Earlier today, news surfaced online regarding the departure of yet another key Naughty Dog employee. According to his LinkedIn profile , Lead Character Artist Michael Knowland left the award-winning company earlier this month. While the reason for his departure is currently unknown, many sources believe his exit is related to several other notable employees who also left the company recently.
Michael Knowland’s most recent work was in The Last of Us , which he spent roughly two and a half years of his career on. Prior to joining Naughty Dog, Michael worked at Elite: Dangerous studio Frontier Developments. It is currently unclear what his next job will be, but we can expect to hear more on that sooner rather than later.
After hearing this news, I would say that it would be very hard for fans to deny that something is going on at Naughty Dog right now. With 5 departures all happening right around the same time, one could easily argue that this will impact a few of the projects they are currently working on right now. Uncharted 4 will essentially be the first game to put these theories to the test.
How do you all think these departures will affect Naughty Dog moving forward? Please feel free to let us know in the comments section below.