Whip out your Sony studio boss bingo sheet, as yet another high-profile developer has bit the dust. The latest in the long line of executives to exit the manufacturer is Justin Richmond, who was acting as Uncharted PS4’s game director. His departure follows in the footsteps of Amy Hennig, who worked as the creative director on all of Nathan Drake’s escapades.
“I have in fact made the decision to leave Naughty Dog,” he told IGN earlier today. “I love the company and the people, and know that they will continue to create awesome games going forward. On a happier note, after careful consideration and exploration, I have joined Riot Games. There is some really innovative stuff going on here that I can't wait to be a part of."
Richmond has been with Sony's premier studio since 2008, and started out working on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’ multiplayer mode, before stepping up to the role of game director on Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Much like with Hennig, the Japanese giant has stressed that this news won’t affect the development timeline of its next-gen sequel.
In truth, it’s likely that the departing developer’s work is complete, with the direction of Uncharted PS4 more or less set in stone by now. The timing of these departures is starting to look bad, though. Are you worried by the current exodus at Worldwide Studios, or do you think that it’s all just an unfortunate coincidence? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source ign.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 29
So many important people all leaving at once...can't help but think there's something bigger going on here...
What the hell is going on?
Great... I'm starting to regret my decision of joining the Sony clan.
He picked a really bad time to leave anyway i wish him well on his future projects hopefully his work on Uncharted 4 was done
People move on.
We are doomed 8D
Maybe he wasn't a fan of winning awards?
Seriously I saw a couple of good footage about watchdogs and Bound by Flame.. Far more interesting.
@N711 I know right Watch Dogs looks amazing
@DaftPlayStation I d like to know if its PC footage. I guess it is but still should be great
So far three people this week has left sony.
@MorriganIsHot well one of them left in December
I would strongly urge people to take at an article on Dualshockers about Sony possibly beginning the process of rehiring again. A guy a neogaf in the same article by the name of Pete Dodd (who's quite known to have really good inside sources) also goes on and explains what happened at Santa Monica. Of course it might not be true what he says but I've no reason to suggest he's wrong based of past info.
He got an offer from Riot and he took it, it happens. Its not like these studios are shutting down or anything, plus Sony is already starting to hire new people.
@adf86 is right, people should really check out DualShockers. Pete Dodd has a very impressive track record nand is likely right this time, as well.
From Game Informer : Update: Sony has provided a brief statement on the departure of Justin Richmond. "SCEA can confirm Justin Richmond has left Naughty Dog to pursue other opportunities," a Sony representative told us via email. "The development timeline of Uncharted will not be impacted."
@N711 I know seth left in december but nobody knew about it until this week. The articles over at gamespot on the comment sections is already flooded with anti-sony.
@MorriganIsHot Not really bothered about the fanboys wars
That's two high profile people from Sony's top studio gone. I hope the vast majority or all of their work on the game actually was done.
I don't know how anyone can see this as bad news. If Sony are in the process of re-hiring then it can only mean that the studios will have some fresh input & direction. It'll prevent the output from the studios going stale this generation at least
I wish the guy good luck. Though I can't see riot games and LoL really being that too a challenging environment. Maybe it's the easier life over there?
Like someone said above, people leave and start new paths in life. Nothing's shutting down. Let's try and keep things in perspective. To say that Sony is falling apart here is nothing but speculation. Let the suits worry about hiring, just sit back and enjoy their products.
"Whip out your Sony studio boss bingo sheet"
Sammy I have to give credit to you. Out of all the websites I read on the hyper web, I find yours the most amusing! Good job
@Crimson_Ridley
LOL Why's that? All of those departures don't necessarily mean to have a negative impact on your gaming experience on a Sony system. Would you rather join last centuries Nintendo Clan or the "lets change our CEO every 2 months" Microsoft. What I want to say is, things like that are normal and yes there might be something bigger going on back there, but before we haven't seen it impacting negatively on our gaming experience, its too early to get worried!
This news about naughty dog and the recent problems with santa monica does make you think, is there something going on behind the scenes?
This is... worrying.
I wonder if anyone gets the fact that people in the video game industry do this all the time? I get this is a strange coinky dink, but I'm sure if he's joining a F2P model studio that's soley based on a multiplayer game, (which was his focus at Naughty Dog it seems?) seems like a reasonable area to expand his career considering the Riot community is involved in MLG.
While this is disturbing to some degree, those two didn't build the games by themselves. There are some very talented people at Naughty Dog and others they can hire from elsewhere to continue bringing us great experiences.
It does make me wonder though, what exactly is going on at the company.
@DaftPlayStation Its confirmed Welcome to Chicago is PS4 footage.. I thought some of it could be PC .. so thats great
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