The Last of Us Director Apologizes for Using God of War Laufey as an Example of AAA Games’ Lack of Innovation
Bruce Straley, former Naughty Dog member and director of The Last of Us, has faced criticism after sharing his views on AAA games and God of War Laufey.
Straley, who is now focused on indie development with Coven of the Chicken Foot as his new project, criticized the lack of new ideas and risks in big-budget games.
His comments about God of War Laufey later led him to apologize to the game’s team.
Bruce Straley Says God of War Laufey Comments Were Taken Out of Context as He Apologizes to Team
In an interview with Edge, Straley talked about how few risks AAA games take, if they take any at all, using the new God of War as an example.
First, he praised its technical work, saying, “Every pixel is mindblowing. The amount of work and skill that’s gone into every single frame… I’ve made those kinds of games, and I’m still blown away.”
He also said, “I think the verbs and experiences we’re delivering in the triple-A space are—,” he stopped and laughed, “I wanna say boring.” He included all modern, big-budget games in this category.
His comments quickly spread and led to a lot of criticism. Because of this, he apologized on his X (formerly Twitter) account. He said, “I want to apologize to the Laufey team for dragging you all into this uninvited & unnecessary negative attention. I was trying to illustrate an industry concern & my mistake of naming your game is being used out of context & for clickbait. You don’t need this. I’m sorry. ”
In another tweet, he called for the creation of new experiences, as Half-Life 2, Gears of War, BioShock, Uncharted 2 and, of course, The Last of Us did in their time.
He concluded by saying that “there’s a lack of good leadership, clear direction & conviction from the ppl at the top, in charge of the money. (Money = stability) I believe if they understand their brand, they could have honest, inspiring conversations w creators to steer our medium to innovate.”
In short, Straley argued that modern AAA games lack innovative gameplay because developers are afraid of taking risks. Do you agree with his view, or do you think AAA games can still offer new experiences to players?
Nonetheless, speaking of God of War Laufey, we remind you that the game is scheduled to launch in February next year.
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What a pathetic coward.
This industry is going down the crapper exactly because of this stuff. No one has the conviction to actually stand up and admit that everything is so sanitized and pathetic and so constantly full of “modern audience” garbage.
Games like wolverine that are so handholdy on top of being such pathetically linear experiences tells you exactly what a joke the industry has become. They refuse to take any true risks and the ones they do are awful and are some of the most hilariously ill-advised trash I’ve ever seen. Focus tested by a bunch of complete morons. The crash will continue to happen and more mass layoffs and company closures will continue without end.
They never learn and they never change course. They just keep hitting one iceberg after another and it’s only a matter of time before the damage is too great and the entire thing goes down.