The Last of Us co-creator Bruce Straley complains about lack of credit for HBO show

Bruce Straley is co-director of and co-creator Last of Us — the original, 2013 PlayStation 3 game — is not mentioned in the credits for the new HBO TV adaptation, which aired its first episode this week. Neil Druckmann is his co-director and executive producer. He also co-created the show with Craig Mazin. “Based on the PlayStation Studios video game created by Naughty Dog and written by Neil Druckmann,” the on-screen credit reads.

Straley, it seems, isn’t too happy about this outcome. Although his primary responsibility on the game was gameplay while Druckmann’s was script and story, the pair have repeatedly said that they created the world and the storyline of Last of Us together. But, when asked about his lack of credit by The L.A. Times, Straley chose his words — and his targets — carefully.

“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,” Straley said. “Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators.”

It’s perhaps an unlikely comment from someone who used to be a senior developer at Naughty Dog, a studio with an unhealthy reputation for crunch. Straley was able to take a lot of time for reflection. Straley, who had 18 years spent at Naughty Dog, left the company in 2017, after an apparently unpleasant experience. Uncharted 4. He and Druckmann had inherited that project from Uncharted creator Amy Hennig after her departure from the studio, and the accelerated development time on a game he wasn’t personally invested in left him feeling burned out.

The L.A Times characterizes Straley’s relationship with Sony and Naughty Dog as “strained”. But the significance of Straley’s comment is not that it points to a personal beef with Druckmann or anyone else at Naughty Dog. This comment demonstrates how few people in the videogame industry have any control over their work. In the widely unionized TV and film industry, credit is jealously guarded and strictly regulated, but in games, it’s easy for Sony to claim complete ownership and carve a key creative like Straley out of a licensing deal.

Straley’s comments come at a time when unionization is a hot topic in the game industry, with an increasing number of studios’ workforces choosing to unionize. Straley’s new independent studio Wildflower Interactive may join them.