Kotaku has reported that Naughty Dog is the latest game development studio to experience mass layoffs in a year that’s been particularly brutal in the industry.
According to the outlet’s unnamed sources, the company is letting at least 25 contracted developers go across multiple departments including art and production, but (similarly to Team17’s recent redundancies) the majority are QA roles. It doesn’t appear that any permanent staff at Naughty Dog have been affected, but the contracted workers being let go will have their contracts cut short as of the end of October, with the expectation that they’ll continue work until then and won’t receive any severance payouts.
Kotaku also reports, rather concerningly, that affected developers are being pressured to keep the news of their letting go quiet.
Last Of Us Studio Naughty Dog Is Cutting Developers https://t.co/C39QbuZcU3 pic.twitter.com/QCKTqx4xK9
— Kotaku (@Kotaku) October 3, 2023
One of the outlet’s sources has also told them that work on The Last of Us’ multiplayer spin-off is “basically on ice at this point,” which lines up with reports earlier in the year from Bloomberg a few months ago that development had scaled back as Sony and Naughty Dog “reassess” the game’s quality and potential longevity, and “re-evalute” its direction.
Naughty Dog has very recently celebrated The Last of Us Day on September 27th, but the last real update it offered on future developments was a post on X acknowledging that the multiplayer title needed more time, as well as revealing that a brand-new single player The Last of Us project is underway.
— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) May 26, 2023
