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Update: Naughty Dog has responded to the allegations that Druckmann and Straley had anything to do with Hennig's departure.
Original:
It has been confirmed by IGN that the lead writer and creative director on the Uncharted series, Amy Hennig, has left Naughty Dog. This wouldn't typically be all that news worthy but there is some controversy surrounding her departure.
Sources are claiming that she didn't leave the company under the best of terms but was instead "forced out" by others. Those others are The Last of Us' Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley. Allegedly, the Uncharted franchise is now under their control as a result.
Hennig was with Naughty Dog for over 10 years, having written and directed games such as Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. She was also the writer for the upcoming Uncharted 4 for the PlayStation 4.
A Sony representative issued the following statement.
Earlier this week we had to confirm the regrettable news that Amy Hennig has left Naughty Dog. She will be missed and, as we stated before, we appreciate the significant contributions that she has made to Naughty Dog and the industry in general. We wish her the best.
However, we feel it necessary to clear up a very important point that was unprofessionally misreported when the story broke. Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann were NOT involved in what transpired. It was very upsetting to us that dozens of stories were run, linking back to the same hurtful accusations in the original report. As co-presidents of Naughty Dog, we are responsible for all studio affairs.
Normally, we wouldn’t respond to rumors and speculation on matters that are internal to Naughty Dog, but because the personal reputation of two of our employees is being damaged we needed to set the record straight. There is nothing left to be said on this subject. Now we’re going back to what we should be focused on – making games.
However, we feel it necessary to clear up a very important point that was unprofessionally misreported when the story broke. Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann were NOT involved in what transpired. It was very upsetting to us that dozens of stories were run, linking back to the same hurtful accusations in the original report. As co-presidents of Naughty Dog, we are responsible for all studio affairs.
Normally, we wouldn’t respond to rumors and speculation on matters that are internal to Naughty Dog, but because the personal reputation of two of our employees is being damaged we needed to set the record straight. There is nothing left to be said on this subject. Now we’re going back to what we should be focused on – making games.
Original:
Sources are claiming that she didn't leave the company under the best of terms but was instead "forced out" by others. Those others are The Last of Us' Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley. Allegedly, the Uncharted franchise is now under their control as a result.
Hennig was with Naughty Dog for over 10 years, having written and directed games such as Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. She was also the writer for the upcoming Uncharted 4 for the PlayStation 4.
A Sony representative issued the following statement.
"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."