Naughty dog designer exposes years of crunch culture – ‘it’s what it takes’
Former Naughty Dog developer Benson Russell has delivered a damning indictment of the studio’s practices, revealing a systemic acceptance of extreme workloads that ultimately drove him away. His explosive account, shared with Kiwi Talkz, lays bare a Culture of relentless pressure that permeated projects from Uncharted to The Last of Us.
A descent into demands: from uncharted to unthinkable hours
Russell’s testimony paints a disturbing picture, starting with the early days of Uncharted. He describes a gradual, insidious escalation, noting that “from Uncharted 1, only got worse.” Initially, leadership attempted to mitigate the problem with midnight work restrictions – a policy that, predictably, was routinely circumvented.
“When push came to shove, that midnight rule went right out the window,” Russell explained. The shift in attitude culminated in a chilling admission following the release of The Last of Us: crunch wasn't a problem to be solved; it was a requirement for achieving the studio’s ambitious goals. “That’s why crunch has progressively gotten worse with every project,” he stated, a blunt assessment of a deeply ingrained issue.
He details a shift in company philosophy – a subtle but devastating change. “Every meeting after that was always like, ‘Hey, what are we going to do to try and mitigate crunch? How are we going to make this better?’ And eventually it was just an admission in the meeting. It was like, ‘Well, we’ve just come to realize this is what it takes to make games at our level, and we understand, if you don’t want to do that, that’s fine. We understand. We’ll write you a great letter of recommendation.’ That was the answer.”
Russell’s account highlights a chilling incentive structure: employees were effectively pressured to endure unsustainable conditions, with bonuses tied to exceeding expectations. “The company runs the way it wants to run. You either want to be a part of it, or you don’t. They’re not technically breaking any laws, and it’s not like a requirement, it is a ‘Hey, we really could use your help, please come here,’ and you’re incentivized to do it because your bonuses will be bigger.”
Retention rates suffered, he recounts, with “some people left” during the development of Uncharted 4 and then “they really started leaving” around The Last of Us Part 2. His own departure, in 2015, stemmed from a lack of visible career progression – a consequence, he argues, of the overriding emphasis on crunch.
Russell described grueling schedules: “We had flex hours, where it’s like, you had to be between this time and this time, minimum, so those are core hours so people can overlap, and then you manage that however you need to. The problem is crunch comes in, and then it’s like, all bets are off.” He details periods of “multiple months of seven-day weeks” and 12-to-14-hour days, a stark contrast to the carefully managed ‘flex hours’ touted as a benefit.
Despite Sony’s recent acknowledgement of mandatory overtime— reportedly a minimum of eight extra hours per week—to meet deadlines for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, the reality within Naughty Dog’s walls, as Russell reveals, was far more pervasive and deeply rooted. Rumors swirling around The Last of Us Part 3 and a potential Uncharted 5 only serve to underscore the continuing pressure within the studio.
Ultimately, Russell's revelations expose a culture where ambition exceeded ethics, and where the pursuit of a ‘level’ game demanded a devastating human cost.