Ex-Naughty Dog Employee Criticizes Laufey Before Claiming Misquote

Bruce Straley has been misunderstood, and everyone at Santa Monica does a great job.

Bruce Straley, a former lead employee at Naughty Dog and the game director of The Last of Us, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, has criticized the modern AAA game industry. In an interview with Edge magazine focused on the problems of high-budget production, the developer stated that large projects have become too cautious and rarely offer genuinely new gameplay ideas.

Straley cited God of War Laufey as an example, emphasizing that he was not questioning the quality of execution. According to him, the visual presentation of such projects is impressive, but the gameplay itself no longer sparks his previous interest.

Look at God of War: every pixel there is simply breathtaking. The amount of work and craftsmanship put into every frame… I’ve made games at that level myself, and I’m still blown away by what I see. And yet, when I look at the gameplay itself, it doesn’t grab me. And it’s not about the God of War team at all. It’s just that in the AAA sector as a whole, there seems to be no room left for fresh, groundbreaking ideas.

Bruce Straley, industry veteran.

In Straley’s view, one of the reasons for this problem is the high cost of modern AAA projects. The more funds required to produce a game, the less willing publishers and company executives are to take risks. As a result, developers rely more often on proven formulas and aim for the widest possible audience.

Following the interview, Straley reached out to state that he only brought up God of War Laufey as an example and that his words were taken out of context.

I want to apologize to the Laufey team for dragging you into this situation, which has brought unwanted and completely unnecessary negative attention to you. I was trying to highlight an issue troubling the industry, but my words are now being taken out of context and used for clickbait. You don’t need that. I apologize.

Bruce Straley, industry veteran.

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