The Last of Us studio, Naughty Dog, has laid off staff from various departments. Find out more about the studio’s layoffs and updates on their upcoming games.
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The Last of Us Studio, Naughty Dog, Lays Off Developers
Naughty Dog Studios Layoffs
Naughty Dog, the renowned video game development studio behind The Last of Us and Uncharted, has recently laid off dozens of staff, according to Kotaku. Various departments were affected by the layoffs, including those from art and production, but reports say that most were from the quality assurance testing team. Sources from Kotaku state that at least 25 developers were dismissed, none of which were full-time employees.
The layoffs come as a surprise, considering the success of The Last of Us Part 1 and Part 2 last year, along with the hit ratings of its HBO TV Show adaptation. Tangentially, a few months ago, Naughty Dog's co-president Evan Wells, who had been with the studio for 25 years, announced his retirement.
Plans on Pause
Back in May, the studio also reported that it still needed more time to develop the much-awaited The Last of Us Factions. Bloomberg further reports that Sony scaled back resources from said development following a negative internal review from another Sony first-party developer, Bungie.
While Naughty Dogs also hinted in the same announcement that they are developing a new single-player game experience, there have been no further updates for both games.
Lay Off Season
Naughty Dog is not the only game development studio facing layoffs in recent times. Major companies including EA, Epic Games, and Gearbox had their own rounds of downsizing earlier this year, with long-time Saints Row developer Volition shutting down entirely.
