The writer and creative director of the Uncharted series has found a new home at EA studio Visceral Games. Amy Hennig, who departed Naughty Dog last March, was announced via blog post by Visceral Games’ Vice President Steve Papoutsis to be the Creative Director of the studio’s upcoming Star Wars game.
“Amy has long been recognized as one of our industry’s top visionaries, and is coming off an amazing run as the Writer and Creative Director of the Uncharted franchise” reads the post, “But her contributions go beyond the games she helped create at Naughty Dog and at Crystal Dynamics, where we worked together many years ago. As both a colleague and friend, I’ve always admired her approach to creative development – focusing on nailing down the soul of a game first, and then making sure the writing, the gameplay, the design and the art comes together to form a unified, interactive experience for the player. This fits in perfectly with what we’re trying to do here at Visceral and Amy’s going to help us continue in our pursuit to make the most thrilling, immersive games in the world.”
Visceral Games are known mainly as the studio behind the Dead Space series, although they have produces games based on established franchises such as The Godfather, The Lord of the Rings and James Bond. Their current project, and the one that Amy will oversee, is a currently untitled Star Wars game. EA recently acquired the rights to make Star Wars games ever since Disney bought LucasFilm and shuttered its game development unit, LucasArts.
Hennig, who began her career at EA as a game designer and artist before moving to Crystal Dynamics in 1995 and then Naughty Dog in 2003, also announced her new hiring via Twitter, in which she wrote: “It might’ve taken me 23 years, but I’m back–and it’s good to be home at EA. It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to contribute to the Star Wars universe, after it’s had such a formative influence on my life.”
Hennig was initially going to serve as a writer for a new Uncharted game for the PlayStation 4, but left the studio before that could happen. According to sources speaking to IGN, Hennig was “forced out” by Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, the creative minds behind Naughty Dog’s most recent success, The Last of Us. Naughty Dog’s co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra have, however, rejected these claims.
As one of the creative minds behind the extremely successful Uncharted series, Hennig’s involvement with Visceral Games, who themselves have a solid track record, bodes well for the newest videogame entry into the Star Wars universe.