Naughty Dog Co-President Evan Wells has announced that he will be leaving the studio by the end of this year.
Wells announced his retirement in a new blog post on the Naughty Dog website as well as on Twitter. The former co-president will be leaving the studio after 25 years of service, and the decision to leave the studio behind popular franchises such as Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, The Last of Us, and Uncharted, hasn’t been an easy one. “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”, Wells writes in his blog post. “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.”
Further in his post, Wells writes that he’s certain that Naughty Dog will continue to push the industry forward, although not being able to complete the studio’s current projects isn’t going to be easy. “I couldn’t be more excited about our current projects and not getting to see those games to completion is going to be hard. But we’ve never had a stronger team in place to ensure that we will deliver them in a way that will set industry standards and exceed all expectations.”
No further details about Wells’ next adventure have been shared just yet, but we’re pretty sure that there are plenty of things to do or undertake for the talented designer and programmer. We’ll update you as soon as we learn more about Wells’ future plans.
