Bruce Straley apologizes to Santa Monica Studio after comments on God of War: Laufey

• The former Naughty Dog developer said he was mainly trying to raise a broader concern about the AAA industry, not the project itself.
• Coverage also referenced his criticism of games-as-a-service and earlier influential games such as Half-Life 2, Gears of War, BioShock, Uncharted 2, and The Last of Us.

What happened

Bruce Straley, known for his work at Naughty Dog on titles including Uncharted and The Last of Us, was back in the news after comments about a God of War project referred to in coverage as Laufey. According to multiple sources, he said in an interview with Edge that he was in some respects “not excited” about what the game offered, while still praising Santa Monica Studio’s visuals.

That was followed by a public apology on X to the Laufey team. In the tweet cited by sources, Straley said he did not want to drag the team into “uninvited & unnecessary negative attention” and that his mistake was mentioning their game when he was really trying to illustrate a broader industry issue. He also said his comment was taken out of context and used for clickbait.

The discussion was not limited to that one project. In additional coverage, Straley’s criticism was framed as a wider attack on the direction of the AAA market, including the chase for the next Overwatch or Fortnite through games-as-a-service. According to that summary, he said this was not a viable strategy and argued that some “industry leaders” do not understand their own brand.

Background

Bruce Straley spent 18 years at Naughty Dog and was game director on The Last of Us and co-director on the first two Uncharted games. That gives his views on the AAA market extra weight in industry coverage. The current discussion began after an Edge interview, where his comments on modern AAA games and on Laufey were picked up by multiple outlets.

The available sources show that Straley’s criticism was aimed mainly at the broader direction of the industry, not at one studio alone. At the same time, the name Laufey remained central in coverage because his original wording was directly tied to it. Whether Laufey is a final title or a working title was not confirmed in the material provided.

No separate response from Santa Monica Studio or Sony was confirmed in the sources provided. What is clear is that Straley himself publicly walked back his earlier remarks and explicitly said that mentioning the game was his mistake.

Related GAME-scanner articles

• Bruce Straley calls modern AAA games ‘boring’ and criticizes lack of innovation

Sources

• Gamespot: Ex-Naughty Dog Dev Apologizes To God Of War Studio For What He Said About Laufey
• IGN: The Last of Us Director Apologizes to God of War Laufey Devs After Calling Recent AAA Games 'Boring'
• Eurogamer: Last of Us director apologises God of War Laufey not excited
• X/Twitter: @bruce_straley
• X/Twitter: @kiwitalkz