The Last of Us Director Apologizes to God of War Laufey Devs After Calling Recent AAA Games 'Boring'

· IGN

The Last of Us game director Bruce Straley has apologized to the God of War Laufey team after his comments about modern AAA games brought "uninvited and unnecessary negative attention."

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The comments in question surfaced as part of a recently published piece by Edge magazine and saw the former Naughty Dog developer tackling the state of AAA gaming and game development. Straley initially said with a laugh that he thinks "the verbs and experiences we're delivering in the triple-A space are… I wanna say boring," before bringing God of War Laufey into the equation.

"God of War Laufey, I look at that game, and every pixel is mindblowing," he said to Edge. "The amount of work and skill that's gone into every single frame… I've made those kinds of games, and I'm still blown away. But when I actually look at what you're doing in the game? I'm not excited. And that's nothing against the God of War team. Just, across the board in triple-A, it feels like there’s no opportunity to inject fresh, innovative ideas."

The Last of Us has certainly had its influence on the state of big-budget games, so it was no surprise to see social media light up with reactions to Straley's thoughts. The former Naughty Dog lead then followed up the commotion with a thread of posts on X/Twitter, taking the opportunity to elaborate on his perspective on where the industry is at and where it's heading.

"I want to apologize to the Laufey team for dragging you all into this uninvited and unnecessary negative attention," he said. "I was trying to illustrate an industry concern and my mistake of naming your game is being used out of context and for clickbait. You don’t need this. I’m sorry.

"A journo asked me about the state of our industry. I mentioned a few concerns. One being the lack of innovation & risks taken in the AAA space. Though this isn’t the team’s fault! My fear is that our player base is getting tired of playing the same verbs for the last 20 years.

"My hypothesis: Our medium is unique because players are DOING a thing. There’s a different physiological response than viewers who just WATCH a movie. This requires us creators to continue to push and create new experiences, or we run the risk of diminishing players’ dopamine."

Straley then pointed to Half-Life 2, Gears of War, BioShock, Uncharted 2, and The Last of Us as a string of games that helped "set the 'modern AAA' mold," saying that each title felt like it wanted to bring new experiences to the space. He then clarified that this part of the conversation "is only one side of my concerns."

"Unfortunately the platforms that need to bring stability have eroded the ability to innovate," he continued. "The quest for [games as a service] and wanting to recreate the next Overwatch, Fortnite, Roblox, etc. is not a viable strategy and frankly shows these 'industry leaders' don't know their own brand.

"Hot take: There's a lack of good leadership, clear direction, and conviction from the people at the top, in charge of the money. (Money = stability) I believe if they understand their brand, they could have honest, inspiring conversations with creators to steer our medium to innovate."

Straley left The Last of Us studio after 18 years in September 2017. He went on to help start new game studio Wildflower Interactive in 2022 and is currently working on a new game called Coven of the Chicken Foot.

"ANYWAY… blah blah blah. I have thoughts about what's wrong and the possible serious harm done to our industry and how we might be able to fix it. But in trying to have a thoughtful conversation I stuck my foot in my mouth and mentioned Laufey, and that was my mistake. FIN (for now)."

God of War Laufey was announced as the next chapter in Santa Monica Studio's mythology-hopping action-game saga during a PlayStation State of Play presentation in June of this year. Although it's set to offer a different perspective on the universe with a story told through the eyes of Deborah Ann Woll's all-powerful Faye, it's already faced its fair share of pushback online. While some have expressed concern about playing any character other than Kratos, the studio has promised time and time again that the Ghost of Sparta will return.

God of War Laufey director Ariel Lawrence has asked skeptical fans to give Faye's story a chance ahead of its February 16, 2027 launch. While we wait to see more about how it connects to Santa Monica's gaming universe, you can read why one IGN writer felt that what we've seen so far looks too similar to Kratos' Norse saga.

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