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Former Naughty Dog Developers Hope The Last of Us Part II Fails so People Stop Supporting Poor Working Conditions


The Last of Us Part II is a game many fans are looking forward to, thanks to the excellence of its predecessor The Last of Us. The first game proved that Naughty Dog is a powerhouse studio that knows how to make AAA titles, with fans having higher expectations for the second game. Sadly, like a number of other video game companies, Naughty Dog is prone to crunch culture, which has resulted in poor working conditions for their employees.

Kotaku's Jason Schreier broke the news, revealing rough stories from 13 unnamed developers who used to work for Naughty Dog. It's really unfortunate how crunch culture is normalized in the video game industry and the fact that game companies are becoming honestly frank about it doesn't help.

What's truly shocking is the fact that crunch culture wasn't just around for the recently-delayed The Last of Us Part II but also for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Knowing that it's been going on for this many years is truly horrifying and who knows how much longer these conditions have been used in the company? It's sobering stuff and makes you realize that the video games you worked on came from literal blood, sweat, and tears. Maybe too much of them.

Considering how crunch culture has been criticized for a number of years now, it's hard to see why game companies still rely on it. This is likely due to the amount of money these games make and is why some of these developers want The Last of Us Part II to fail. Simply put, if consumers keep supporting these practices, how are things going to change?

The Last of Us Part II comes out on May 29. Will you still pick it up after all of this?

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