Sony has confirmed that writer and creative director Amy Hennig has left Naughty Dog.
Amy made her name under Crystal Dynamics, penning the Legacy of Kain series, and then Naughty Dog, writing for both Jak and Daxter and Uncharted. Edge magazine acclaims her as one of the 100 most influential women in the game industry, a distinction for what is widely regarded as a male dominated field.
Amy was already hard at work writing and managing development for the next Uncharted game slated for the Playstation 4, when she left last Monday, March 3. Sony reassured fans that the development timeline for said Uncharted game was not affected.
IGN has sources claiming that Hennig was ‘forced out’ by fellow directors Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, and that the two are now taking over for her for said Uncharted game. However, some sleuths have uncovered a thread in /v/, going back to last February 24, which claims to have even more details regarding her departure. We will not vouch for the veracity of this source, but we will leave it to you to decide for yourself if it is true.
Here’s the post from /v/ verbatim:
It’s a shame you guys missed the drama from Amy and the Uncharted team about the Last of Us DLC.
She called the story needlessly pandering to a socially abrasive niche that demeans the quality of narrative in its entirety and enforces the idea of the death of camaraderie.
She did a seminar recently about how the increasing focus on sexuality is robbing readers, viewers, and gamers of themes that have been present in story since the time of antiquity: Friendship and camaraderie.
By the end of it Amy said that we’re entering an age where no one could write a story like Alls Quiet on the Western Front or Band of Brothers without people insisting that the men are gay for each other.
Again, we want to reiterate that we are making no claims that this post is true, but it seemingly corroborates initial rumors. Whether it is true or not, there should be no argument that Amy’s sudden departure is sad news. We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors, and still look forward to Naughty Dog’s work on the upcoming Uncharted sequel.
