The Last of Us creative director Neil Druckmann claimed that a quote he mentioned during a corporate strategy meeting was heavily edited out by Sony.
Earlier this week, Sony published an interview with the Naughty Dog designer on its website, in which he was quoted as saying that his next game will “redefine the mainstream perception of gaming.”
But Druckmann took to social media on Friday to insist he never made those comments and released them in their entirety, unedited. This suggests that Sony’s version was heavily edited to the point that context was lost.
The post suggests that Sony removed a line in which game designers said they didn’t believe “games should be movies… or TV shows.”
While it’s not uncommon for corporate communications teams to edit quotes for clarity and brevity, it’s also not uncommon for the subjects of such comments to post their original, unedited words.
“In the process of editing a lengthy response from a recent SONY interview, unfortunately some words, context and intent were lost,” Druckmann wrote. “Well, here’s a long, rambling answer to your last question about our future games.”
Druckmann danced around the identity of Naughty Dog’s next game in a recent interview.
Last year, he suggested that the studio would reveal its next game closer to release than before, to address the “work-life balance issues” caused by announcing its work too early.
Druckmann, who previously acknowledged strong fan demand for The Last of Us Part 3, recently confirmed that he has a concept in mind for a third game and thinks there will be one more chapter to the story.
But he also talked about wanting to try new things and Sony’s willingness to allow Naughty Dog to do so. He revisited the topic in a new Sony interview.
