Game director and co-president of video game developer Naughty Dog, Neil Druckmann, took to Twitter to clear up some confusion regarding comments he made about his currently unannounced next game in a recent article in The New Yorker. In the piece centered on the upcoming HBO adaptation of The Last of Us and the spotty track record of video game-to-film adaptations, Druckmann stated that his next game would be “structured more like a TV show.”Naughty Dog has a long history of developing games with heavy cinematic influences. Out of context, Druckmann’s comments about his next game taking more influence from TV than film left some thinking his next game would be episodic in nature; more akin to Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead series than Druckmann’s previous narratively self-contained projects. The quote’s broader context proves otherwise.The final paragraph of the New Yorker piece details Druckmann’s shift from writing The Last of Us on his own, to surprising his Naughty Dog coworkers by bringing in screenwriter Halley Gross to co-write The Last of Us Part 2. Gross had previously written two episodes of the now-canceled HBO series Westworld. Inspired by television writers' rooms, for his next game, Druckmann didn’t just bring in a single co-writer but rather assembled a full writers’ room to flesh out the story.
Quote tweeting the official Twitter account of The Game Awards, which tweeted the out-of-context quote, Druckmann said, “I’m sure no one will misconstrue what this means!” followed by the “face with tears of joy” emoji. He continued by clarifying that the quote in question was “about making our games in an even more collaborative manner.” The New Yorker article explains that many of today’s Hollywood screenwriters grew up playing video games, while writers of video game adaptations of years past hadn’t. This fundamental understanding of the medium that was lacking in previous generations of screenwriters has allowed writers to more easily shift from film and/or television to video games. Druckmann is using the video game literacy of the modern screenwriter to his advantage. If this should become a trend, Druckmann could again place himself at the forefront of game narrative innovation.
The New Yorker article also hints at ways the upcoming HBO adaptation of The Last of Us has expanded on narrative threads the original game was only had time to imply. Without having to worry about bloating a game with too much story and not enough gameplay, Craig Mazin, the showrunner of the HBO adaptation, was able to dive into the details of the romantic relationship between Bill, a side character encountered by Joel and Ellie in the source material, and his partner Frank. Bill’s backstory was only hinted at in the game. Any other details regarding Druckmann’s upcoming game outside of the formation of a television-style writer’s room, are still being kept under wraps.