The Last of Us Part II director Neil Druckmann promoted to co-president of Naughty Dog

I still remember well the E3 where the original The Last of Us was revealed. I was very excited by the post-pandemic setting and the sober mood the game conveyed in the trailer; I confess I am not a big fan of the cocky, carefree style of Uncharted… I prefer something more sober and visceral, something Naughty Dog had just shown in that trailer.

I also noticed a curious thing back then: after the trailer, the presenter usually claps and says something before moving on to the next announcement/presentation… you look and see an “ordinary presenter” expression on the person’s face. That day, the one who presented the trailer was the former president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), Jack Tretton, and he showed a euphoria/excitement that seemed so genuine to me… seeing it was curious, to say the least, because these executives usually show the “excitement of a presenter”, while there he looked like a fan of the platform, thrilled to have seen the trailer of something extremely interesting to him on a personal level… his clapping seemed like the clapping of “a gamer” and not of an executive.

Since then the game has launched and been a huge success, and its sequel (although it was the target of controversy over script choices) was even more successful. The person responsible and co-creator of the franchise, Neil Druckmann, after all this success was promoted to vice president of Naughty Dog, serving in that role for 3 years… and now in 2020, after the resounding success of The Last of Us Part II, Druckmann has been promoted to co-president of the studio. And you, what did you think of Naughty Dog’s choice?

Source: Naughty Dog