“Bruce recently decided to take some much deserved time off”.
Bruce Straley, game director on The Last of Us, will not be returning to direct The Last of Us Part 2.
After sources told Kotaku that Straley was on a year-long sabbatical following the completion of Uncharted 4, Sony confirmed the news:
“Bruce recently decided to take some much deserved time off after shipping two critically acclaimed games in the last few years”, said a spokesperson. “He’s looking forward to returning to the studio soon and jumping back in on his next project.”
It’s not clear whether Straley will serve another role on The Last of Us Part 2, or if that “next project” is something else entirely.
Last year, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann explained that he and Straley had created prototypes for The Last of Us Part 2, as well as brand new sci-fi and fantasy games.
Druckmann will be directing Part 2 in Straley’s stead. Revealed at PlayStation Experience last weekend, The Last of Us Part 2 will feature the first game’s Joel and Ellie, but several years down the line.
The game – which has no release date and is described as “a ways off” – is apparently a counterpoint to the original’s tale of love: “This story is about hate,” explained Druckmann.
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s UK News Editor, and this news story was about hate, a complementary counterpoint to this one, which is about elite hacker schools. Follow him on Twitter.