“What I Always Strive for Not Is Not Maximum Profits” – The Last of Us Creator Neil Druckmann Shares a Unique Approach for Making Games More Impactful at Naughty Dog

Published 01/10/2023, 10:45 AM EST
In the past decade, we got to witness some amazing games. These went on to be fantastic hits among gamers across the world. They created a new niche and people are expecting future gaming titles to live up to the level of sophistication and enjoyment prevalent in the community. Some of the top games in this category are the popular Uncharted series and The Last of Us series.
Both were brought on by the same studio Naughty Dog. These franchises became insanely popular and sequels were introduced to the world. Moreover, movies and television series were also made to commemorate the beauty of these narratives. Naughty Dog, who has been the pioneering figure in this success has a unique way to operate, and Neil Druckmann recently gave an interview regarding the same.
Naughty Dog’s Unique approach to its games
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As you all know, Naughty Dog is the developer for the popular Uncharted and The Last of Us series. Interestingly, the studio did not start as a developer of such intense games. According to the interview that Neil Druckmann gave with The Washington Post reporter Gene Park, Naughty Dog was pushing its boundaries with all these new ventures.
When the company first started, they were more focused on creating cartoony titles. Their first masterpiece ‘Crash Bandicoot’ was an exclusive Sony PlayStation console game. The game had cartoony animations, catering more to the kid-friendly genre. After Sony acquired them in 2001, Naughty Dog pushed out another popular hit called ‘Jack and Daxter’.
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This Beat ’em up game was also a bit on the cartoonish side. Thus, it was pretty scary when the studio planned to jump into a complex gaming experience.
The Uncharted and The Last of Us
“What I always strive for is not maximum profits. It’s enough to be able to do it again,” stated Neil Druckmann in the interview. With this strong belief, they moved on to produce the masterpiece called ‘Uncharted’. The formulae worked for the developers and we got to see sequel after sequel for the action-adventure game.
The Last of Us was their second scary jump. Druckmann admitted that he did not think The Last of Us would actually be a hit among the community. This was a whole new experiment for the development team, and this time around also, they got a taste of success. This made them push even further.
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That is when the sequel to TLOU came. They wanted to again spur things up and experiment. But this time they met with a small pushback. Though the game can be considered a financial hit, it received less positive feedback compared to its predecessor.
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All these are the studio’s inspiration to move and experiment even further. A TLOU multiplayer is undercards along with an undisclosed project. It surely will be a killing waiting time for the fans, but we can hope it would be worthwhile. In the meantime, fans can watch The Last of Us series that would soon start airing on HBO Max.