misreported when the story broke,” said Wells and Balestra.
“Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann were NOT involved in what transpired. It was very upsetting to us that dozens of stories were run, linking back to the same hurtful accusations in the original report. As co-presidents of Naughty Dog, we are responsible for all studio affairs.
Normally, we wouldn’t respond to rumors and speculation on matters that are internal to Naughty Dog, but because the personal reputation of two of our employees is being damaged we needed to set the record straight.”
Uncharted 4 Creative Director Allegedly "Forced Out" of Naughty Dog
It is clear that the Uncharted and The Last of Us developer is not happy about how the initial report on Amy's leaving was handled and phrased. IGN's sources were not named, but the term “forced out” caused enough of a backlash that the studio released this public statement.
Wells and Balestra ended with, “There is nothing left to be said on this subject. Now we’re going back to what we should be focused on – making games.”
There is still currently no news on whether or not Amy has found a new place of employment.
