A new AAA studio started by industry veterans has emerged. Emptyvessel, led by former id Software, Naughty Dog, Gearbox, and Activision developers, bills itself as a developer-founded, developer-first company.

Mass layoffs announced by PlayStation last week affected hundreds of people, including veteran developers. Among them was Santiago Gutierrez, an experienced artist who has been with Naughty Dog for nearly two decades.

The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off has now officially been canceled. While there are still other live service games in development at PlayStation Studios, Naughty Dog will now focus on single-player experiences.

Some changes are coming to Naughty Dog’s leadership team as the studio’s co-president Evan Wells announces his departure after working there for 25 years.

The PC version of The Last of Us Part I has been released in a very poor technical state. This has already resulted in one of the worst AAA launches on Steam in terms of player reception in recent memory.

Bruce Straley, known for his work on The Last of Us and Uncharted, has announced his return to the games industry. The Naughty Dog veteran has started a new studio called Wildflower to make smaller, “creatively-charged” video games.

Naughty Dog principal environment artist Anthony Vaccaro has opened up about his experience of working on the Last of Us remake. This seems like the studio managed to finish the game without crunch this time, creating a healthy work culture.

Naughty Dog has shared a list of video games that “inspired, thrilled, and entertained” the team in 2021. It includes titles like Deathloop, It Takes Two, Inscryption, and even Bugsnax.

Naughty Dog’s Lead Designer Arnaldo Licea discusses how the flooded mall level was created for The Last of Us Part II.

Neil Druckmann may have been confirmed as the director of at least one episode of the upcoming The Last of Us TV show. That’s in addition to his role as the show’s co-writer.

Neil Druckmann and Evan Wells have shared their thoughts on crunch in the games industry. Naughty Dog co-presidents said that while there is no one solution for this issue, game studios shouldn’t prohibit passionate devs from working on a project overtime.

New AAA studio That’s No Moon has been founded by the alumni of Naughty Dog, Infinity Ward, Sony’s Santa Monica Studio, EA, and Bungie.

Sony’s decision to focus on AAA games and to almost stop supporting smaller games and studios might be a good business move. However, this strategy has already led to staff turnover, Days Gone 2 rejection, and other internal issues.

The Last of Us Part II currently holds 261 “Game of the year” awards. It puts Naughty Dog’s hit ahead of such recognized titles like The Witcher 3, The Elder Scrolls V, and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Naughty Dog President Evan Wells announced that Neil Druckmann has just been promoted to co-president of Naughty Dog.

The latest PlayStation blog post has revealed that The Last of Us Part II has sold over 4 million copies in three days since the game came out. How it breaks down between physical and digital isn’t mentioned.

Videos of gameplay, cutscenes, and developer menus from The Last of Us Part II were leaked during the weekend sparking heated debate across the internet.

With The Last of Us Part 2 delayed indefinitely, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann suggested on PlayStation Blogcast that Sony is still exploring different scenarios for when and how to launch the title. One such option might involve the game’s digital-only release on May 29, with the physical copies arriving later.

Sony announced DualSense, a new wireless controller for PlayStation 5. The company is starting to ship the new controller in its final design to developers so that they can implement its features into their games.