Neil Druckmann describes how things changed for Naughty Dog following Uncharted 2

destructoid.com:

Naughty Dog is one of the big players when it comes to gaming studios. It has given us timeless titles from Jak and Daxter to The Last of Us. The President of Naughty Dog, Neil Druckmann, recently sat down for an interview with the rapper Logic to discuss their career trajectories and their plans for the future.

It’s an hour-and-a-half-long interview worth watching if you’re interested in learning how Druckmann found his way into the gaming industry and moved up the ranks in Naughty Dog. It also offers insight into how things have changed in the studio over the years and how expectations have sharply risen as it has delivered critical hits.

Through hard work, Druckmann grew from being an intern to eventually working on the creative aspects of the games at Naughty Dog. At one point, he was part of the team responsible for a Jak and Daxter PSP game when Naughty Dog president Evan Wells asked him to help with another game they were working on – Uncharted.

At first, Druckmann was reluctant, as he preferred being in a creative position and didn’t want to go back to programming. However, he was assured he would be doing the same creative work, except on this new project. Accepting the offer was a wise choice for Druckmann, as it had him crossing paths with other creatives like Amy Hennig who played a critical role in shaping Uncharted into a genre-defining franchise.

Uncharted and its sequels have had an incredible impact on the gaming world and the medium’s approach to its narratives. In addition to being graphically impressive titles, they highlight how gaming can be used to tell character-driven stories that rival those of films and novels.

Druckmann claims that he had the most fun working on Uncharted 2. The team felt like they were onto something special, but there wasn’t an intense amount of pressure or scrutiny of the studio which had developed a deep sense of camaraderie.

This changed after the success of Uncharted 2, a title that has sold over 6.5 million