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[SiegfriedFM]

Translation:
"Neil Druckman, creative head at Naughty Dog and director/producer of The Last of Us doesn't really like our latest cover. Despite it featuring the latest perfect scored game. The reason is because I removed Ellie from the picture. After a tweet from Naughty Dog a discussion on sexism has flared up, something I would like to close at once. The reason why Ellie was removed was purely aesthetical. A question of design. Anything else is made up.

We removed Ellie because she looked like an after-thought by the illustrator. She was the only part of the image in a separate layer, and she looked pasted in and a bit like a paper doll with a lower resolution face than Joel's. We thought that the cover looked better like this. Better, and we also found a perfect spot for our headline. If Naughty Dog really didn't want a cover without Ellie they of course shouldn't have delivered an image with the option of removing her.

In the end the hysteria around the cover is a bit funny, but also raaaather silly. We printed an Uncharted cover without Sully and didn't see a bit of commotion, we printed a Jak & Daxter cover without Daxter, a Ratchet & Clank cover without Ratchet and a Half-Life 2 cover without Alyx. We've also made a Super Mario Bros cover with only one of the brothers, a Sonic cover without Tails and an Army of Two cover only featuring Rios. It's about design. Only."

 

[Ricko Suave]

The last of him?

HAHAHAHA!!!!!! I know, Ima douche... but that was funny!

 

[Carl]

The answer from the editor, Petter Hegevall.

http://www.gamereactor.se/blog/petter/569231/

It was his choice, and he did it because he felt the design became better. He thought that Ellie in that picure looked odd, like the the illustrator had added her to the picure in the last minute, and he says that she was the only one who was in a seperate layer.

Design choice, nothing else.

Removing the central character because "it looks better"

...Okay.

 

[Varth]

I guess I CAN put a dildo in Marston's hands if I think it suits him, and layers allow me, after all. Can't wait to get some properly layered Beyond cover art. We're gonna double up our print run with a couple touches to cute miss Page -__-

 

[Avinexus]

He did the same thing to a game from the same company and they didn't say a word to him. I'm sure he thought they wouldn't mind again, especially since he made it look better.

 

[Harlock]

Don't know if this has been posted yet but here's the original.

Oh-oh, a child with a gun? Remove that.

 

[nubbe]

Seems like ND photoshopped Ellie in

New scandal, new thread

 

[OriginalNameGuy]

Honestly, it looks better without her in it.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Ellie is normally always by Joel's side, so the original picture doesn't seem like she was just 'inserted' into it, IMO.

 

[FafaFooey]

Translation:
"Neil Druckman, creative head at Naughty Dog and director/producer of The Last of Us doesn't really like our latest cover. Despite it featuring the latest perfect scored game. The reason is because I removed Ellie from the picture. After a tweet from Naughty Dog a discussion on sexism has flared up, something I would like to close at once. The reason why Ellie was removed was purely aesthetical. A question of design. Anything else is made up.

We removed Ellie because she looked like an after-thought by the illustrator. She was the only part of the image in a separate layer, and she looked pasted in and a bit like a paper doll with a lower resolution face than Joel's. We thought that the cover looked better like this. Better, and we also found a perfect spot for our headline. If Naughty Dog really didn't want a cover without Ellie they of course shouldn't have delivered an image with the option of removing her.

In the end the hysteria around the cover is a bit funny, but also raaaather silly. We printed an Uncharted cover without Sully and didn't see a bit of commotion, we printed a Jak & Daxter cover without Daxter, a Ratchet & Clank cover without Ratchet and a Half-Life 2 cover without Alyx. We've also made a Super Mario Bros cover with only one of the brothers, a Sonic cover without Tails and an Army of Two cover only featuring Rios. It's about design. Only."

Makes sense.

 

[FullMetalx117]

Yeah Ellie does look a little blurry in that ND cover. Good for game reactor to not take any shit from people who are trying to make something out of nothing.

 

[Aostia]

can't even imagine a reasonable reason...

 

[spuit*11]

As a designer I can tell you my opinion is that the cover looks better with just the one character.

I also think this whole (faux) outrage is a complete kneejerk reaction, a laughable exercise in political correctness and asserting they took out the supporting character for reasons other than design aesthetics is far-fetched and quite frankly disingenuous.

 

[anexanhume]

Removing the central character because "it looks better"

...Okay.

I think his reasoning is bullshit too. Her being on a different plane means she's a different focus than the main character. You don't take the both of them in as one impression. You look at the main character, then you see her with a gun and it changes your original perception. It's a slightly different experience than seeing with the same prominence, but a near similar effect I think.

 

[soulx]

Big fucking deal, it was a stylistic choice. Not everything has to turn into some huge sexism debate.

 

[soqquatto]

Translation:
"Neil Druckman, creative head at Naughty Dog and director/producer of The Last of Us doesn't really like our latest cover. Despite it featuring the latest perfect scored game. The reason is because I removed Ellie from the picture. After a tweet from Naughty Dog a discussion on sexism has flared up, something I would like to close at once. The reason why Ellie was removed was purely aesthetical. A question of design. Anything else is made up.

We removed Ellie because she looked like an after-thought by the illustrator. She was the only part of the image in a separate layer, and she looked pasted in and a bit like a paper doll with a lower resolution face than Joel's. We thought that the cover looked better like this. Better, and we also found a perfect spot for our headline. If Naughty Dog really didn't want a cover without Ellie they of course shouldn't have delivered an image with the option of removing her.

In the end the hysteria around the cover is a bit funny, but also raaaather silly. We printed an Uncharted cover without Sully and didn't see a bit of commotion, we printed a Jak & Daxter cover without Daxter, a Ratchet & Clank cover without Ratchet and a Half-Life 2 cover without Alyx. We've also made a Super Mario Bros cover with only one of the brothers, a Sonic cover without Tails and an Army of Two cover only featuring Rios. It's about design. Only."

too sensible, it won't make the rounds.

 

[Gestault]

The cover art is as aware of her as the enemy AI.

 

[graboids]

 

[Varth]

I like your stylistic choice. Actually makes more sense than the GR one, story wise.

BTW: so envious of you guys' shooping skills

 

[pettson3816]

This.... is just.. awesome!

 

[robovanburen]

So how many outraged editorials have been published about this so far?

 

[Cindres]

So they removed her and everyone immediately jumped to
"OH IT'S BECAUSE IT'S A FEMALE"
"OH IT'S BECASE SHE'S YOUNG"

Etc. etc.

Standard.

 

[Replicant]

Translation:
"Neil Druckman, creative head at Naughty Dog and director/producer of The Last of Us doesn't really like our latest cover. Despite it featuring the latest perfect scored game. The reason is because I removed Ellie from the picture. After a tweet from Naughty Dog a discussion on sexism has flared up, something I would like to close at once. The reason why Ellie was removed was purely aesthetical. A question of design. Anything else is made up.

We removed Ellie because she looked like an after-thought by the illustrator. She was the only part of the image in a separate layer, and she looked pasted in and a bit like a paper doll with a lower resolution face than Joel's. We thought that the cover looked better like this. Better, and we also found a perfect spot for our headline. If Naughty Dog really didn't want a cover without Ellie they of course shouldn't have delivered an image with the option of removing her.

In the end the hysteria around the cover is a bit funny, but also raaaather silly. We printed an Uncharted cover without Sully and didn't see a bit of commotion, we printed a Jak & Daxter cover without Daxter, a Ratchet & Clank cover without Ratchet and a Half-Life 2 cover without Alyx. We've also made a Super Mario Bros cover with only one of the brothers, a Sonic cover without Tails and an Army of Two cover only featuring Rios. It's about design. Only."

As a designer (and an expert one at that), I disagree. The cover looks kind of empty without Ellie in it. And not the good kind of empty but one where it definitely lacks something that should have been there in the first place.

♪ There are loved ones in the glory
Whose dear forms you often miss.
When you close your earthly story,
Will you join them in their bliss?

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, by and by?
Is a better home awaiting
In the sky, in the sky? ♪

 

[nubbe]

Rock band: last of us

 

[chogidogs]

Nvm

 

[fallagin]

HAHAHAHA

 

[Telepathy]

Lol. The hysteria is clearly showing that the gaming industry has a long way to go.

Sexism is to freak out when a girl is removed from a cover illustration but not when it was done 50 times before with male characters.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

Get Druckmann on GAF.

 

[kitsuneyo]

It's not really "an option" just for being there. Some publishers (tipically japanese ones, Bethesda and RS) and some licensed game art usually come with very strict guidelines about what you can or cannot do with your art. For other stuff, even if no agreement was signed or guideline was provided, when you ask for a layered version of an art you basically enter in a gentlemen's agreement with the author and/or dev to limit your input only to the needs of the cover format. Flipping art and moving characters closer to adapt it to our cover format was already invasive stuff to me, but couldn't do it any other way since this was the only unpublished cover art available. Taking out Ellie was never an option. It simply takes the image meaning in a whole different direction as it would have been focusing on Ellie in the boxart cover.

Thanks for the answer!

Uh, looking at both of them side by side, I prefer the look without Ellie in it too. The fact that one of the covers they let their readers vote for was primarily focused on Ellie makes the sexism claims seem a bit weird. Why would they be sexist in cover alternative 4 but not in alternative 1?

I was being sarcastic but guess it didn't come across.