After fourteen years with the company that started as an internship, The Last of Us Part II creative director Neil Druckmann is being promoted to Vice President of Naughty Dog. He will continue on as creative director of The Last of Us Part II as well as in his expanded role of making studio level decisions. ”He's been a vital part of the management team for some time now, and we're proud to formally acknowledge his involvement,” says Naughty Dog President Evan Wells.
Druckmann started with Naughty Dog as an intern in 2004 and was soon offered a full-time position as a gameplay programmer where he worked on Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing. A few years later he was offered his dream job of being part of the design team and was offered the role of game designer for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.
He worked closely with Amy Hennig on shaping the series that would take Naughty Dog to a new level of fame and respect. Druckmann was eventually promoted to lead designer on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves where he also became more involved with the writing of the game. Naughty Dog then split into two teams with Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley being chosen to lead the development of an all-new game, The Last of Us.
Naughty Dog has also promoted Anthony Newman and Kurt Margenau to joint game directors on The Last of Us II. Kurt and Anthony joined Naughty Dog during the production of Uncharted 2. Emilia Schatz and Richard Cambier are now the lead designers on The Last of Us Part II which is expected to release sometime in 2018 or 2019.