Naughty Canine co-president Evan Wells will retire from the studio on the finish of the yr, it has been introduced.
Wells had been discussing the retirement with the Naughty Canine studio administration staff for “properly over a yr, and with Neil (Druckmann) for even longer.”
Whereas the choice has prompted some “overwhelming and blended feelings,” Wells mentioned there’s nothing however satisfaction on the subject of spending the previous 25 years within the studio.
“I could not be extra assured in Neil’s capability to proceed working the studio,” Wells mentioned in an announcement. in the direction of a profitable future.”
Wells has been creating video games professionally for over 30 years and has nothing however gratitude for all the things he is realized at Naughty Canine, regardless of such a bittersweet departure.
“I could not be extra enthusiastic about our present tasks, and never attending to see these video games via to completion goes to be troublesome,” Wells mentioned. “However now we have by no means had a stronger staff to make sure that we’ll ship them in a method that may set business requirements and exceed all expectations.
“I’ve little doubt that Naughty Canine will attain new heights and proceed to boost the bar on the cutting-edge.”
Wells’ first online game gig was at SEGA and he labored on ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron earlier than transferring to Crystal Dynamics in 1995. There, Wells labored on Gex and Gex: Enter the Gecko earlier than transferring on to Naughty Canine in 1998 to work on a number of Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter titles. Wells turned co-chairman of the agency alongside Stephen White in 2005, who was changed the next yr by Christophe Balestra, who in flip retired in 2017, making Wells the only real chairman.
Throughout Wells’ tenure as co-president, the studio launched the Uncharted sequence and The Final of Us. As president, Wells oversaw the discharge of The Final of Us Half 2 till the promotion of Neil Druckmann to co-president in 2020.
Wells additionally government produced the movie Uncharted and the HBO sequence The Final of Us.
