Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells has announced he will be retiring from the developer after 25 years. Confirmed in a statement, he leaves Neil Druckmann as the sole president of the company along with the Studio Leadership Team, who Wells believes will "steer the studio into a successful future". He'll leave Naughty Dog at the end of this year.
"I’ve been making games professionally for over 30 years, and Naughty Dog has been my home for over half my life," he writes. "I’ve seen this studio grow from hire number 14 (me!) during the Crash 3 days in 1998 to over 400 Dogs today. Every major life milestone I can track with a Naughty Dog project – I met my wife during Crash Team Racing, we took our honeymoon after shipping Jak 2, had our first child E3 week when we announced Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and our second child was born right in the thick of development on The Last of Us."
Wells goes on to state that while it'll be hard for him not to see current Naughty Dog projects through to completion, he believes the developer has "never had a stronger team in place to ensure that we will deliver them in a way that will set industry standards and exceed all expectations".
First credited as a Lead Tester on the SEGA Mega Drive's ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron, Wells quickly joined Naughty Dog and worked on a vast array of titles. He helped on GEX and Gex: Enter the Gecko before moving on to the Jak & Daxter series.
In a separate post, Neil Druckmann says he will remain as co-head of the studio through until Wells leaves, and will also be head of creative so "that I will be able to invest in the future of our projects, creative vision, and overall business strategy". Alison Mori is being promoted to studio manager and head of operations, Arne Meyer becomes head of culture and communications, and Christian Gyrling is the new head of technology.
"Joining our already existing Studio Leadership bench will be Erick Pangilinan and Jeremy Yates as Co-Heads of our extensive and impressive Art Departments, while Anthony Newman will move into his new role as Head of Production and Design."
Druckmann signs off saying: "I know I speak for everyone at Naughty Dog when I say, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you, Evan; for your knowledge, your love of this studio and the industry, and for the great care you took to ensure that our studio was always moving in the right direction, your inspiring leadership will forever be part of our DNA."
[source naughtydog.com]
Comments 25
Pretty huge news, really. Wells has had an incredible run and, like he mentions in his retirement post, has seen Naughty Dog transform from a pretty small studio into an absolute colossus.
All the best to him, and I'm looking forward to the new era of Naughty Dog with all these promotions!
Would be nice to have Naughty Dog news in more positive manner. Well, Neil now rules on his own.
All the best to Evan Wells, but Neil in charge solely? Oh man….
Damn. I'm pretty sure he was the only one left who'd been with ND since the Crash Bandicoot days.
I remember evan wells uncharted 2 among thieves at the end of showing the gameplay.you could tell evan wells was proud of that game.anyways thanks for all the fun and good times.naughty dog iconic.word up son
Thanks for all you have done for ND and the fans Evan! Have a great retirement. You have certainly earned it!
You earned it Wells thanks for the good days of gaming with CB3 and Team Racing as well as the Jak series. One of the last of the old guard ND had left.
Dude is in the upper pantheon of game developers. And for everyone who cant stand Neil....Wells must see something worth passing the torch. I highly doubt he was pushed out and I also don't think Sony would blindly give Neil the keys.
As he mentioned in his post about being involved in Crash 3,not quite a founding father, but obviously an absolute veteran if not founding father....jury still out regarding Neil Druckman given contrasting storyline directions of his games with Bruce Straley vs being sole lead.
At present the multiplayer only TLOU spinoff possibly stuck in design purgatory & not expecting a Jak & Daxter game anytime soon, which leaves the rumoured TLOU 3 as the main project. Let's hope ND continue their success & not just off nostalgia for their older games after the Activision buyout fallout,its going to be needed.
What an incredible resume. I hope he enjoys retirement.
@StrawberryTurtle
For real.
And TLOU2 wasn’t a bad game. It was actually really good. It just had some pacing problems and it had to live up to the legacy of the first game. Which was impossible to meet.
But at its core it’s a fantastic game. Just has poor pacing and I do think they could have handled “that moment” better.
@OrtadragoonX - The funny part is that people choose to forget Druckmann importance on the much loved Uncharted series, where he worked as game designer, co-writer and creative director.
That was a good time to be a developer in my opinion.
Lots of innovation with rumble, 2d to 3d, hard drives built in, cartridge to CD and now Internet support.
Hope he enjoys retirement 👍🏻
Druckman has finally got what he wanted then, he seems to have managed to run all the old school talent out the business so he can empire build.
I wish them well but I'm definitely noping out of ND games in the future.
Removed - inappropriate
Even has had an incredible run an absolute legend I'm pretty sure that he's one of the few OGs left from the early days ND won't be the same without you you've earned your retirement ^__^. And Neil........ don't screw up
@Texan_Survivor Indeed, also whatever happened to Amy Hennig after U3 seemed pretty fishy to me. She was working on the original direction of U4, then TLoU hit the big time, she left and was replaced by Neil, and all her work on it was scrapped. It seems he just has a “habit” of taking over and it leaves me weary.
Removed - inappropriate
What a great career Evan. Should be celebrated.
Just a shame, but unsurprising, to see the anti-Druckmann crowd raising their heads again.
@art_of_the_kill Evan only joined on Crash 3.
Erick Pangilinan, who's just been promoted to Art Director, has been there since Crash 2.
I believe Justin Monast, former head of IT but left or retired in April was the last who worked on the first Crash I believe. But that was only 9 people and it's been almost 30 years, things change.
(Edit) Not sure if Charlotte Francis is still there too but she worked on Crash 1 and TLOU2 as an artist.
Ya be talking in here like ya personally know the Neil Druckmann.
@Bionic-Spencer my thought exactly…
@Fishnpeas Any prove or just gut feelings the man has been in the business for 30 years.
Many of the most successful people don't go much more than 10 or 15 years at one place. Dude more than put in his time. Hope enjoys a bit of time away from the industry with his wife and kids and if he ever does decide to return to gaming I'll be interested to see where he ends up.
@StrawberryTurtle He did not write that game, he was named in it but wasn't the main writer, that was Bruce Straley. Can't you tell simply by looking at the quality of writing between 1 and 2??
They are light years apart.
Tap here to load 25 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...