“Dogs, after 25 years at Naughty Dog, I wanted to share with all of you that I have decided to retire at the end of the year,” says the message that Evan Wells has sent to the Naughty Dog team and shared publicly. “I’ve been talking about it with Naughty Dog management for over a year and even longer with Neil.” Evan says he’s very pleased with the time spent in the studio and all they’ve accomplished together over the last 25 years. He also shares their confidence in the ability of Neil and the new management team to continue to lead the studio to a successful future.
“I’ve been a professional game developer for more than 30 years, and Naughty Dog has been my home for more than half my life,” says Evan. “I have seen this studio grow from employee number 14 (me!) at the time of Crash 3, in 1998, to over 400 Dogs today.” Under Evan’s tenure, Naughty Dog has lived a long period of success with the launch of the Uncharted and The Last of Us franchises, two sagas that have not only marked PlayStation consoles, but have also influenced and promoted the gaming industry. videogame. It has also exceeded its limits by reaching cinema and television.
Before joining Naughty Dog and developing games like Crash Team Racing, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, and the Jak and Daxter trilogy, Evans worked on ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron for Sega and was part of the Crystal team. Dynamics which developed Gex and the sequel Gex: Enter the Gecko.
After Evan Wells has announced his retirement, Neil Druckmann has posted a message where he reports on the new Naughty Dog management team. Druckmann will lead the studio alongside Wells until his departure and will be chief creative officer; Alison Mori will become studio director and head of operations; Arne Meyer will be in charge of communication; Christian Gyrling will become CTO; Erick Pangilinan and Jeremy Yates will lead the art departments; and Anthony Newman (co-director of The Last of Us Part II) will take over as head of production and design.
