Bruce Straley Will Not Co-Direct The Last of Us: Part II

This is a little bit of a bummer: Bruce Straley will not co-direct The Last of Us: Part II. The veteran game director, who's been with Naughty Dog for many years but is best known for his partnership with Neil Druckmann on The Last of Us and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, is taking a year-long sabbatical from game development after many years in the hot seat.

After the story was broken by Kotaku, Sony released the following statement: "Bruce recently decided to take some much deserved time off after shipping two critically acclaimed games in the last few years," a spokesperson said. "He's looking forward to returning to the studio soon and jumping back in on his next project."

We really, really like Straley's approach to game design – his fingerprints are all over Uncharted 4's combat, for example – so it's a shame to see him temporarily out of the driving seat. Still, he's definitely deserving of his time off, and it's not like Naughty Dog isn't filled with talented people waiting to make the step up.