Naughty Dog is strengthening its ranks with a veteran who has worked on the studio’s best games, including The Last of Us. Enough to maintain some hopes for a sequel?
After a period of turbulence at Naughty Dog, good news emerges with the return of a veteran of the studio. He made himself known by working on excellent titles like The Last of Us Part I and Part II, as well as on Uncharted 4. A talent that should therefore be used wisely.
The Last of Us and Naughty Dog reunite with one of their veterans
Lee Davis joined Naughty Dog in 2010, then left in 2020 to work at The Initiative (Perfect Dark), then Deviation Studios, a now sadly closed PlayStation studio. The man is known to be an expert in hand-to-hand combat animations. It is to him that we owe the brutal and visceral commitments that we have seen in the studio’s last two games. A rare talent, which Naughty Dog was only too happy to welcome back into its ranks. In any case, this is what we learn on the person’s LinkedIn page.
“ I’m excited to share the news that I’m starting a new career as a Senior Animator at Naughty Dog! », We can read on his publication. Lee Davis therefore returns home, and takes the opportunity to gain ground. In any case, this bodes well for the animations of Naughty Dog’s next games. After the cancellation of multiplayer spin-off The Last of Us Factions and layoffs, we now know that the studio is once again dedicated to what it does best: single-player games with a gripping story.
Since Lee Davis is known for having worked on The Last of Us and Uncharted franchises, does this mean that there is hope for a new opus of one or the other? It’s still too early to tell, but we can bet that Naughty Dog will benefit greatly from having brought this enormous talent back into its ranks. Sensitive souls refrain however, his excellent animation work results in particularly violent fights, even sometimes disturbing, as illustrated in the compilation below.