the director of the game has a problem with the series
Bruce Straley, co-director of the game Our lastbelieves that the small credit he received for the HBO series is indicative of a larger problem.
What a relief, the first episode of the series Our last almost pleased the majority of the audience. Therefore, there are no bad surprises and all the fans of Naughty Dog game discovered a very high quality first episode according to their expectations. So is everyone happy? Of course not. As usual, frustrations were heard, some fairer than others. Let’s skip the (very) common criticism of the casting – the adaptation’s strong point – to focus on what’s relevant.
For example, you might wonder about the relevance of watching a video game that already has a lot of cinematic realism in a television format. A bias that might lead some to believe that video game art is inferior to other audiovisual mediums and only strives to reach them, expecting to be noble. A possible disrespect that has become more real over time Bruce Straley points the finger at the lack of his name in the credits of the series. However, he did make the first play Our lastIn 2013 with Neil Druckmann.
A perfect fit?
As they often discuss in their interviews, Behind its creation are Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann Our lastwhose inspiration came to them from a glance There is no country for old men. When Bruce Straley left Naughty Dog in 2016 after directing At Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, is removed from future projects related to the license he helped design. Neil Druckmann surrounds himself with new directors The End of Us – Part I and when HBO approached Sony to develop the series, Straley was no longer credited with the game.
in a recent interview with Los Angeles TimesBruce Straley – without animosity with a certain bitterness – recalled this insecurity given to him:
“Consequently, the best argument for unity is that neither the creator of an entire work nor its characters receive any credit or dime for the work they put into it. […] Maybe we really need to organize together in the video game industry: we need to be able to protect creators.”
On target!
We have stepped into a real anthill of injustices. It is obvious that, creation in the world of video games is still very irregular and not strictly established. Likewise, working conditions are often broken for developers – so crisis policies are often frowned upon. Strictly speaking, while Naughty Dog has recently taken some measures to treat its employees better (for example, by announcing games less in advance), it remains insufficient.
Bruce Straley’s failure got him thinking organize the creators of the video game world. All in good time. This is definitely a measure that will be beneficial to protect their work and health. We can even imagine that by extension, a more privileged status for developers would also give more credit to their work. We allow ourselves to dream a little.
So far, neither HBO nor Sony have commented on Bruce Straley’s words. It is likely that he will be forever ignored and the issues he raises will be immediately swept under the carpet. Neil Druckmann, for his part, is the executive producer of the series and keeps all the credit for his acting.
Naughty Dog offices after a few years
However, we owe much of Bruce Straley’s appeal and success Our last, as players discovered it ten years ago. We especially attribute the raw violence, brutality and very ambiguous tone of the game universe to him. Los Angeles Timesexplained that in retrospect they should have gone further:
“If you look at the early days of the pandemic – and we’re not talking about infected people breaking your window to eat your face, we’re talking about a virus that can make you sick and possibly kill you – the pressure was already unbearable. In comparison, the world of The Last of Us should have had more broken and traumatized characters.”
Another point where the HBO series could (and still does) more loosely adapt what’s done in the games while taking cues from the pandemic that actually hit our world in 2020.
