She does not, as it seems. So works "directly" with/for Naughty Dog.
This reads like "forced out" and maybe more.
We'll probably never really know what happened.
You'd think so. But people have little things called agendas...Good statement from Evan Wells and Christopher Balestra.
Finally ending this bullshit story.
Probably no grand melodrama, but it seems pretty apparent it wasn't in mutual agreement either. If so they would have mentioned it, like Sony's statement about Tretton.Probably not, but from this thread it is clear that it makes no difference to those that want to think there was some grand melodrama going on behind he scenes. Sometimes conspiracy is too fun to accept a boring alternative.
Good statement from Evan Wells and Christopher Balestra.
Finally ending this bullshit story.
This reads like "forced out" and maybe more.
We'll probably never really know what happened.
Well it is pretty clear that something went down and she didn't leave on friendly terms. Too bad we will probably never find out what it is and who was involved.
smoke?
fire?
I suppose ND is a changing.
Let's see what comes out of it.
Hmm...
I don't like the way the story was reported, but IGN's source was obviously not full of shit, they knew Amy was out, and seemingly not of her own volition. If she was forced out by any specific person/s would almost certainly be subjective, it's quite possible whoever spoke to IGN is fully aware of the situation, and in their opinion, Neil and Bruce were responsible, and from other people's perspective, they had nothing to do with it.Of course IGN will retract to the "sources confirmed we just reported" but... fuck IGN, and their sources for that matter.
The most damning part of IGN's report wasn't the part of Amy being forced out, but how it painted Neil and Bruce as the masterminds.
It was easy to gather that it was a split on bad terms due to lack of proper nods/goodbye associated with someone like her leaving, but citing names without a very clear picture of the whole situation is a very dangerous reporting.
Even if true, it doesn't mean both of them are at fault because ultimately, the copresidents sided with them. If false, then that means your report has caused ton of false accusations being thrown at them.
They took about a day? That's not exactly slow. You can make things a lot worse by putting out a hasty, badly written reply.Exactly. This was a bullshit disgraceful report. But Naughty Dog and Sony are at fault too. They should have reacted instantly, the moment two of their employees were implicated in the original report.
smoke?
fire?
I suppose ND is a changing.
Let's see what comes out of it.
They took about a day? That's not exactly slow. You can make things a lot worse by putting out a hasty, badly written reply.
Only to a delusional person. There might've been disagreements, but that doesn't automatically mean she was forced out. The disagreements might've just been about what they'll do next with Uncharted or some new IP and if she and some higher-ups didn't meet eye to eye on what the future would hold, she might've decided herself to leave. Adults CAN have perfectly non-drama-queen arguments and end up things on good terms even if they end up agreeing to disagree. For all we know, maybe Hennig has been planning this for a long time and maybe her part of Uncharted 4's development has just mostly ended and she felt that she needed to find something else if Naughty Dog isn't the place where she sees she can do what she wants to do. Hennig already left one workplace where she had done incredible work on a franchise, there's no reason to believe there's anything majorly different behind this and that time's resignations.This reads like "forced out" and maybe more.
We'll probably never really know what happened.
Unfortunately, that false "rumour" spread like wildfire.
The third one shits on one in every single possible way so yes your implications (which you make and pretend you don't) don't really mean much. The only reason the 3rd is such a disappointment compared to the 1-2 jump is that the jump from 2 to 3 was not that big, while 1 to 2 was massive, since 1 is nowhere near the same caliber as its two sequels.What's going on is none of my business, but seeing the credits for the Uncharted series,
1) I was surprised that Mark Cerny was a producer and designer of the first game. Neil Druckman was also a designer.
2) The second game, Bruce Strally was co-director.
3) The third game, both Druckman and Strally wasn't involved because they were working on tLoU.
4) The third Uncharted was considered a disappointment.
I'm not suggesting anything but that's interesting to note.
So what is a the possibility that she was holding out for more money and it backfired?
Protip #2: Employees are leaving & joining all the time.
You think this is because she's a woman?At worst, ND is now to "important" for Sony to keep a girl steering the series to possible uncharted territories. I believe she is in a very losing position leaving ND. uncharted 3 got some deserved praises and critics, and she had everything to win by helping make Uncharted on PS4 an universally acclaimed entry.
When an employee leaves a company (voluntary or involuntary), exit interviews usually have agreements like non-compete and/or non-disclosure. Some of these agreements may be so broad and too vague, making it difficult to comment on certain scenarios.
Amy can freely shoot down that 4chan rumour since it was presented as her view on something (dlc she did not work on). When rumours involve another employee and her departure, any comment can be risky due to whatever agreement that was signed. It can be risky to even deny something silly like she left because Druckmann was being disruptive by making giant forts out of TLoU awards. An exit agreement can also require a company to act appropriately. This may explain why Balestra and Wells took a couple of days to respond; they may have had to consult with ND lawyers before issuing a statement.
The point here is that lawyers and signed agreements can complicate things. But just because it's not simple, it doesn't mean there was a ton of internal studio drama.
On IGN's Mitch Dyer doing his job by reporting rumours; there's a huge difference between a source leaking something like the number of multiplayer maps and a source leaking the reason why another employee left the studio.
Information related to a vetted source leaking product details has value. Product details can be planned ideas or actual fact. The information here can be verified. But a source leaking termination details about another employee should be received as opinion and office gossip. In a large team environment, when a senior employee leaves, only a small number people know the factual details of the situation. In this case, it would be Amy and whoever else in charge of her employment. This is where office rumours and gossip originate. It happens in every industry. Employees out of the loop start to smear circumstantial events into direct evidence. It's nonsense.
If this was a Team Bondi situation where there was a high turnover rate or mass exodus, where the sources were actual employees who were directly affected, name dropping Brendan McNamara made sense. However, in this situation, I highly doubt an industry veteran like Amy Hennig was the source of the leak of her own termination. Mitch Dyer screwed up.
All of this is spot on. Well said.
You think this is because she's a woman?
What are you basing that on exactly?
same, nice post (quoted yours because its shorter)
Very few high profile women in games -> it's a plus to have one.
Corinne Yu is a very sellable figure -> ND has its girl mascot and tho a it's a plus, I have yet to see a duo of high profiles women on a AAA game.
Other creative directors have a lot to win by steering Uncharted on PS4 to new heights of sells/approvals -> competition
Is there another creative director who is a woman at ND? -> competition against men only.
I still haven't met a woman who plays on fair ground when she's in a directing responsibility.
Maybe ND is so special it's not like 99% of other businesses?
it's not even about the rumoured reasons. It's 99% about her leaving while she's a creative director on the most recognizable PS4 system seller.
Just because a woman in a high position is let go / quit/ is fired doesn't mean a company is being unfair to women. That's kind of a stretch.
I mean they hired her in the first place and she was on the job for quite some time.
You're reading way too much into something that isn't there. They say the two had absolutely nothing to do with Hennig leaving. That's as clear cut as can be. ND said that those two's reputation had been wrongly tarnished and wanted to make it clear that they had nothing to do with Hennig's departure. And companies very rarely if ever comment on someone being let go, as that would put them in the risk of being sued if that statement in any way harms the employees future prospects, even if it isn't something overly negative.He won't agree to the term 'pushed out', but doesn't actually deny it either? And Naughty Dog say they had to comment to protect the interest of Druckmann and Straley, and also do not deny it or say under what terms Hennig left? This is very fishy indeed. I wonder what's going on over there.
If her job as the writer of the game is pretty much complete (which it could be since the game has been in development since Uncharted 3's release and if the game is going to have a ~late 2014-early 2015 release), then she doesn't necessarily have that big of a role in the game's development anymore, which is possibly why she might've chosen this point to leave (if she chose it and wasn't kicked out ASAP).But Mama' Uncharted leaving the company while the game is in production is not good news.
Very few high profile women in games -> it's a plus to have one.
Corinne Yu is a very sellable figure -> ND has its girl mascot and tho a it's a plus, I have yet to see a duo of high profiles women on a AAA game.
Other creative directors have a lot to win by steering Uncharted on PS4 to new heights of sells/approvals -> competition
Is there another creative director who is a woman at ND? -> competition against men only.
I still haven't met a woman who plays on fair ground when she's in a directing responsibility.
Maybe ND is so special it's not like 99% of other businesses?
it's not even about the rumoured reasons. It's 99% about her leaving while she's a creative director on the most recognizable PS4 system seller. which begs for looking for reasons why she would go/ bet let go...
Uncharted is the series that sells. So "someone" having had great success with a new IP would want to try and replicate his success on series with far more selling potential.
->$$$ is not something people ignore. Fame is also great.
The IGN guy just did what the police does. He looked for those who had anything to gain from it. and when birdy told him just that, he could not not publish it. He may laso have invented the rumor himself...it's not like game journalism is irreproachable.
There actually are quite a few high profile women in the industry, it's just that the media only really seems to focus on whoever pitches games publicly.Very few high profile women in games -> it's a plus to have one.
No, no one is going to buy Uncharted 4 because Corinne Yu worked on it, she was pivotal in the engine creation of Halo 4, which was by orders of magnitude the most impressive game to run on the 360, she's obviously a very valuable talent.Corinne Yu is a very sellable figure -> ND has its girl mascot and tho a it's a plus, I have yet to see a duo of high profiles women on a AAA game.
That doesn't have anything to do with her being a woman though. Assuming she was creative director on Uncharted 4, and we have no reason to think she wasn't, she's been at the helm for two years, which is the time it took to make UC2. If the results were weak, she should be taken off the project if more talented directors are available to take her place.Other creative directors have a lot to win by steering Uncharted on PS4 to new heights of sells/approvals -> competition
No, since Jason Rubin's exit, all games until TLoU were directed by Amy, since Rubin there have also been two additional directors, both men.Is there another creative director who is a woman at ND? -> competition against men only.
I'm not sure what this means, but it might be really offensive if it's what I suspect.I still haven't met a woman who plays on fair ground when she's in a directing responsibility.
I don't think the rest of the industry give a shit if a director is male or female. Maybe it's valuable to have a very attractive woman in a senior role so she looks good on camera in interviews, but no offense to Amy Hennig, she's not a model, she obviously got her position because she's talented, in fact, she got her first directing role on Soul Reaver, which shipped in 1999, way before women in the industry became a hot topic.Maybe ND is so special it's not like 99% of other businesses?
yes, but she was cited as co-directing uncharted PS4, which is much more than writting it. Maybe Uncharted is going into a hiatus and her talent are not aligned with their other IPs but leaving before the game ships is bizarre for someone who has gained so much from this series.If her job as the writer of the game is pretty much complete (which it could be since the game has been in development since Uncharted 3's release and if the game is going to have a ~late 2014-early 2015 release), then she doesn't necessarily have that big of a role in the game's development anymore, which is possibly why she might've chosen this point to leave (if she chose it and wasn't kicked out ASAP).
humm...I just make comments on the topic. I'm not stirring shit.What a load of circular reasoning bullshit.
it's offensive to men, indeed.I'm not sure what this means, but it might be really offensive if it's what I suspect.
Then I don't understand what it meant, sorry.it's offensive to men, indeed.
Corinne Yu is a saint and is going to make that PS4 purr like a damn baby. Don't bring her into this!
(also I thought she was ICE since she was on Twitter saying the Dogs were partying but her team aren't part of that)
But Mama' Uncharted leaving the company while the game is in production is not good news.
Corinne Yu is a saint and is going to make that PS4 purr like a damn baby. Don't bring her into this!
(also I thought she was ICE since she was on Twitter saying the Dogs were partying but her team aren't part of that)
He won't agree to the term 'pushed out', but doesn't actually deny it either? And Naughty Dog say they had to comment to protect the interest of Druckmann and Straley, and also do not deny it or say under what terms Hennig left? .
I don't think the rest of the industry give a shit if a director is male or female.
She's on the UC4 team, not ICE, according to the credits for Left Behind.
I was wrong then. Is there a separate credit for the ICE team?
"Normally, we wouldnt respond to rumors and speculation on matters that are internal to Naughty Dog, but because the personal reputation of two of our employees is being damaged we needed to set the record straight."
Then says nothing.
Yes, that will stop speculations. 10/10 in communication theory.
She's on the UC4 team, not ICE, according to the credits for Left Behind.
Lol after reading this thread I've had to adjust my baseline estimate for average GAFfer reading comprehension. It's not the majority of GAF that has issues with understanding the strings of words that we call sentences, but a fair few really bring the aggregate comprehension level way down.Did you only read that line...because they unequivocally state that two of their employees which the IGN article implicated originally were not involved in her departure. That is setting a record straight. The other information - Amy has left ND - is also correct.
IIRC Hennig left Crystal Dynamics before Legacy of Kain: Defiance was released as well, and she was the sole director of that project. It's not necessarily too big of a problem is Hennig was mostly handling the writing and helping with some directorial duties. If the writing is done and the project is well underway, then it doesn't have to cause too many problems. I mean, a lot of people were abandoning ship at the time of Uncharted 1's development because PS3 was causing so much trouble for them and people just couldn't take it, yet that turned out pretty decent (not even near to the greatness of 2 & 3, but not a bad game by any means).yes, but she was cited as co-directing uncharted PS4, which is much more than writting it. Maybe Uncharted is going into a hiatus and her talent are not aligned with their other IPs but leaving before the game ships is bizarre for someone who has gained so much from this series.
They say that the two accused parties have nothing to do with any of this. That's pretty clear cut dismissal of the accusations of IGN that those two actively pushed Hennig to be fired. They can't say much more because of likely NDAs that protect both Hennig and Naughty Dog."Normally, we wouldnt respond to rumors and speculation on matters that are internal to Naughty Dog, but because the personal reputation of two of our employees is being damaged we needed to set the record straight."
Then says nothing.
Yes, that will stop speculations. 10/10 in communication theory.