In an interview with rapper Logic, Naughty Dog's President and Creative Director Neil Druckmann spoke about his professional future. As Druckmann noted, one of his goals will be to work creatively in a less stressful environment.
In recent years, Naughty Dog's President and Creative Director Neil Druckmann has been largely responsible for the success of series such as “The Last of Us” and “Uncharted”.
In an interview with the rapper Logic, Druckmann not only looked back on his career to date. At the same time, he said a few words about his professional future and expressed his wish to be able to work creatively in a less stressful environment in the future. Druckmann cited the HBO TV series “The Last of Us” as an example.
Regarding the production of further triple-A titles, Druckmann said: “I guess I can't imagine doing it on this scale forever. It's just a lot, and it demands a lot from you. It’s very stressful managing so many people and multiple studios worldwide.”
Another factor is your own family life, which, according to Druckmann, always falls by the wayside: “You talked about how you are entering this new phase of your life in which your children are the most important thing. I'm in a similar phase where my children are my number one.”
The success of Uncharted 2 changed everything
“And I know this especially because my daughter is now 13. And I feel like life is pulling her away from me. I know that time is limited. Therefore, she is very valuable to me and I don't want to waste her if she wants to spend time with me. That’s the most important thing,” added Druckmann about his private life.
“So I could see myself moving on to something that's more low-key, less stressful, but still gives me that creative freedom. But you know: I started thinking about how many of these games I still have in me. And there aren't that many,” it says, looking at big titles like “The Last of Us” or “Uncharted”.
What makes things even more difficult, according to Druckmann, is that he and Naughty were, in a way, victims of their own success. While the studio was still “flying under the radar” before “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” (2009), players now expect every Naughty Dog title to be a blockbuster that achieves top ratings internationally.
“Uncharted 2 was the most fun I've had developing the games I've worked on. Because Uncharted 1, even though a lot of people liked it, wasn't a huge success. It was successful enough to make Sony happy. We made enough money.”
“After that, everything became incredibly stressful. After Uncharted 2. Because now you can no longer fly under the radar. Now everyone expects you to deliver something great,” said Druckmann, commenting on Naughty Dog’s development.
“And you have to ask yourself: How do we do it great and how do we do it in a way that doesn't feel like we're just repeating ourselves? So you always have to make it great and new. “It’s really, really difficult,” concludes Druckmann.
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