Benson Russel, a former employee at Naughty Dog, has revealed during an interview with KiwiTalkz that the Sony-owned studio has effectively embraced crunch culture, despite efforts to clamp down on the controversy practice.
Russel, who worked on franchises including Uncharted and The Last of Us during his time at Naughty Dog, revealed that crunch culture snowballed after development of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune wrapped, and by the time The Last Of Us was done and dusted, the studio accepted this is simply the way things have to go to meet their high standards.
After The Last of Us […] it was just an admission in a meeting, it was like, ‘Well, we’ve just come to realise this is what it takes to make games at our level. If you don’t want to do that, we understand, we’ll write you a great letter of recommendation.’ The company runs the way it wants to run. You either want to be a part of it or you don’t. They’re not technically breaking any laws.
Back in December last year, a report on Bloomberg stated that Naughty Dog had put a requirement for its staff to work mandatory overtime in order to complete a demo for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Staff had been told to work a minimum of eight extra hours per week beginning in late October 2025, says sources close to the site, before logging their overtime in an internal spreadsheet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is currently in development for the PS5 and is reportedly set to launch in mid-2027. Last week, leaker Tom Henderson claimed on the Insider Gaming podcast that the studio was toying with the idea of making Uncharted 5 prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
[Source – KiwiTalkz via Push Square]