Bruce Straley, the game director of Naughty Dog’s iconic The Last of Us game, has criticised the ongoing development processes of modern AAA games, citing a lack of innovation as a major issue for the gaming landscape.
Straley, who left Naughty Dog back in 2017 after the release of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, explained in an interview with EDGE Magazine that the ongoing AAA landscape is simply “boring”.
In an article regarding the state of the games industry, as spotted by IGN, Straley pointed out that the industry is more risk-averse than ever. Using the upcoming God of War: Laufey as an example, which the game designer described as graphically “mindblowing”, they state the game design is simply not exciting anymore.
“The amount of work and skill that’s gone into every single frame… I’ve made those kinds of games, and I’m still blown away,” Straley said. “But when I actually look at what you’re doing in the game? I’m not excited. And that’s nothing against the God of War team.”
For Straley, who helped design the foundations that AAA games are still following to this day, it shows a lack of ingenuity in the industry. “Across the board in AAA, it feels like there’s no opportunity to inject fresh, innovative ideas,” he explained.
Straley’s work on Uncharted and The Last of Us was once innovative and genuinely exciting. While the first Uncharted followed in the footsteps of games like Gears of War, it carved out its own path, and The Last of Us further innovated with its own survival-like gameplay and new methods of storytelling.
Today, though, every game is still trying to be like Uncharted and The Last of Us. That foundational game design has creeped into God of War, Marvel’s Wolverine, Horizon Zero Dawn, Assassin’s Creed, and others. What was once innovative is now the go-to, and there’s very little innovation in the AAA space outside of that.
Since their 18-year career at Naughty Dog, Straley is working at their own independent game studio, Wildflower Interactive. Founded in 2022, the studio aims to make “small-ish games”. The studio’s first title, Coven of the Chicken Foot, will have you playing as an elderly witch is still in development.
If you want to know more about Uncharted, read our interview with designer Benson Russell to learn about the series’ dynamic difficulty. Additionally, read about why the designer doesn’t want Naughty Dog to remake the first Uncharted game, despite some fans wanting it.
