Naughty Dog‘s co-president will retire after 25 years at the studio

Naughty Dog‘s co-president Evan Wells has announced his retirement from the studio.

“Dogs, after 25 years at Naughty Dog, I wanted to share with all of you that I’ve decided to retire at the end of this year,” reads a message from Wells that was sent to Naughty Dog staff and then posted to the studio’s website.

Wells started his career at Sega, working on ToeJam & Earl. He’d go on to join Naughty Dog in the late 90s eventually rising to the top of the studio. Wells oversaw Naughty Dog’s ascent from platformer developer to Sony‘s crown jewel in its first-party line-up.

“I couldn’t be more confident in Neil’s ability to carry on running the studio,” his message continues. “It’s the right time for me to provide the opportunity for him and the others on the Studio Leadership Team to steer the studio into a successful future.”

Said changes to the studio leadership team were also detailed in a blog post by co-president Neil Druckmann. Druckmann and Wells will remain co-presidents until Wells’s departure later in the year. Druckmann retains his role as head of creative.

Erick Pangilinan and Jeremy Yates join the studio’s leadership team as co-heads of the various art departments at the studio, while Anthony Newman will become head of production and design.

Pangilinan has worked at the studio for over 25 years, eventually ascending to art director. Yates served as the lead animator on several Uncharted titles.

Anthony Newman is best known for his work as the co-game director of The Last of Us Part II.

Well’s farewell message continued: “I couldn’t be more excited about our current projects and not getting to see those games to completion is going to be hard. But we’ve never had a stronger team in place to ensure that we will deliver them in a way that will set industry standards and exceed all expectations.”