Following its success as an HBO adaptation, The Final of Us has not too long ago been hailed as one in every of gaming’s biggest tales, with Neil Druckman broadly credited as its creator. However in case you test Mobygames credit (opens in a brand new tab)You’ll discover that the director of the sport is definitely somebody named Bruce Straily. And regardless of his deep connection to gaming and his lengthy tenure at Naughty Canine, Straley stated in an interview with the LA Instances. (opens in a brand new tab) that he has been utterly faraway from the present.
He went on to say that Straley was employed at Nutty Canine early on — the fifteenth worker twitter (opens in a brand new tab) in 2014 – and has sport credit together with CTR: Crash Staff Racing and the unique Jak and Daxter trilogy. In 2007, he was one in every of two artwork administrators on Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, earlier than shifting on to sport director on Uncharted 2 – which Drakeman labored on as lead designer. The pair then collaborated on The Final of Us, with Straley as sport director and Druckman as inventive director.
After The Final of Us, he went on to direct Uncharted 4, however he didn’t return to work on The Final of Us 2. As an alternative, he introduced in 2017 that he was leaving the studio.
Straley wrote of Naughty Canine: “After tackling three very troublesome and long-term initiatives away from the workplace, I centered my energies in different instructions and slowly realized that this was the sign that it was time to maneuver on. weblog (opens in a brand new tab).
Since then, in accordance with the Instances, the connection between Straley, who began a brand new studio referred to as Wildflower Interactive, has soured. (opens in a brand new tab) In 2022, and Naughty Canine’s “strain” has grown. And whereas Druckman is prominently featured on the HBO present, Straley’s identify is nowhere to be seen, and apparently he is not making any cash from it both.
“It is an argument for unionization that somebody who was a part of the co-creation of that world and people characters would not get credit score or nickel for what they put into it,” Straley says. “Perhaps we want unions within the online game business to guard the creators.”
Contemplating the truth that The Final of Us is so complicated (and I think about embarrassing) on HBO (opens in a brand new tab) From the 2013 online game and as Kotaku (opens in a brand new tab) famous, Straley acquired particular credit score within the remake of The Final of Us Half 1, “because of his important position within the improvement of The Final of Us.”
unionization (opens in a brand new tab) and credit score (opens in a brand new tab) They’ve turn into a significant situation for the gaming business in recent times, and whereas this is not probably the most disastrous instance of sport builders being held again by their former employers, it is definitely not a very good look. I’ve reached out to Sony and HBO for remark and can replace if I hear again.