Ex-Naughty Dog Director Responds to The Last of Us Part 1’s Controversial Change
SEPTEMBER 01, 2022
Bruce Straley, The Last of Us‘ director who surprisingly left Naughty Dog in 2017, has provided a succinct but perhaps telling response to a tweet about The Last of Us Part 1’s credits. A user revealed a side-by-side comparison showing an interesting alteration that makes Neil Druckmann’s name appear twice at the start of the credits — and while the credits change may not be as controversial as has been suggested, Straley’s response is certainly an interesting one.
How The Last of Us Part 1’s ending credits were changed
Bruce Straley responded to user
@ThurstonTowel, who claimed that a change in The Last of Us Part 1’s credits saw Creative Director Neil Druckmann’s name replace Art Director Erick Pangilinan. The user added: “Neil ditched Eric to make sure his own name is now mentioned twice next to yours in order to assert his authorship/ownership,” to which Straley responded with a thinking face and shrugging emoji, indicating disapproval.
PlayStation LifeStyle watched The Last of Us Part 1’s end credits back to see if Druckmann had indeed replaced Pangilinan, but found that the change isn’t as controversial as the Twitter user has suggested. The Last of Us Remastered featured rolling credits, which is where Druckmann’s name appeared alongside Straley and Pangilinan, while Part 1 features cards on which different credits are shown. While Druckmann does indeed replace Pangilinan in this particular trio of credits, the entire credits have been changed from the ground up, meaning the suggestion that Druckmann was trying to “assert his authorship” is questionable.
At any rate, Straley’s response to a user suggesting that the change is the result of Druckmann’s hubris is interesting. Straley previously commented that his departure from Naughty Dog was at least partially due to burnout, though had previously told Kotaku that it was “nothing to do with Naughty Dog,” but instead the result of him being a “perfectionist.” While Straley’s tweet doesn’t exactly shed more light on this situation, it does imply that he may not have a favorable opinion of Druckmann.
After an almost five-year hiatus away from the games altogether, Straley has started a new gaming studio called Wildflower Interactive that currently boasts veterans from across the industry. According to the developer’s website, Wildflower will be “making ‘small-ish,’ creatively-charged, uniquely-stylized games” that are more exploratory and original.
