Naughty Dog co-president and lead creative Neil Druckmann is being honoured with a prestigious Andrew Yoon Legend Award, which will be presented by the New York Video Game Critics Circle at the 13th annual New York Game Awards, airing on 23rd January, 2024.
The award, which recognises those individuals "who have propelled the gaming world forward, celebrating their profound impact on an industry that continues to captivate and connect people worldwide," has previously gone to such luminaries as Hideo Kojima, Phil Spencer, Tim Schafer, and Reggie Fils-Aimé.
NYVGCC president Harold Goldberg extolled Druckmann's many achievements and said: "Neil Druckmann's story is an inspirational one of self-determinism. He worked from an internship to being a co-president at Naughty Dog. His skill for creating titles that consistently redefine cinematic gameplay and human-centric storytelling deserves celebrating. His efforts to create characters representing diverse backgrounds and perspectives have enriched content in AAA games. His brilliant work has been lauded with multiple New York Game Awards over the year, and we are honoured to recognise him as this year's Andrew Yoon Legend Award winner."
Druckmann, who is sometimes known as "Doctor Uckmann" but is not (as far as we know) a trained physician, has worked in the industry for two decades. He has spent all of that time at Naughty Dog, which many consider the first among equals in PlayStation's first-party development family.
Beginning his career as a programming intern on Jak 3, Druckmann came to the fore and quickly built a reputation with his work on the Uncharted franchise before ascending to creative leadership on The Last of Us. Druckmann became vice president of the prestigious studio in 2018 and then co-president in 2020 alongside Evan Wells, who announced his retirement in July and will depart the studio by the end of the year. Druckmann will continue in his current role and serve as head of creative. He is currently writing and directing a new PS5 game.
Are you a fan of Dr. Uckmann's work? When did you first notice something exceptional cooking over at Naughty Dog? Let us know in the comments below.
[source nygamecritics.com]
Comments 58
And just like that, the award is now useless.
hummmm not sure about this one
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@MrMagic Phil deserves it WAY more than a man who approves of crunch.
This is literally the first time I've heard Druckmann being referred as "Dr. Uckmann". WTF really?!
This man oozes the arrogance you find in people who, at one point had a lot of creativity, but lost themselves in a power trip thinking they were above the others. Not saying it's the case, it's just the impression he gives me every time I see him or learn anything about him.
Congrats to Mr. Druckmann! Surely this will mean a lot to him.
@Yuyukirby He does not
@Yuyukirby Maybe so, but the ship still sailed.
@Doublecell Yes it does. At least Phil knows how to be a good person. Druckman can ***** off.
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@Khayl You might wanna correct this in the first sentence I assume(if it wasn't intended):
"Naughty Dog co-president and lead creative Neil Druckmamm".
Went right off him when I saw what he had said on the podcast about what The Last of Us 2 was really about (hint: a current conflict very much in the news).
A well deserved award. We've been playing games he's been involved with for over 10 years and each one has been award winning.
@MattBoothDev Couldn’t agree more.
Wouldn't necessarily want to receive an award that phil spencer also got. Couldn't be further from gaming.
Good for him and Naughty Dog. He makes consistently award winning games that push boundaries. Whether you personally like him, or the direction, is irrelevant.
This guy must have made a deal with the devil.
Every significant figure at ND has “left” as he’s moved up.
They have made my most played and completed series of games I have ever played.
The Uncharted and last of us series.
Everyone played and completed which is rare for me.
Please just give me some more new ones for PS5.
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Well deserved. The Uncharted and last of us series had a big impact in many ways for games. Hopefully he's next game lives up to this title.
@nessisonett yeah my jaw actually hit the floor when I pulled back that particular curtain. I’m not particularly invested in Naughty Dog while they’re all in on Last of Us at the moment but I probably won’t support them it regardless so long as Druckmann is a visible and influential force within the company.
The man who approves crunch and is unable to accept any kind of criticism without being offended and extremely defensive, great choice.
He deserves it more than some on that list that's for sure.
@OmegaStriver
Most of those people who left were with the company for decades and decided to either move on or retire but lets just try to make every single thing a conspiracy why don't we?
Not a fan of that guy.
In the midst of ND struggling after launching a polarising game with a narrative many consider a catastrophe and a studio that is struggling to push out games, he is supposed to be applauded?
Just watched for fun to get that pure PlayStation feeling the gameshow, last of us 2 and god of war revels with live crowds in attendance.
That’s the Sony and games I want, that was the days of gaming pure excitement and enthusiasm.
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@OmegaStriver they're all a bit older than him and had been at the company a long time. I don't think you can infer anything from that
While I agree he did some great work on the uncharted series and it followed on into The Last of Us series, there was a whole team working on those things. Doesn't seem right to give it to one person .
@EfYI The Last of Us Part 2 was critically acclaimed and won numerous awards. "Many" actually did not hate the game. It made a profit on it's first day, despite the few months of leaks and a politically motivated hate campaign.
You are suffering from the false consensus effect, where you vastly overestimate how much your opinion is actually shared.
@Chaosbros you could say the same about any game auture/director, like Hideo Kojima (who also deserved his accolade).
Congratulations Neil! A well deserved achievement. Not only did he direct some of the most incredible games of our time but the fact he started as an intern and moved up to where he is now is very impressive even if I don't love the direction Naughty Dog has gone for the PS5 generation.
Still looking forward to his next game regardless.
@MattBoothDev They didn’t retire, they are still working in the industry.
@Olmaz The Dr Uckmann refers to a card in TLOU2, I mean the article did link to it.
@PegasusActual93 Yup, left right in the middle of projects or after getting promoted while Neil happened to be 1 position ahead of these persons or of shared position each time.
@MattBoothDev
Sure, and echo chamber too!
I will repeat: it remains a very polarising game Many were very vocal both before release (which I completely ignored, spoilers too). When I however played the game, I felt compelled to exercise my right to criticise the narrative which really ruined much of my experience.
Now, we see ND repackaging it. I thought it was PS5 already🫣
@Yuyukirby and you know this how?
This seems a bit premature. The rest of the list mentioned have multiple decades of work. Druckman has a few games under his belt and hasn't put out anything in 3 years. The last being highly divisive.
I don't like the guy, but he is someone who has worked in the industry for a long time, and has worked in important franchises, so I believe that an award is not that far-fetched.
That said, it seems that the treatment he receives from these people is different that other people in the industry receives, with accusations such as crunch, or contractors being laying off, not receiving any severance pay and “being pressured to keep the news confidential” not being given much importance, or being quickly forgotten.
Even in the franchises that many people link to him, he was either not the creator (Uncharted), or he was not the only creator (The Last of Us), AFAIK.
With all this, perhaps Amy Hennig would be a better choice.
The Amy Hennig departure will always be the weirdest one. They had been shooting Uncharted 4 for roughly 7 months and then she just leaves? That and the fact that they scrapped a lot of what they did and recast roles makes that whole thing more than weird, even if anything fishy was supposedly debunked. I do believe that it's a little weird that people keep leaving after Neil moves up.
Anyways, good for him I suppose. I obviously don't like the guy for several reasons, but he has been involved in several highly acclaimed titles. Hopefully things turn around for Naughty Dog right now though and whatever their next game ends up being actually turns out to be good. They're a mess right now.
@OmegaStriver I didn't say they retired? Just that they're older and been at the company a long time.
You could also infer that wanted a change of scenery of pace, the same reason most people seek change. Like John Carmack wanting to work on VR and leaving id Software to do so, the company he helped build.
@EfYI Mmm, the problem is, actually, a few (not the many) complained about the game. Not everyone is terminally online and engaged in comments sections or Reddit. We are in the echo chamber of the internet right now. Don't mistake a vocal minority as a majority.
It's not that polarising. You're well within your rights to complain about it. But the facts don't stack up in favour of what you're saying. Critically and commercially acclaimed, won over 320 awards from writing, directing, sound, music and performance.
If narrative decisions are enough to undo all that, for you personally, then it's just a great job you're not on the awards committee for things like this.
Just remember that people who are pissed off are much more likely to go online and complain or leave a bad review than someone who's happy is likely to go leave a good review. Meaning that bad reviews often seem higher than good reviews. It's a well studied psychology.
Corpo culture at it again.
New York.... says all I need to know when it comes to caring about this.
Absolutely loved it when The Last of Us part 2 won goty 2020. That was such a sweet night for me personally. I think it won for the very brave story decisions and the realising of sonder, plus the gameplay was so bloody good
@MattBoothDev
I was going to respond to the OP myself but what you said was perfect. Reddit forums are not "everyone". In truth, what people on Reddit forums have to say is usually a little suspect.
@AdamNovice I didn't mean to doubt that the nickname was used, I just said I've never heard of it before this article, that's all. ; )
Annoys me that this man gets more reverence then Amy Hennig or Bruce Straley. They were the best parts of ND. I really don't trust anything that will come out of ND in the future.
Lmao wow. The amount of envy in this comments section is actually kind of funny
@GeorgeMcBain My trust in Naughty Dog isn't what it used to be either. I also have to agree about others deserving recognition. Honestly, if Amy Hennig had never created Uncharted, Naughty Dog wouldn't have went on to become PlayStation's #1 developer for many years. Who knows if The Last of Us even gets made. Who knows where PlayStation even stands without the Uncharted series.
Congratulations to Neil. The man has some serious directing chops and has earned it.
@Yuyukirby What does being a good person have to do with pushing the industry forward?
@EfYI
“in the midst of”
I know some Gamers still feel traumatized by a video game making narrative choices that aren’t uncommon in other art forms (“catastrophe,” lol), but the game came out more than three years ago.
It was also extremely well received by critics and by many gamers, and it sold extremely well. Since then, ND had a remake of the first game, which was also the source material for one of the few “event” shows of this year.
We can speculate as to the reason for the recent departures, but there’s not actually a lot of concrete evidence to support the “Naughty Dog is struggling” narrative. It mostly seems to be wishful thinking on the part of capital-G Gamers who still feel hurt because Daddy Druckmann dared to tell a story they didn’t like.
Good for him 👏 now as long as he stays a writer and not directing something I'll be happy 😀
@Sondheimist
... Is that an attitude I am sensing? Soundheim, you bad boy!
The main reason I didn't like the story was that the marketing played at an entirely different story only to ... how do I say it without saying it ... serve up an entirely different (redacted) who committed an attrocious and cowardly act in the very beginning. And the end... dragged on like never-ending conflicts seem to do.
What is 'selling extremely well' by your standards? And when I say struggling, I am referring to the game in development limbo and their apparent lack of original IP. Commentary will change with the circumstances and I think their little upgrade of Part II will alleviate any financial concern, but not the artistic concern.
wow, a surprising ammount of dislike for Druckmann here
@NeonTiger we still waiting on TLOU2 multiplayer
Looking solely at his body of work and the impact of ND's narrative driven games on both Playstation's success and the wider video game landscape, this is absolutely deserved. As with a lot of creatives it's hard to separate the work from any controversial personal beliefs the person may hold, as per @nessisonett 's comments - that's a much wider topic for debate.
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