Neil Druckmann was recently targeted in the media for a quote recorded in an interview with Sony. Per the statement, he made a bold claim that his next project would ‘redefine the mainstream perceptions of gaming.’ This caused dissent on social platforms, with many believing that Druckmann was getting too big for his britches and trying to make himself look like some God of Gaming, capable of altering the paradigm with a single release.
However, the man himself recently appeared on Twitter (X) with a copy of the interview’s transcript, setting the story straight and confirming that he was effectively misquoted because of ‘edits of his rambling answers.’
The Truth Will Out
In his post on Twitter, Neil Druckmann revealed that he was indeed misquoted by Sony, but it was mostly because his answer to a particular question was lengthy and spun off into a few tangents here and there. He did speak boldly about his next game, stressing that he ‘can’t talk about it our (his) bosses will get very mad,’ and he did say that he’s excited to see how the world will react to the ‘incredible moving experience’ Naughty Dog is creating, but he didn’t use the words ‘redefine the mainstream perceptions of gaming’.
The transcript that Druckmann revealed on Twitter was juicy, though. He said that the developing title is something ‘fresh’ for Naughty Dog and that it’s the ‘most excited’ he’s been for a project ever. That’s hugely important, as the passion that was poured into both The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II was unparalleled, producing a multi-award-winning series that went on to become one of the most widely beloved live-action adaptations ever made.
The closest Druckmann came to Sony’s quote was:
I think it just kind of opens the eyes of a bunch of people that just weren’t aware of the kind of experience that exist in games … People even outside of gaming are looking at us to see what it is that we put out next.
It isn’t known what Naughty Dog is cooking at the moment, but recently, the team cancelled a planned multiplayer project that would have been set at the heart of The Last of Us’ universe.
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