Uncharted creator not "forced out" of Naughty Dog - co-presidents

Uncharted creator Amy Hennig was not "forced out" of Naughty Dog, according to co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra.

"We feel it necessary to clear up a very important point that was unprofessionally misreported when the story broke. Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann were NOT involved in what transpired," the pair said in a statement published on the Naughty Dog website.

"It was very upsetting to us that dozens of stories were run, linking back to the same hurtful accusations in the original report. As co-presidents of Naughty Dog, we are responsible for all studio affairs.

"Normally, we wouldn't respond to rumours 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. There is nothing left to be said on this subject. Now we're going back to what we should be focused on – making games."

The news of Hennig's departure was broken yesterday by IGN, citing anonymous sources after Sony and Naughty Dog did not supply comment by time of publication. The report was later confirmed by Sony, verifying IGN's claims, but this new statement apparently repudiates the claim that there was some sort of ill-feeling or political machination behind Hennig's exit.

Naughty Dog is currently working on a new Uncharted game for PlayStation 4, which we're calling Uncharted 4 or Uncharted PS4 for convenience's sake, as well as the final, multiplayer-focused DLC pack for The Last of Us. Hennig's departure won't affect Uncharted, the developer said yesterday. We're expecting some sort of reveal from the studio soon.

Thanks, Kotaku.