Naughty Canine co-president Evan Wells will retire from the studio on the finish of the yr, it was introduced.
Wells has been discussing retirement with the Naughty Canine studio management group for “properly over a yr, and with Neil [Druckmann] for even longer than that.”
Whereas the choice has brought about some “overwhelming and conflicting feelings,” Wells stated there may be nothing felt however contentment in terms of spending the final 25 years on the studio.
“I couldn’t be extra assured in Neil’s capability to hold on operating the studio,” stated Wells in an announcement.”It’s the fitting time for me to offer the chance for him and the others on the studio management group to steer the studio right into a profitable future.”
Wells has been growing video games professionally for over 30 years and has nothing however gratitude for the whole lot realized at Naughty Canine, regardless of such a bittersweet departure.
“I couldn’t be extra enthusiastic about our present initiatives, and never attending to see these video games to completion goes to be exhausting,” stated Wells. “However we’ve by no means had a stronger group in place to make sure that we’ll ship them in a means that may set business requirements and exceed all expectations.
“I’ve little doubt Naughty Canine will attain new heights and proceed to lift the bar for the cutting-edge.”
Wells’ first online game gig was at SEGA, and labored on ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron earlier than heading to Crystal Dynamics in 1995. Right here, Wells labored on Gex and Gex: Enter the Gecko earlier than transferring on to Naughty Canine in 1998 to work on a number of Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter titles. Wells grew to become co-president of the studio alongside Stephen White in 2005, who was changed the next yr by Christophe Balestra, who in flip retired in 2017, making Wells the only real president.
Throughout Wells’ tenure as co-president, the studio launched the Uncharted sequence and The Final of Us. As president, Wells oversaw the discharge of The Final of Us Half 2 till Neil Druckmann’s promotion to co-president in 2020.
Wells was additionally an govt producer for the Uncharted movie and The Final of Us HBO sequence.
