Sony has pulled its controversial interview with The Last of Us director and Naughty Dog creative head Neil Druckmann following a massive backlash from fans of the series.
Citing "significant errors and inaccuracies," Sony apologized to Druckmann on Wednesday as it pulled the interview from its Creative Entertainment Vision page.
Sony's statement came after Druckmann himself refuted Sony's published interview with him, claiming that the context and intent of his statements "were unfortunately lost" after editing.
The controversial statement refers to a portion of Druckmann's views on AI in game development where the director hinted that AI "could redefine mainstream perceptions of gaming."
In editing my rambling answers in my recent interview with SONY, some of my words, context, and intent were unfortunately lost. Well, here's the full long rambling answer for the final question about our future game... pic.twitter.com/tVuxX3LYJF
— Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) May 25, 2024
Druckmann's supposed views on AI came amidst reports of his team developing new installments for The Last of Us and the Uncharted series.
Why the Huge Backlash?
Druckmann's supposed statements on AI were published at a time when concerns for AI's impact on the game industry were mounting up.
Several game development studios and publishers, including Naughty Dog, have laid off employees amid uncertainties in the gaming market.
At the same time, AI technology is gaining traction among game developers as several studios have already declared plans to integrate generative AI into their development and marketing processes.
One of which was Final Fantasy developer Square Enix after president Takashi Kiryu hoped the company to be "aggressive in applying AI and other cutting-edge technologies to both our content development and our publishing functions."
It did not help that the interview was published at the same time Sony released its discussion with PlayStation executive Asad Qizilbash saying that introducing AI could provide more "personalized experiences and meaningful stories for consumers."
According to Qizilbash, integrating technology into game development would attract more Gen Zs and Gen Alphas who are "looking for personalization across everything."
Future Projects for Naughty Dog
As of writing, there are not many details on Naughty Dog's upcoming projects and releases aside from the information given last year.
Naughty Dog has already confirmed that it is developing a new The Last of Us game after it abandoned previous attempts to make a multiplayer spin-off title.
So far, Druckmann and his team only hinted at a few changes in the sequel's gameplay, as well as a big turn in its overall theme from previous installments.
