Problems with The Last of Us 2 and hellish work: a former Naughty Dog employee about the studio's inner workings

Journalist Jason Schreier continues to delve into the inner workings of major game studios. In that

once the editor of Kotaku spoke about Naughty Dog and the difficulties of working on The Last of Us: Part 2, which he learned about after talking with former employees of the company.

What is known

Uncharted 4 crippled the developers becausesome left the studio after the game's release. As a result, only 6 of the 20 designers listed in the credits of Nathan Drake's latest adventure began working on The Last of Us: Part 2.

At Naughty Dog, employees are not required tostay late, but most still work overtime. When hiring new employees, management is looking for perfectionists who will stay longer to do the job “10%” better.

Of course, the company has employees whoThey get the job done in eight hours. At the same time, some of the developers are connected to each other, so if one is not at work at nine in the evening, then the process stops for the second. In addition, some employees cannot go home until they wait until the end of a meeting with one of their managers.


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Many Naughty Dog employees believe thatThe Last of Us: Part 2 is the studio's most ambitious game, making the rest seem small. Still, some believe that the project is not worth such sacrifices.

According to the anonymous author, if The Last of Us 2 had been releasedin February, it would have turned out to be “problematic”. Additional months will be spent on improving the quality of the game, but employees have been warned not to slow down the pace. It will be months of rework until the release itself.

Naughty Dog develops games "iteratively" -certain aspects are constantly being improved, but sometimes employees are not told when to stop. In addition, there is no production department to supervise the work of individual people. As a result, the artist can spend several days painting a building that has long been abandoned.

Let us remind you that The Last of Us: Part 2 will be released on May 29, 2020 on PlayStation 4.

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