Former Naughty Dog Employee: Crunch Is Part of Making Games at Their Level
TL;DR Summary
A former Naughty Dog employee claims crunch culture intensified after Uncharted and The Last of Us and was effectively accepted by leadership as the price of making games at the studio’s level, with internal deadlines treated as external ones and bonuses tied to extra work. Refusing crunch could lead to a negative recommendation letter, and the studio is described as leaning into crunch, including cases like Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
- Naughty Dog Embraced Crunch Culture After The Last of Us, as It's 'What It Takes to Make Games at Our Level' Push Square
- Ex-Naughty Dog Dev Says The Last Of Us Studio Believed Crunch Was Necessary For Games At Its ‘Level’ kotaku.com
- Ex-Naughty Dog Dev Admits Crunch Is Unavoidable In Its AAA Games Tech4Gamers
- The Last of Us led Naughty Dog to accept crunch is "what it takes to make games at our level," former designer says, so Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet devs are probably deep in it GamesRadar+
- Former Naughty Dog Developer Says Studio Learned From The Last of Us That “Crunch is a Requirement ... GamingBolt
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