Highlights
- Christian Gyrling, the former head of technology at Naughty Dog, is leaving the studio after a 17-year career.
- Gyrling made significant contributions to games such as The Last of Us: Part 2 and held multiple positions during his time at the company.
- Travis McIntosh, who has been with Naughty Dog for 19 years, will be taking over Gyrling's position as head of technology.
One of Naughty Dog's longtime developers and programmers, Christian Gyrling, is leaving the Last of Us and Uncharted development studio after a 17-year-long career at the company. The former employee was the studio's former head of technology, who made many contributions to the games developed, along with holding a lot of different positions during his time at Naughty Dog. Gyrling first joined the company as a programmer for the first Uncharted game on the PS3 back in 2007.
Ever since he joined the studio, Gyrling has been credited in every major release from Naughty Dog, ascending to the high-level position of The Last of Us: Part 2. Gyrling would then become Naughty Dog's vice president from 2020-2023, before reverting to his former role of head of technology in the summer. Before he joined Naughty Dog, Gyrling worked at High Moon Studios between 2004-2006 and at WMS Gaming Inc. between 2001-2003. While the former technology head has contributed to some of the most acclaimed games for the studio, he has left the studio after nearly two decades.
This announcement was made on Naughty Dog's official Twitter page, honoring Gyrling for his contributions during his tenure at the company. "Our head of technology Christian Gyrling has decided to leave Naughty Dog after an amazing 17-year career at our studio," says the Twitter post. Following Gyrling's departure, Travis McIntosh, who had been with Naughty Dog for a similarly long period of 19 years, will be taking his place.
This is the second high-profile departure for the Sony first-party studio, as Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells announced his retirement earlier this past summer, leaving the company after a 25-year career. Outside these departures, Naughty Dog had laid off some contract employees, which led to early rumors of the studio possibly shelving its multiplayer-focused The Last of Us game, though it was confirmed a few days later to be still in development.
Our head of technology Christian Gyrling has decided to leave Naughty Dog after an amazing 17-year career at our studio.
Gryling's replacement, Travis McIntosh, has a similar profile to him, as McIntosh had joined the studio ahead of the first Uncharted's launch. In terms of games that McIntosh had previously worked on at Naughty Dog, he was the lead programmer for various Uncharted games until Lost Legacy as well as both Last of Us games. There are rumors about how Naughty Dog is working on a remaster of The Last of Us: Part 2, which might be the first game with McIntosh in this position. These projects are still only rumors and speculation currently, so they should be taken with a grain of salt until more official information from Naughty Dog is unveiled.
