Naughty Dog "disheartened" when games' stories are easily branded "amazing"
"We try so hard to push things."
Update: A new, online version of the Edge interview has just been published, which chops up and explains Druckmann's quote in a different light: that staff are merely disappointed when the praise lavished on the studio's output focuses on its cinematic flair.
The full, unedited version of the quote from the print version of the interview is below:
"We're trying to say something about human beings and how they exist. Not necessarily just in this setting, but in every setting. We try so hard at Naughty Dog to push things and then games come out that are fun and exciting and get visceral things right, but to read in interviews that they have an amazing story is disheartening to us because we work so hard at it. We really hope we can raise the bar."
Original story: Naughty Dog finds it "disheartening" when games "that are fun and exciting and get visceral things right" are praised by reviewers for having an "amazing" story.
"We try so hard at Naughty Dog to push things," creative director Neil Druckmann told Edge (thanks, VG247).
"And then games come out that are fun and exciting and get visceral things right, but to read in reviews that they have an amazing story is disheartening to us because we work so hard at it. We really hope we can raise the bar.
"We're trying to say something about human beings," Druckman continued, "and how they exist. Not necessarily just in this setting, but in every setting."
Naughty Dog's next project is post-apocalyptic PS3 exclusive The Last Of Us, which examines the relationship between a pair of survivors.