The Last of Us artist Nate Wells announced on Twitter today that he has left Naughty Dog for indie studio Giant Sparrow, the developer of last year's PS3 downloadable title The Unfinished Swan.
Hmmm….seem to be some threads here. Yes, I joined the wild, wacky, and ultimately brilliant folks at #GiantSparrow on April 3rd.
— Nate Wells (@PrettyLarceny) April 21, 2014
Wells' departure follows the exit last month of long-time Naughty Dog writer and creative director Amy Hennig, who has since joined EA Visceral to work on an unannounced Star Wars game. Justin Richmond, who has worked on Uncharted 2's multiplayer, Uncharted 3, and the untitled Uncharted game for PS4, also left last month to join Leage of Legends developer Riot Games. Richmond was at Naughty Dog for six years.
The departure of Richmond, who acted as Uncharted PS4's game director, will not impact the title's development timeline according to Sony.
Prior to joining Naughty Dog, Wells worked at the now defunct Irrational Games for 13 years and his work will continue to be present on PlayStation platforms for some time to come thanks to a three year contract between Sony and Giant Sparrow.
Naughty Dog is also developing The Last of Us Remastered in addition to Uncharted PS4 and is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year with a special art book release. A movie adaptation of The Last of Us is also in production.
