The Last Of Us director shows Sonny putting words in his mouth

Earlier this week, Sony published an interview with The last of us Director Neil Druckmann About the future of gaming. The head of Naughty Dog was quoted as saying that the PlayStation studio’s next game “could redefine mainstream perceptions of gaming.” In a shocking development, Druckmann now says he never said that.

The interview in question It went up alongside a strategy briefing that Sony gave to its investors. In addition to praise The potential of generative artificial intelligence To change the way games are made, Druckmann seemed to be making a big statement about Naughty Dog’s long-awaited next game on PlayStation 5. “I’m excited to see how this new game resonates, especially after its success The last of us“Because it could redefine prevailing perceptions of gaming.”

In addition to being covered by many media outlets, Included IGN Describing them as “big words,” the quote also spread on social media, where it received widespread criticism. The reaction has now prompted Druckmann to correct the record.

“That’s not quite what I said,” the veteran game creator tweeted late on May 24. “While editing my scattered answers in my recent interview with Sony, I unfortunately lost some of my words, context, and intentions. Well, that’s the long and complete answer to the final question about our future game.

Druckman then proceeded to share an excerpt of the raw, unedited transcript of his conversation with the anonymous interviewer. In it, he talks about how gaming was so niche and isolated from the rest of the culture when he was growing up, and how that has changed since then, thanks in part to hit TV shows like HBO’s adaptation of The last of us And Amazon adaptation He falls.

“Not only am I excited about this game we’re making — something really new for us — but I’m also excited to see how the world reacts to it,” it reads. “because of The last of usAnd the success of the show, people even outside of gaming are looking to us to see what we’ll come up with next. “I’m really excited to see the reaction to this thing.”

While interviews are often edited for clarity and length, Posted on Sony’s website He made a surprising number of cuts, and worse still, he made up a bunch of things that Druckmann never actually said, including phrases with meanings completely different from anything in the original text. It raises the question of how many other parts of the interview are not an exact paraphrase of what the game designer said or are completely made up, although presumably if there were more errors Druckmann would have corrected them as well.

The only thing Sony cut out of his response was a moment of humility and generosity. “I’ve been very fortunate to have worked on my favorite games with amazing collaborators and I’m very grateful to them,” Druckmann said. It was an implicit reminder that Naughty Dog games are made by hundreds of people.

Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.