Sony deleted their entire interview with Naughty Dog Studio Head and Head of Creative Neil Druckmann for “several significant errors and inaccuracies” in the wake of Druckmann rebuking the interview for claiming Naughty Dog’s upcoming game “could redefine mainstream perceptions of gaming.”
Neil Druckmann speaking at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con International, for “The Last of Us”, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Sony originally published an interview with Druckmann regarding the evolution of storytelling across medium with many outlets and readers picking up on the claim that Druckmann claimed Naughty Dog’s upcoming game “could redefine mainstream perceptions of gaming.”
Druckmann would rebuke this claim posting on X, “This is not quite what I said.”
He then shared a transcript of his original response writing, “In editing my rambling answers in my recent interview with SONY, some of my words, context, and intent were unfortunately lost. Well, here’s the full long rambling answer for the final question about our future game…”
In editing my rambling answers in my recent interview with SONY, some of my words, context, and intent were unfortunately lost. Well, here’s the full long rambling answer for the final question about our future game… pic.twitter.com/tVuxX3LYJF
— Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) May 25, 2024
In that full, long answer, Druckmann stated, “I am working on a new one right now. And it’s maybe the most excited I’ve been for a project yet. I can’t talk about it or our bosses will get very mad at me. And I guess in general, there is something happening now that I think is very cool. Which is there’s a new appreciation for gaming that I’ve never seen before. Like when I was growing up, gaming was more of a kid’s thing. Now it’s clearly for everyone. But it’s like, if you’re a gamer, you know the potential of games, and non-gamers, they don’t really know what they’re missing out on.”
He continued, “But my hope was, when we made The Last of Us a TV show that we could change that. And why I became so involved with it. I wanted so badly for it to be good, because I wanted this to happen, which is like someone who will watch the show and really like it. And fall in love with those characters the way that we have fallen in love with those characters and their story. And then realize at the end, ‘wait, that’s based on a video game?’ and then go and check out the game and just see the wealth of narratives and everything that’s happening in games.”
Abby in The Last of Us Part II (2020), Naughty Dog
Druckmann went on, “So now I feel like there’s kind of a spotlight on gaming. And you know, Fallout just came out. And that’s a big success for Amazon. And I find that really exciting. Not because games need to be movies, or they need to be TV shows, but I think it just kind of opens the eyes of a bunch of people that just weren’t aware of the kind of experiences that exist in games.”
“I think right now we’ve hit a tipping point where it’s about to take off where people realize, ‘Oh my God, there’s all these incredible moving experiences in game!’ So, I’m not only excited for this game that we’re making — and it’s, it’s something really fresh for us — but I’m also excited to see how the world reacts to it,” he said.
“Because of The Last of Us, and the success of the show, people even outside of gaming are looking at us to see what it is that we put out next — and I’ve already said too much about it. I’ll stop there. So, you’re asking me for my dream projects. I’ve been very lucky to have worked on my favorite games with incredible collaborators and I’m very thankful for them,” he concluded.
Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie in The Last of Us (2023), HBO
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Following Druckmann’s correction, Sony has pulled the entire interview down. The company explained, “In re-reviewing our recent interview with Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann, we have found several significant errors and inaccuracies that don’t represent his perspective and values (including topics such as animation, writing, technology, AI, and future projects).”
“We apologize to Neil for misrepresenting his words and for any negative impact this interview might have caused him and his team. In coordination with Naughty Dog and SIE, we have removed the interview,” the company concluded.
Sony’s explanation for deleting Neil Druckmann’s interview
What do you make of Sony pulling the entire interview down?
