- A former Naughty Dog developer reflected on Naughty Dog’s crunch culture in a recent interview.
- He stated that crunch in the studio got worse with each subsequent release after the first Uncharted.
- Eventually, the team accepted crunch, leading to many developers leaving the developer.
Naughty Dog is currently said to be working on multiple single-player games, including one related to Uncharted. At the same time, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is expected to be the studio’s next big release, and reports suggest the team decided to expedite development earlier last year.
This means that Naughty Dog returned to its infamous crunch culture for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and according to one former developer, this is something the team had already accepted as an inevitability in its projects after the launch of The Last of Us.
Why it matters: Crunch culture has received criticism in the games industry, making matters worse for developers in the already-declining AAA work environment.
In a recent chat with game designer Benson Russel, who worked on IPs like Uncharted, podcast host Kiwi Talkz discussed Naughty Dog’s bleeding talent and the causes behind the situation.
As per Benson Russel, crunch became inseparable from the company’s work culture, leading to many developers leaving the team behind. He confirmed that Naughty Dog initially attempted to curtail crunch by implementing measures like a midnight deadline for its developers.
However, as the former Uncharted developer puts it, these rules were mostly ignored during later parts of Naughty Dog’s projects due to deadline requirements and crunch.
According to the game designer, the crunch culture got worse with each release after the original Uncharted, and eventually, the team accepted that crunch was effectively mandatory for the ambitious games that Naughty Dog was aiming for, giving developers the choice to move forward or simply part ways with the studio.
After The Last of Us, eventually it was an admission in the meeting. It was said, “Well, we’ve just come to realize that this is what it takes to make games at our level.”
Crunch aside, Naughty Dog has also struggled with project cancellations lately. A major game like The Last of Us Multiplayer was cancelled despite being nearly ready for launch, and the team has also received backlash for overly relying on The Last of Us over the last five to six years.
All eyes are now on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet as the studio attempts to bounce back with its first new IP in over a decade.
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[Senior News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than 5 years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
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