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Last week, Sony published a seemingly innocuous bit of fluff, touting its long-term “creative entertainment vision” in broad terms, along with some interviews of key employees. Neil Druckmann, studio head of Sony’s Naughty Dog, was one of those \u2014 and his interview made waves in the game world. According to the interview, Druckmann said AI could “create nuanced dialogues and characters” and also said that the new game Naughty Dog was developing (but hasn’t officially announced) “could redefine mainstream perceptions of gaming.” Some mighty strong and potentially controversial statements from the head of a studio beloved for its The Last of Us and Uncharted franchises.<\/p>\n
Problem is, Druckmann was wildly misquoted by his own employers. A few days after Sony published its interview, Druckmann took to X and said “this is not quite what I said.” He then went full Ellie-in-revenge-mode on Sony, posting a section of the original interview transcript. (He was actually pretty polite if we’re being honest \u2014 even the powerful can only bite the hand that feeds so hard.) Regardless, things here do not add up.<\/p>\n
\nIn 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<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) May 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
Gaming reporter Stephen Totilo shared his own comparison of what Druckmann said and what Sony published, bolding the words in Sony’s answer that Druckmann never said \u2014 and those words were the majority of the quote. Sony basically put words in his mouth and published them, kicking off a classic gamer freakout.<\/p>\n
To be fair, if I was Druckmann, I’d be pretty pissed too. Look at this butchery!<\/p>\n
\n\nIf you’re curious (about what he said; and how I spend a Friday night when my wife and kids are away), here’s a comparison of the original answer and the edited one. <\/p>\n
Many changes<\/p>\n
No surprise, this was cut: “Not because games need to be movies, or they need to be TV shows” pic.twitter.com\/FkxNkqQPY2<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) May 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
Now, five days later, Sony has removed the interview from its site entirely. However, they didn’t just delete the page \u2014\u00a0they left it up with an apology to Neil and the Naughty Dog team “for any negative impact this interview might have caused.”<\/p>\n
My favorite bit is easily this:<\/p>\n
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