Scandal around the leak of spoilers for the game The Last of Us: Part II continues to be the hottest news of the week in the gaming industry. A new batch of rumors about the situation in the studio Naughty dog threw on Reddit user TommyKnocker_316However, they must be treated with skepticism.
The author refers to a source in the studio. According to preliminary data, one of the reasons for the leak was a conflict between management and subordinates. Hundreds of Naughty Dog employees asked to pay their bonuses for the release of the game in advance. This is a standard practice in the industry, when developers are underpaid for work, promising large bonuses after the release of the project.
Many team members made plans in advance (weddings, buying real estate, paying off loans, sending kids to college). Some also hoped that the award would allow them to provide families in a pandemic. However, The Last of Us: Part II was suddenly postponed indefinitely, which left staff torn apart.
Moreover, the leadership of Naughty Dog refused to pay even part of the bonuses. And one employee was generally threatened with dismissal, adding that the bonus would be paid only six months after the release of the game (condition in the contract), otherwise he might forget about it.
An insider adds that senior studio staff (including vice president and screenwriter Neela Drakmann) make sure that they are paid bonuses in advance. This fact infuriated the rest, which was one of the reasons for the leak.
The person who organized the publication of the spoilers was in great danger, but the demarche was a way to force Naughty Dog to release The Last of Us: Part II early. If true, then the plan worked: Sony has already announced that the game will be released on June 19. However, initially the publisher allegedly intended to organize a release closer to the New Year holidays, because of which members of the team could receive money no earlier than May 2023.
If the above rumor is true, then the situation in Naughty Dog resembles a conflict in Gearboxwhen the head of the studio Randy Pitchford tricked subordinates by promising them huge release bonuses Borderlands 3.
Read also: Pitchford’s new trick: Gearbox head robbing Borderlands 3 developers?
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