Sony retracts controversial Neil Druckmann interview due to inaccurate quotes

By Tomas Franzese May 29, 2024

Neil Druckmann in a roundtable interview for The Last of Us Season 1. — Sony

Sony has removed an interview with Naughty Dog’s co-president Neil Druckmann after the Uncharted and The Last of Us creator noted that some of his quotes were inaccurate and misrepresented in the article.

Last week, an interview Neil Druckmann was posted and was meant to offer insight into the famous game developer’s philosophies and expectations for the future of Naughty Dog. The interview caught the general audience’s attention because Druckmann made bold claims about how AI could be used in game development and how he thought Naughty Dog’s next game was “redefining mainstream perceptions of gaming.”

There’s just one problem, he was misquoted.

Druckmann took to X after the interview started gaining traction in gaming spaces. “This is not quite what I said,” he explained. “In editing my rambling answers in my recent interview with Sony, some of my words, context, and intent were unfortunately lost.” He went on to share his full, unedited response to the question about Naughty Dog’s future that Sony asked.

In editing my rambling answers in my recent interview with SONY, some of my words, context, and intent were unfortunately lost. Well, here's the full long rambling answer for the final question about our future game… pic.twitter.com/tVuxX3LYJF

— Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) May 25, 2024

Sony took the entire interview down sometime around Wednesday morning. Going to that article now displays the following message: “In re-reviewing our recent interview with Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann, we have found several significant errors and inaccuracies that don’t represent his perspective and values (including topics such as animation, writing, technology, AI, and future projects). We apologize to Neil for misrepresenting his words and for any negative impact this interview might have caused him and his team. In coordination with Naughty Dog and [Sony Interactive Entertainment], we have removed the interview.”

It’s an unfortunate situation of Sony’s own doing that now puts a bit of a shadow over whatever Naughty Dog makes next. We still don’t know what exactly that will be, but Druckmann did actually say it will be “something really fresh” from Naughty Dog.

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Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

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