From 1999 to 2017, Bruce Straley was one of the key players at Naughty Dog, and the co-director of two its best-selling games, The Last of Us and Uncharted 4. However, Straley essentially left the game industry for several years despite that impressive track record. Now, Straley is sharing more details regarding his departure, following up on comments he made years ago.
“I had been there 18 years. That’s a long time for anybody to be anywhere,” Straley told Polygon. “I need new problems to solve, I need new creative outlets. I’m not saying there wouldn’t be opportunities there, but couple that feeling with the idea that I was working really, really hard at something that wasn’t mine.”
Straley went on to explain that he didn’t jump to another AAA studio because he felt Naughty Dog was the “pinnacle” of developers that made the games he was interested in. And he didn’t want to deal with “a whole different bureaucratic or cultural system.”
“It really comes down to: Do you want to continue working for someone else and put in all the effort to build an IP, to build characters, to build things that a franchise could be built out of? I got paid very well there,” added Straley. “I got some appreciation there, but it felt like it was time to break out and try it on my own. It felt like it was time to evolve my concepts and build a new team. It might fail miserably, but I thought that it was at least my failure based on my choice.”
During The Game Awards, Straley’s new team at Wildflower Interactive debuted their inaugural title, Coven of the Chicken Foot. It’s a wordless single-player adventure that’s completely unlike the games Straley made at Naughty Dog. Players assume control of a witch named Gertie and her creature companion as they try to fulfill her oath. The game doesn’t currently have a release date.
