Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells announces retirement

thesixthaxis.com:

Naughty Dog’s Co-President Evan Wells has announced he is retiring, after having spent 25 years at the company. He will remain at the company until the end of 2023. In a message to the studio, Evan wrote that he had been discussing this with studio leadership for over a year. He also highlighted key points from his career and personal life, and how they intertwined. You can read Evan Well’s full statement below.

Dogs,

After 25 years at Naughty Dog, I wanted to share with all of you that I’ve decided to retire at the end of this year.

This is something that I’ve been discussing with Naughty Dog’s Studio Leadership Team for well over a year, and with Neil for even longer than that. The decision brings with it overwhelming and conflicting emotions, but I’ve come to realize that I’m content with my time at the studio and all that we’ve accomplished together over the last 25 years. I couldn’t be more confident in Neil’s ability to carry on running the studio. It’s the right time for me to provide the opportunity for him and the others on the Studio Leadership Team to steer the studio into a successful future.

I’ve been making games professionally for over 30 years, and Naughty Dog has been my home for over half my life! I’ve seen this studio grow from hire number 14 (me!) during the Crash 3 days in 1998 to over 400 Dogs today. Every major life milestone I can track with a Naughty Dog project – I met my wife during Crash Team Racing, we took our honeymoon after shipping Jak 2, had our first child E3 week when we announced Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and our second child was born right in the thick of development on The Last of Us.

Working here has been awe inspiring and I have nothing but gratitude for everything that I’ve been