Naughty Dog Creative Director and writer of the Uncharted series, Amy Hennig, has left the studio and “numerous” sources claim she may have been forced out.
If IGN’s sources are to be believed, Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley may have forced Hennig out and are now in control of the Uncharted franchise at Naughty Dog. Druckmann, who was the Creative Director behind Naughty Dog’s award-winning game The Last of Us and Straley, Naughty Dog Game Director, have been unsurprisingly quiet about the whole situation.
In a recent Reddit AMA, Druckmann was asked a question about the future of the Uncharted franchise, where he answered, “I’m not involved with that project,” though he was part of the Uncharted team prior to the The Last of Us project.
Hennig was instrumental to the development and success of the Uncharted franchise, so it certainly leaves us puzzled. She was recently listed in Fortune Magazine’s profile on Top 10 most powerful women in video games, and leaves Naughty Dog after a decade of amazing work.
Sony released a statement about Hennig:
“We can confirm that Amy Hennig has left Naughty Dog. Amy has made significant contributions to the game industry and we appreciate all she has done for Naughty Dog. The development timeline of Uncharted will not be impacted.”
We wish Amy the best of luck, and tip our hats off to one of the influential people in video games of our generation.
UPDATE: After chatting with a source close to Amy Hennig, we are being told that Amy was NOT in any way forced out and there is no contention between her and Neil or Bruce.
