Claims around Amy Hennig (creative director and writer for the Uncharted series) being “forced out” of Naughty Dog by Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley a few years ago are reportedly false.
In 2014, a report was published on IGN stating that, according to “trusted sources” close to Naughty Dog, Hennig was forced to leave the company, but shortly thereafter Naughty Dog itself refuted the report.
The report was written by Mitch Dyer, who has since stopped working for IGN. Now Dyer has come forth on Twitter, where he has gone into some detail about how the editors of IGN at the time - Steve Butts and Tal Blevins - were responsible for putting this unproven claim out there with Dyer’s name on it, against the latter’s will, to “protect their relationship with Sony.”
But the article was subsequently condemned by Sony, at which point Butts and Blevins “were silent” and didn’t step in to defend Dyer when he came under fire for the report. Dyer mentions that Butts and Blevins created an “unsafe and toxic work environment” which had negative impacts on his and other’s mental health, but that he still has much admiration for IGN itself.
Dyer’s Twitter thread even caught the attention of Druckmann himself, who expresses sympathy for Dyer’s position.
Butts and Blevins have since left IGN and have started their own consultancy firm called Level 74. Dyer encourages people not to support them.
Source: Twitter
