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[Vick]

Bruce Straley, the game director for The Last of Us, has revealed his concern about a lack of credit for his work on the game’s world that was adapted for the HBO show. In an interview, he says that there’s an “argument for unionization [for] someone who was part of the co-creation of that world.” Straley is not included in the credits for The Last of Us HBO show, with the official writing credits going to Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin.

Straley and Druckmann’s relationship is still “strained”​

In an in-depth piece by the Los Angeles Times, Straley suggests that unions in the video game industry might help in giving creators the credit they deserve:

It’s an argument for unionization that someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those characters isn’t getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it. Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators.

Per the LA Times, both HBO and Sony have declined to comment on his statement.

While Straley is only credited as the game director for The Last of Us, the article points out that he is “one of its key world builders” and that Druckmann gives credit to Straley for fleshing out the character for Bill (who actor Nick Offerman will play in the show). Straley also joined Druckmann to accept the award for Best Narrative at GDC 2014, so it looks like the story for the original game would not be possible without Straley’s work.

While accreditation and compensation are two separate issues, his statement continues what the piece calls a “strained” relationship between Straley and Druckmann. Straley surprisingly left Naughty Dog in 2017 in part due to burnout and, after a nearly five-year hiatus, has started a new studio called Wildflower Interactive. In September 2022, he responded to a user suggesting that Druckmann changed the credits for The Last of Us Part 1 due to his hubris.

The post The Last of Us Game Director Calls for Unionization After HBO Credits Snub appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/last-us-game-director-calls-202405469.html


For those unfamiliar with the role Straley had in creating this world, its characters and the story, this summary goes super in-depth (including notions of developers citing his departure from the studio as a reason for their own departure)

Spoiler

Worth to note that, with the exception of this one tweet:

Straley never participated in any way to the drama and polemics surrounding Part II. The contrary is true, in fact.

Spoiler

 

[Bartski]

 

[A.Romero]

I don't know... This seems like retroactive acknowledgement for a person mostly focused on the game side, zero participation on the series...

 

[anthony2690]

I don't know... This seems like retroactive acknowledgement for a person mostly focused on the game side, zero participation on the series...

Assuming he created the story and characters, tlou TV show wouldn't exist otherwise, as it uses the characters and same story beats.

Edit: I am only going off the comment from Neil that says Straley thinks a lot about story. (It might not mean what I assumed)

 

[Drizzlehell]

Neil Duck Man fucking over another creative in the studio that he's working at to get ahead and take all the credit?

 

[Komatsu]

What happened here is what happened with countless other franchises... Keiji Inafune didn't invent Mega Man, Yuji Naka did not create Sonic The Hedhehog alone, etc.

Bruce Straley was heavily involved with the story - as most game directors are. Those of us who followed the pre-release hype for Last of Us back in 2013, the interviews, etc know that he was a key player. Druckmann later hogged the spotlight and eventually emerged as "the face" of the franchise, but he did not create it alone and Straley deserves credit.

 

[Bartski]

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-01-15/the-last-of-us-hbo-tv-show-video-game-history-neil-druckmann|

That’s not to say that the game wasn’t violent. But it drew inspiration for that violence from award-winning literature and films as much as from its video game predecessors.

“I invited Neil to see ‘No Country for Old Men,’ and I remember walking out of the theater and telling him, breathlessly, ‘I’ve never played a game that had that kind of tension in it before,’” Straley says. “The street fight in ‘No Country’ was one of the most intense fights I had seen on film, and I wondered if you could play something that had that level of groundedness to it, that intensity. There’s something primal to having the controller in your hand and being in the world. Most fighting games at the time had pulled-out cameras where you saw hordes of 20-30 (non-playable characters) that you just plow through.”

Straley’s relationship with Sony and Naughty Dog has since become strained. Straley left Naughty Dog not long after the release of 2016’s “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End,” before HBO was involved in a “Last of Us” series, and is not credited on the HBO series. He is working these days on building his own studio, Wildflower Interactive. He says the lack of credit has made him think more about workers’ rights in the video game space. “It’s an argument for unionization that someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those characters isn’t getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it,” he says. “Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators.” HBO and Sony declined to comment on the record.

 

[A.Romero]

Assuming he created the story and characters, tlou TV show wouldn't exist otherwise, as it uses the characters and same story beats.

Edit: I am only going off the comment from Neil that says Straley wrote the story stuff.

From article I understood that he had influence in certain aspects like Bill but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't exist otherwise (the story as a whole).

 

[Vick]

I don't know... This seems like retroactive acknowledgement for a person mostly focused on the game side, zero participation on the series...

He's the first person credited in the game and co-creator of the series.. has been the face of the game from announcement till months after release. The one doing AMA and interviews, and collecting awards.

Trolling or?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

What happened here is what happened with countless other franchises... Keiji Inafune didn't invent Mega Man, Yuji Naka did not create Sonic The Hedhehog alone, etc.

Bruce Straley was heavily involved with the story - as most game directors are. Those of us who followed the pre-release hype for Last of Us back in 2013, the interviews, etc know that he was a key player. Druckmann later hogged the spotlight and eventually emerged as "the face" of the franchise, but he did not create it alone and Straley deserves credit.

I dont follow LOU details of who made this or who made that.

All I know is whenever there's a ND employee doing PR for LOU it's always Druckmann. It's like he single handledly wrote, produced, and directed the games entirely himself.

 

[mansoor1980]

 

[Fake]

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

What did he sign his name to?

Either he signed up for these kind of benefits or he didn't.

 

[FunkMiller]

Neil Druckmann would have got along well with Bob Kane.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

He didn’t do anything for the HBO show and it’s not his IP

Lost a lot of respect for Bruce here, what a crybaby

Maybe you shouldn’t have left ND to do Jack shit for a decade

 

[gow3isben]

So cuckman bullied and caused departure of first hennig and then straley?


ND president who made him co president should watch his back

 

[Bartski]

Amy Henig post in 3..2..1..

 

[gow3isben]

Amy Henig post in 3..2..1..

You late fam

 

[Komatsu]

All I know is whenever there's a ND employee doing PR for LOU it's always Druckmann. It's like he single handledly wrote, produced, and directed the games entirely himself.

That was not true at all when LOU came out for the PS3. There are literally hundreds of pics of Straley and Druckmann together doing interviews, etc.

 

[Vick]

He didn’t do anything for the HBO show and it’s not his IP

Then George Lucas should stop being credited in Disney Star Wars stuff. And Bob Kane on Batman products.
And on and on.. you always credit the original creators and co-creators of an IP.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Then George Lucas should stop being credited in Disney Star Wars stuff. And Bob Kane on Batman products.
And on and on.. you always credit the original creators and co-creators of an IP.

No, you don’t always credit them. Both of those individuals actually owned the IP

Bruce does not own TLOU IP

 

[Jormatar]

Makea sense. He did not have a part in game's story. Straley was the one who designed all the ladder puzzles while Neil was busy creating the characters and lore of the world.

 

[Fbh]

I like how everyone in this thread knows what Bruce Straley did in the game better than Bruce Straley

 

[Imtjnotu]

 

[Vick]

No, you don’t always credit them. Both of those individuals actually owned the IP

Bruce does not own TLOU IP

They don't now, but are still credited.

Makea sense. He did not have a part in game's story. Straley was the one who designed all the ladder puzzles while Neil was busy creating the characters and lore of the world.

This is absolutely untrue?

The only way this would make any kind of sense, as you say, would be for the TV series to be about Druckmann version of The Last of Us, meaning Tess being the villain chasing Joel and Ellie all over the USA to torture him only to be later killed by Ellie.

 

[SSfox]

ND is not a premiere ND studio to me since too many GOATs left, like Amy and Bruce.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

That was not true at all when LOU came out for the PS3. There are literally hundreds of pics of Straley and Druckmann together doing interviews, etc.

Fair point.

His wiki says his last LOU work was the original game and Left Behind. I was just going on what I've seen lately.

In that case it all comes down to if Straley is whining over stuff he was part of 10 years ago, or he should legitimately still be credited with being part of the LOU universe.

 

[Skifi28]

And the drama never ends. Settle it in court for a change and not twitter.

 

[Topher]

Great......another Naughty Dog controversy.

 

[angrod14]

Does anyone actually read credits?

 

[Komatsu]

In that case it all comes down to if Straley is whining over stuff he was part of 10 years ago, or he should legitimately still be credited with being part of the LOU universe.

Thing is, it doesn't really matter if it was 10 or 20 or 50 years ago. If he contributed to the story - which he did, per Druckmann's own admission - he should be credited. Naoto Ohshima hasn't worked on Sonic since 1998 and yet he was credited when the movie came out.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

They don't now, but are still credited.

Key word is now

They used to, and selling the IP had clauses that guaranteed their name would be used

Bruce never had any ownership claim to TLOU and had zero involvement in the HBO show

He is not entitled to being mentioned anywhere for that project. It’s complete sour grapes now that the HBO show is a massive success, Bruce thinks he can ride on its cottails without doing shit

 

[SlimySnake]

No, you don’t always credit them. Both of those individuals actually owned the IP

Bruce does not own TLOU IP

I think thats a major problem though. Both Neil and Bruce were told to go make a new thing after shipping Uncharted. They tried rebooting Jak before settling on TLOU. He was there from Day One. Sony owns the IP, yes, but Neil is getting all the credit even though Bruce and Neil came up with the entire franchise from scratch.

He isnt just some hired gun brought in to direct the gameplay. He was Larry David to Neil's Seinfeld. It was his idea.

That said, since Sony owns the IP and since Neil stuck around instead of bailing out after getting burnt out on U4, I think it's safe to say that Bruce fucked up. He left and Neil went from a narrative director to the co-President of Naughty Dog and now a co-showrunner. In hollywood, Showrunners get a piece of the pie. Larry David and Seinfeld both made hundreds of millions from syndication alone. Bruce and other game creators dont get a penny from creating IPs.

TBH, I dont know if unionization is going to fix anything. If Bruce was so highly sought after he couldve done what movie directors do and used that to sign a deal somewhere that paid him backend profits. This typically happens to directors in their prime and well, Bruce quit the industry in his prime. He has no one but himself to blame.

 

[Vick]

In that case it all comes down to if Straley is whining over stuff he was part of 10 years ago, or he should legitimately still be credited with being part of the LOU universe.

I think a simple "Based on The Last of Us created by Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann", like it always happen in every single property in history, would suffice.

 

[ManaByte]

I think a simple "Based on The Last of Us created by Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann", like it always happen in every single property in history, would suffice.

The problem is it's up to the game studio to decide who gets the credit, and Druckmann wants all of it.

 

[Stooky]

I don't know... This seems like retroactive acknowledgement for a person mostly focused on the game side, zero participation on the series...

Completely false

 

[Represent.]

LOL I called this a week ago. I knew he was gonna feel ways after this show started making bank. He left the studio after helping make the best new IP in decades. I’m sorry but that’s silly. Especially to go work on some indie shit.

Would it be nice to credit him? Sure yes. But he literally had nothing to do with the show. And anyone in the credits is on the payroll. HBO didn’t want to pay him. That’s all this is.

He's the first person credited in the game and co-creator of the series.. has been the face of the game from announcement till months after release. The one doing AMA and interviews, and collecting awards.

Trolling or?

Lol he was never the face of the franchise. At most it was a split between him and Neil. And they both were on stage collecting awards together. Neil is undoubtedly the face of the franchise especially after TLOU 2, which Straley had nothing to do with.

And he was credited in TLOU 2, even thought he had nothing to do with it. So this isn’t a case of Neil being evil. It’s simply HBO not wanting to pay him.

 

[Topher]

I think thats a major problem though. Both Neil and Bruce were told to go make a new thing after shipping Uncharted. They tried rebooting Jak before settling on TLOU. He was there from Day One. Sony owns the IP, yes, but Neil is getting all the credit even though Bruce and Neil came up with the entire franchise from scratch.

He isnt just some hired gun brought in to direct the gameplay. He was Larry David to Neil's Seinfeld. It was his idea.

That said, since Sony owns the IP and since Neil stuck around instead of bailing out after getting burnt out on U4, I think it's safe to say that Bruce fucked up. He left and Neil went from a narrative director to the co-President of Naughty Dog and now a co-showrunner. In hollywood, Showrunners get a piece of the pie. Larry David and Seinfeld both made hundreds of millions from syndication alone. Bruce and other game creators dont get a penny from creating IPs.

TBH, I dont know if unionization is going to fix anything. If Bruce was so highly sought after he couldve done what movie directors do and used that to sign a deal somewhere that paid him backend profits. This typically happens to directors in their prime and well, Bruce quit the industry in his prime. He has no one but himself to blame.

Straley was given equal billing next to Druckmann for the game. Isn't that hard to mention Straley as one of the creators of the source material. Just seems petty.

 

[bitbydeath]

I just want to know if Bruce left because of the direction Neil was taking/has took the series.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

I just want to know if Bruce left because of the direction Neil was taking/has took the series.

Probably salty because he thought he could go off on his own and strike it big

Didn’t happen

Meanwhile Neil blew up at ND

Truth is that while Bruce is talented, the reason TLOU blew up is much bigger than him alone. It’s worked on by hundreds of people and extremely expensive

Interesting to see the two paths they took. Bruce realized real quick that it’s not just one person that makes a game

 

[Bartski]

IMO this really sucks, at least a special end credits thanks or "created by" would have been fair, but that likely means he'd have to get paid a ton and I'm guessing that's a hard sell

All I know is whenever there's a ND employee doing PR for LOU it's always Druckmann. It's like he single handledly wrote, produced, and directed the games entirely himself.

funny enough every time I've seen him do it he was highlighting the team effort of the whole studio and diminishing his role in the process

 

[bitbydeath]

Probably salty because he thought he could go off on his own and strike it big

Didn’t happen

Meanwhile Neil blew up at ND

Truth is that while Bruce is talented, the reason TLOU blew up is much bigger than him alone. It’s worked on by hundreds of people and extremely expensive

Interesting to see the two paths they took. Bruce realized real quick that it’s not just one person that makes a game

Yeah, but then TLOU2 sucked. If it was the first entry in the series it wouldn’t be as popular tiday.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Yeah, but then TLOU2 sucked. If it was the first entry in the series it wouldn’t be as popular tiday.

Objectively you’re wrong

TLoU2 was a big commercial and critical hit

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

We’re him and Druckman both directors? Wiki has both of them listed. He should be accredited regardless of his impact on the show due to being a major contributor to source material. It’s a minor addition.

 

[Hugare]

Dude was a game director. Responsible for pacing, gameplay systems, encounters and yadda yadda. Why would he be credited in the tv show?

Seems like he colaborated with Neil here and there telling him when the story was too dark and etc., but at the end of the day, Neil wrote the story, world and characters. TLOU was his pitch.

Wouldnt hurt credit him as "special thanks" or something tho.

Great......another Naughty Dog controversy.

With the boom in popularity due to the tv series, it was bound to happen

 

[bitbydeath]

Objectively you’re wrong

TLoU2 was a big commercial and critical hit

People had to buy it to realise it sucked, it’s not hard to find the backlash it endured for what was once a great series.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

People had to buy it to realise it sucked, it’s not hard to find the backlash it endured for what was once a great series.

It has one of the highest meta sores last gen

 

[bitbydeath]

It has one of the highest meta sores last gen

Scores don’t mean much, just look at RDR2 score and the backlash that game got too.

 

[SLB1904]

Scores don’t mean much, just look at RDR2 score and the backlash that game got too.

He won the most awards... till elden ring

Spoiler

Wait for it...another goal post incoming

 

[bitbydeath]

He won the most awards... till elden ring

Spoiler

Wait for it...another goal post incoming

Whatever, putting all blame on the white guy is today’s trend, of course they ate it up.