One of the most important studios of Sony Interactive Entertainment has had its leadership somewhat reshuffled.

Naughty Dog‘s website reveals that the studio has reorganized its leadership somewhat, leading to some promotions. Until now, Naughty Dog had a president (Evan Wells), but his role is now changed to co-president, as he is joined by Neil Druckmann. He was vice president for three years, and he has been a pivotal person in most of the recent Naughty Dog titles (Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune – Game designer, co-writer; Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – co-lead game designer, co-writer; The Last of Us (as well its Left Behind DLC) – creative director, writer; Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – creative director, lead co-writer; Uncharted: The Lost Legacy – head of narrative development; The Last of Us Part II – Creative director, lead co-writer).

With Druckmann’s promotion, Alison Mori and Christian Gyrling have become vice presidents. Until now, Mori was the director of operations, and Gyrling has previously been the co-director of programming. Seeing their previous roles within the studio, it makes sense to have two vice presidents. But seeing Druckmann’s promotion, we have to ask: will he still have enough time or influence in game development?

The promotion means he will have a lot of non-development tasks to deal with, and it might impact the third The Last of Us game, which is all but confirmed to happen eventually. There’s also HBO’s The Last of Us series in the works, and Druckmann happens to be a producer of this project, taking more time away from him in the next few months.

Meanwhile, The Last of Us Part II: Factions is possibly in development at Naughty Dog, and it’s likely going to be on PlayStation 5, meaning an updated, “remastered” version could launch on the new Sony console, just like how the first The Last of Us was launched late in the PS3 era, followed by a PlayStation 4 port.

Source: DualShockers

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