Naughty Dog strives for perfection with each one of its games, but that kind of attitude does come at a human cost. For years, Naughty Dog has been criticized for crunch culture, where it expects employees to work absurd hours in order to finish a game's development on time. As it so happens, there appear to be a couple of instances in The Last of Us 2 where Naughty Dog's crunch culture is referenced, but it's done so in a joking, tongue-in-cheek way instead of treating the problem seriously.
Throughout The Last of Us 2, Ellie and the other characters can collect trading cards based on fictional superheroes and villains. These trading cards offer descriptions on the character's backstory, and that's where the references to Naughty Dog crunch culture can be found. The first is a card about the character Doctor Uckmann, a clear reference to Last of Us 2 game director Neil Druckman.
The Neil Druckmann card in The Last of Us 2 says: "Once a well-respected researcher, Doctor Uckmann's questionable experiments in the realm of pushing human limits saw him ostracized from the scientific community. Even the morally-compromised Laurent Foucault of SPARK Laboratories found his work dubious. Undeterred, Uckmann continued to do his bidding and protect his research while he and The New Dogs stage high-tech heists to fund it all. Constantly moving his lab location so no one can find him, he longs for the day where his subjects will be treated as equals." The line about Doctor Uckmann "pushing human limits" appears to be a reference to Naughty Dog's crunch culture, though it's possible that this is just a coincidence.
Elsewhere, Last of Us 2 players can find a similar collectible for a character named Randy Styles, who appears to be a reference to former Naughty Dog employee Bruce Straley. For the uninitiated, Straley was the game director for the original Last of Us, and he also helmed Uncharted 4: A Thief's End before departing from the studio. His card in The Last of Us 2 says, "Once, he was Doctor Uckmann's research partner, working late nights to develop all manner of technology for the betterment of mankind, until one day, he just vanished!" This seems to reference Straley's extreme work ethic at Naughty Dog, as well as his departure from the company.
Crunch culture in video game development is a serious topic that has generated significant controversy, so it's a bit odd to see it referenced so nonchalantly in The Last of Us 2. Then again, it's still possible that fans are just reading too much into these card descriptions. Regardless, Naughty Dog has given no real indication that it plans on changing its use of crunch when making its games, so it's likely that the controversy will continue.
The Last of Us 2 is out now, exclusively for PS4.
Source: GameRevolution
