One of the “faces” of Naughty Dog did not take the easy way out to make a game that has been out for almost eleven years and has since spawned a PlayStation 4 port, a PlayStation 5 remake, and a TV series in addition to a sequel.

Druckmann had a hard time getting a job at Naughty Dog (he didn’t even get in as an intern at first), but in May 2004 he joined the studio as a programming intern, working on the localization and gameplay programming tools for Jak 3, and then came one of the hardest jobs of his life: programming the menu screens for Jak X: Combat Racing. But after much prodding, he moved to a design position, and Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier was his first such job. From there, he moved into the design position for Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, but designing Drake’s first adventure was difficult.

But a great challenge came. He was tasked by Naughty Dog with making Jak and Daxter more lifelike. He then asked the head of the studio, Evan Wells, if he was sure this was the IP he should be working on. The answer was no, and then the idea for The Last of Us quickly formed in Druckmann’s head, and once the studio didn’t limit his vision, he quickly got to work on something new.

For Druckmann, it was a personal touch, as he was born in Israel and immigrated to the United States in 1989 when he was 10 or 11 years old. That’s why The Last of Us showed America as both beautiful and dangerous, and why it featured extended scenes of dialogue and emotional vulnerability. Druckmann promised the LA Times that Naughty Dog will not be the studio behind The Last of Us forever, as they have other game projects in the works. Among them are several single-player titles. They’re creating experiences that are story-driven, character-driven, personality-driven, and the stories have a philosophical core and everything revolves around that.

Is that how Sony thinks?

Source: LA Times