Naughty Dog, LLC (formerly JAM Software, Inc.
) is an American
first-party
A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...
video game developer
A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a larg ...
based in
Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
. Founded by
Andy Gavin and
Jason Rubin in 1984,
the studio was acquired by
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
in 2001. Gavin and Rubin produced a sequence of progressively more successful games, including ''
Rings of Power'' and ''
Way of the Warrior'' in the early 1990s. The latter game prompted
Universal Interactive Studios to sign the duo to a three-title contract and fund the expansion of the company.
After designer and producer
Mark Cerny convinced Naughty Dog to create a character-based
platform game
A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action game, action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform game ...
that would use the
3D capabilities of the new systems, Naughty Dog created ''
Crash Bandicoot'' for the
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...
in 1996. Naughty Dog developed three ''Crash Bandicoot'' games over the next several years. After developing ''
Crash Team Racing'', the company began working on ''
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy'' for the
PlayStation 2.
In 2004, Rubin, who had become the company's president, left the company to work on a new project, ''
Iron and the Maiden''. In addition to their inhouse game team, Naughty Dog is also home to the
ICE Team
PlayStation Studios (formerly SCE Worldwide Studios and SIE Worldwide Studios) is a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) that oversees the video game development at the studios owned by SIE. The division was established as SCE Worl ...
,
[Mark Cerny's "Road to the PS4" @ Gamelab 2013](_blank)
YouTube (June 27, 2013). Retrieved on July 16, 2013. one of
PlayStation Studios
PlayStation Studios (formerly SCE Worldwide Studios and SIE Worldwide Studios) is a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) that oversees the video game development at the studios owned by SIE. The division was established as SCE Wor ...
's central technology groups. The company's first
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
game, ''
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune'', was released in 2007, followed by
several sequels and spin-off titles. This lasted until Naughty Dog announced a new
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
for the PlayStation 3, ''
The Last of Us'', which was in development by a secondary team at the studio and released to critical acclaim in 2013. A sequel, ''
The Last of Us Part II
''The Last of Us Part II'' is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. Set five years after ''The Last of Us'' (2013), the game focuses on two playable charac ...
'' for PlayStation 4, was released by Naughty Dog in 2020 to similar acclaim, though the narrative polarized critics and audiences.
History
Jason Rubin and
Andy Gavin met as pre-teens in 1982 at a weekend
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
school in Virginia. After they discovered a mutual interest in computers and video games, they began regularly discussing programming, game development, and
game piracy during class.
Having experimented with
Lisp
A lisp is a speech impairment in which a person misarticulates sibilants (, , , , , , , ). These misarticulations often result in unclear speech.
Types
* A frontal lisp occurs when the tongue is placed anterior to the target. Interdental lispi ...
and
C++, Rubin and Gavin teamed up with a friend, Mike Goyet, and founded JAM Software in 1984.
The
acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in '' NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, a ...
"JAM" stood for "Jason, Andy and Mike"; however, when Goyet became disinterested in the work and did not contribute to JAM's operations, Rubin and Gavin bought back his share of the company (about ) within months and the acronym was redefined as "Jason and Andy's Magic".
Rubin and Gavin chose to create software for the
Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-mold ...
and decided to create a
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ...
game for their second title. During production of the game, Gavin accidentally copied bootleg games over the only copy of the skiing game they had. Rubin then created a new skiing game called ''Ski Crazed'' (originally titled ''Ski Stud'') within the weekend. Because the game played slowly, Gavin reprogrammed the game to play quicker. The game was later picked up and published by Baudville, who bought the game from Jam Software for $250. ''Ski Crazed'' sold more than 1,000 copies. Rubin and Gavin created an
Apple IIGS
The Apple IIGS (styled as II), the fifth and most powerful of the Apple II family, is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Computer. While featuring the Macintosh look and feel, and resolution and color similar to the Amiga and Atari S ...
graphic adventure game
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...
titled ''
Dream Zone
''Dream Zone'' is an adventure video game developed by JAM Software and published by Baudville. The game was released in 1988 for the Apple IIGS and then ported to the MS-DOS, Amiga, and Atari ST.
Plot
The player becomes trapped in his own dream ...
'', which was released in 1988 and ported to the
Atari ST,
Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...
and
personal computer
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tech ...
.
In 1989, Rubin and Gavin released a game titled ''
Keef the Thief'', which was published by
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted th ...
for the Apple IIGS, Amiga and IBM PC Compatible. To make a fresh start and to dissolve their relationship with Baudville, Rubin and Gavin renamed Jam Software as ''Naughty Dog'' on September 9, 1989.
Naughty Dog also created and developed ''
Rings of Power'', which was published by Electronic Arts for the
Sega Genesis
The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...
in 1991. Rubin and Gavin were joined on the title by programmer
Vijay Pande, who would later become better known for orchestrating the
distributed computing
A distributed system is a system whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another from any system. Distributed computing is a field of computer sci ...
disease researching project known as
Folding@home at
Stanford University.
In 1994, Rubin and Gavin produced the
3DO Interactive Multiplayer
The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, also referred to as simply 3DO, is a home video game console developed by The 3DO Company. Conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, the 3DO was not a console manufactured by the compan ...
title ''
Way of the Warrior'' and presented it to
Mark Cerny of
Universal Interactive Studios. Cerny was pleased with ''Way of the Warrior'' and signed Naughty Dog on to Universal Interactive Studios for three additional games. Rubin and Gavin devised a plan to create a three-dimensional
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
-
platform game
A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action game, action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform game ...
.
Because the player would be forced to constantly look at the character's rear, the game was jokingly codenamed "
Sonic's Ass Game".
Production of the game began in 1994, during which Naughty Dog expanded its number of employees and invented a development tool called Game Oriented Object Lisp, to create the characters and gameplay. Cartoonists
Charles Zembillas and Joe Pearson were recruited to create the characters of the game, which resulted in the titular character
Crash Bandicoot. After 14 months of development, the game was shown to
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
, who then signed on to publish the game. ''
Crash Bandicoot'' was shown to the public for the first time at
E3 and went on to become one of the highest-selling titles for the
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...
console, selling over 6.8 million copies.
Naughty Dog continued to develop two more ''Crash Bandicoot'' games, with a spin-off ''
Crash Team Racing'' kart racing game. By then the studio was looking to develop games for Sony and not be constrained by Universal Interactive. Since Universal held the rights to the
''Crash Bandicoot'' series, Naughty Dog could not develop future games in its own right. The studio would be bought out by Sony in 2001 to avoid a repeat while it focused on developing the
first game of the ''
Jak and Daxter
''Jak and Daxter'' is an action-adventure video game franchise created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series was originally developed by Naughty Dog with a number of installments being outsourced ...
'' series. The ''Jak and Daxter'' games met similar success as the ''Crash Bandicoot'' games. During the development of ''
Jak 3'' and ''
Jak X: Combat Racing'' games, Rubin and Gavin slowly transitioned Evan Wells and Stephen White to become co-presidents of Naughty Dog by the time the founders left the studio. White was replaced by Christophe Balestra after a year.
In 2007, Naughty Dog began work on the ''
Uncharted
''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of Treasure hunting, treasure hunters who tra ...
'' series, and made their first approach to realistic worlds and characters, in contrast to their ''Crash Bandicoot'' and ''Jak and Daxter'' series, which featured fantastical worlds set in a fictional setting. The ''Uncharted'' franchise has been praised for its cinematic quality and technical proficiency, and has sold nearly 17 million copies worldwide as of April 2012.
During the 2011
Spike TV Video Game Awards, Naughty Dog unveiled a new
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
, ''
The Last of Us'', described as a "post-apocalyptic third-person action-adventure game", following the plight of a teenage girl, Ellie, and her adult protector, Joel, in a post-apocalyptic United States overrun with humans infected with a disease reminiscent of the infection caused by ''
Cordyceps unilateralis
''Ophiocordyceps unilateralis'', commonly known as zombie-ant fungus, is an insect-pathogenic fungus, discovered by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in 1859, and currently found predominantly in tropical forest ecosystems. ''O. unil ...
''. ''The Last of Us'' received universal acclaim upon release. In 2012 and 2013, Naughty Dog teamed with
Mass Media Inc. to release the ''
Jak and Daxter Collection''. It contains high-definition ports of the original
PlayStation 2 trilogy and was released for
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
and
PlayStation Vita
The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international terri ...
respectively.
On November 23, 2013,
Corrinne Yu, principal engine architect at
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...
's ''
Halo 4
''Halo 4'' is a 2012 first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and published by Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. ''Halo 4''s story follows a Cybernetics, cybernetically enhanced human ...
'' developer
343 Industries
343 Industries is an American video game developer located in Redmond, Washington, part of Xbox Game Studios. Headed by Pierre Hintze, the studio is responsible for the ''Halo'' series of military science fiction games, originally created and p ...
, announced that she had joined Naughty Dog. On December 7, 2013, during the first edition of
Spike's
VGX award show, Naughty Dog won the Studio of the Year award for its work on ''The Last of Us''. On March 4, 2014, ''
Uncharted
''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of Treasure hunting, treasure hunters who tra ...
'' lead writer
Amy Hennig
Amy Hennig (born August 19, 1964) is an American video game director and script writer, formerly for the video game company Naughty Dog. She began her work in the industry on the Nintendo Entertainment System, with her design debut on the Super ...
left the studio, with ''Uncharted 3'' director Justin Richmond and ''The Last of Us'' lead artist Nate Wells leaving soon after. Later, it was revealed that ''The Last of Us'' would be released on the PlayStation 4 as a remastered version.
In March 2017, Balestra announced that he would retire his role as co-president on April 3, 2017, after working at the company for fifteen years. Evan Wells remains in his role as president. In September 2017, game director
Bruce Straley announced his departure from Naughty Dog, stating that he "found
isenergy focusing in other directions" following a sabbatical.
Creative director
Neil Druckmann was promoted to vice president in March 2018.
In October 2017, former environment artist David Ballard claimed that he suffered a mental breakdown after experiencing sexual harassment by a senior team member while working at Naughty Dog in late 2015, stating that he informed PlayStation's
HR department and the following day was terminated from his position and offered $20,000 to remain silent regarding the allegations, which he declined. Naughty Dog responded to the allegations with a statement declaring that it had "not found any evidence of having received allegations from Mr. Ballard that he was harassed in any way".
Neil Druckmann was promoted to co-president alongside Evan Wells on December 4, 2020; Alison Mori, formerly the director of operations, and Christian Gyrling, the former co-director of programming, were promoted to co-vice presidents in his place. On October 4, 2021, director of communications Arne Meyer announced that he had been promoted to co-vice president. In July 2022,
Josh Scherr
Josh Scherr is an American video game writer and designer best known for his work on the ''Uncharted'' series.
Career
Josh Scherr received his Master of Fine Arts in Animation from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1995. He worked on sever ...
announced his departure from Naughty Dog after 21 years with the company.
Games developed
As a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment, Naughty Dog is best known for developing games for the
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...
consoles, including the ''
Crash Bandicoot'' series for the original
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...
, ''
Jak and Daxter
''Jak and Daxter'' is an action-adventure video game franchise created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series was originally developed by Naughty Dog with a number of installments being outsourced ...
'' on
PlayStation 2, and ''
Uncharted
''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of Treasure hunting, treasure hunters who tra ...
'' and ''
The Last of Us'' on
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
and
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
. Before this, they also developed games including ''
Dream Zone
''Dream Zone'' is an adventure video game developed by JAM Software and published by Baudville. The game was released in 1988 for the Apple IIGS and then ported to the MS-DOS, Amiga, and Atari ST.
Plot
The player becomes trapped in his own dream ...
'', ''
Keef the Thief'', ''
Rings of Power'' and ''
Way of the Warrior''.
Development philosophy
Naughty Dog is known for its unique way of handling game development, as the studio does not have a producer in either of their teams.
The work culture at Naughty Dog is very different from many other studios; there is less
middle-management Middle management is the intermediate management level of a hierarchical organization that is subordinate to the executive management and responsible for ‘team leading’ line managers and/or ‘specialist’ line managers. Middle management is in ...
; the studio's lead effects artist, Keith Guerrette, said: "It comes with a lot of pros and cons but I think it definitely is one of our biggest strengths. Looking around at the rest of the industry, and this is something that we do talk about quite a bit, the companies that are doing really innovative, cool things are all the ones that don't have the management, like the business side, directly injected into the company. Sony's put us in this fantastic situation where we don't have any producers; we don't have any interactions with Sony corporate at all on the development."
Naughty Dog has also complete freedom in basically every aspect of game design, and that also means that Sony Computer Entertainment, the parent company, does not prevent the studio from any implementation of game elements.
ICE Team
Naughty Dog is home to the ICE Team, one of Sony's World Wide Studios central technology groups. The term ''ICE'' originally stands for ''Initiative for a Common Engine'' which describes the original purpose of the studio.
The ICE Team focuses on creating core graphics technologies for Sony's worldwide
first party published titles, including low level game engine components, graphics processing pipelines, supporting tools, and graphics profiling and
debugging tools. The ICE Team also supports
third party
Third party may refer to:
Business
* Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller
* Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party
* Third-party insurance, such as a Veh ...
developers with a suite of engine components, and a graphics analysis, profiling, and debugging tool for the
RSX. Both enable developers to get better performance out of
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...
hardware.
Awards
Naughty Dog won the Studio of the Year award at the 2013
VGX, the 2013
Golden Joystick Awards
The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be vot ...
, and the 2020 Golden Joystick Awards.
References
External links
*
{{authority control
1984 establishments in Virginia
2001 mergers and acquisitions
Companies based in Santa Monica, California
First-party video game developers
Golden Joystick Award winners
PlayStation Studios
Spike Video Game Award winners
Video game companies established in 1984
Video game companies of the United States
Video game development companies