Bruce Straley, formerly a key senior staff member at Naughty Dog, has aired his grievances with modern AAA games.
In a feature from Edge magazine, which examines the "broken" state of the industry's big budget productions, he shares his distaste for how risk-averse they tend to be.
"I think the verbs and experiences we’re delivering in the triple-A space are… I wanna say boring," Straley says.
He points to God of War Laufey as an example of what he means, stressing that he thinks it looks amazing but the actual gameplay doesn't seem fresh or exciting.
"God of War Laufey, I look at that game, and every pixel is mindblowing. 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."
Straley was at Naughty Dog for 18 years, and is best known for his work as game director on The Last of Us as well as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.
He left the famed California studio in 2017 and established his own studio, Wildflower Interactive, where he and his team are making their debut title, Coven of the Chicken Foot.
The crux of what he's saying is understandable; I think it would be fair to say there's very little risk-taking or envelope-pushing in the most big budget games.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2026/09/modern-aaa-games-are-boring-says-the-last-of-us-game-director
