Interestingly, one of his jobs during those four years was at the very studio whose next (and first) game is in the news today, how coincidental…
Lee Davis, who has worked as an animator in the games industry, has announced on LinkedIn that he is back at Naughty Dog (where he has been promoted to Senior Animator). He joined the studio in 2010 to work on two installments of The Last of Us, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. In 2020, he left to join The Initiative, which Microsoft created as a sort of elite unit, and is currently working on Perfect Dark with Crystal Dynamics.
He worked there for a year and a half, probably with little success, as Microsoft still showed an early version of the game at the Xbox Games Showcase (this was recently in the news). He then moved to PlayStation-backed Deviation Games in March 2022, but the studio that created the new live service IP was recently shut down by Sony. In March, HR Director and Operations Director Kriste Stull said it was with a heavy heart that they decided to support the closure, and expressed her gratitude to the entire team for their work, dedication and contribution, and was very happy for the opportunity to work with everyone there.
It’s not yet known what Davis is working on in his old-new job, but it’s likely to be what Neil Druckmann recently told us: “So not only am I excited about this game that we’re making – and it’s, it’s something really fresh for us – but I’m also excited to see how the world responds to it. Because of The Last of Us and the success of the show, people outside of gaming are looking at us to see what we put out next. I’m very excited to see what the reaction will be to this thing – and I’ve said too much about it already. I’ll stop there.”
At least Davis won’t have long to settle in.
Leave a Reply