Bruce Straley, the game director behind The Last of Us and several Uncharted games, considers modern AAA games “boring.” As part of an Edge magazine article on the state of the gaming industry, Straley discussed the AAA landscape. He noted that he finds big blockbuster titles “boring,” in part due to a lack of risk-taking. Straley pointed to God of War Laufey as an example of a game that obviously requires a lot of effort and skill to achieve, but may not innovate noticeably. “God of War Laufey, I look at that game and every pixel is mind-blowing,” he said. “The amount of work and skill that’s gone into every frame… I’ve made those kinds of games and I’m still impressed. But when I actually look at what you’re doing in the game? I’m not thrilled. And that’s nothing against the God of War team. It’s just that, in general, in triple-A, there seems to be no opportunity to inject fresh, innovative ideas.” The irony, as many people on the Internet will surely point out, is that Straley may be the source of inspiration for many modern AAA games. Uncharted and The Last of Us are the template for the hyper-cinematic third-person action games that are appearing en masse these days. That’s especially the case with PlayStation and God of War. The 2018 God of War soft reboot was jokingly criticized by players for being a Kratos-led version of The Last of Us. Straley left Naughty Dog in 2017, following the release of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. The game director received a special thank you in the credits for The Last of Us Part 2, but it’s unclear how much he contributed to the final game since it went through nearly four years of development without him. Straley left the company after experiencing severe burnout from the intense AAA development process. Now, Straley is working on smaller games at his own studio, Wildflower Interactive. His first game with Wildflower was announced at the 2025 Game Awards’ Coven of the Chicken Foot and appears to be a big departure from his work at Naughty Dog. There is no release date at this time.Cade OnderFreelance WriterCade Onder is a freelancer on IGN’s news team. Covers everything related to entertainment including games, movies and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
