Naughty Dog’s Lead Designers Leave to Join Call of Duty Studio

Naughty Dog has been losing top level employees for months now with Uncharted writer Amy Hennig, Uncharted 4 director Justin Richmond, The Last of Us character artist Michael Knowland and many more having departed from the studio. Just when you thought the bleeding stopped though is the announcement that lead narrative designer Taylor Kurosaki and lead game designer Jacob Minkoff have left Naughty Dog to join Infinity Ward. While Kurosaki worked on Uncharted 3 as its cinematic production lead, Minkoff worked on Uncharted 3 and The Last of Us are lead designer.

Both tweeted about joining Infinity Ward with Kurosaki stating that he was “Very psyched to share that I’ve joined the phenomenal team at Infinity Ward as the studio’s narrative director. To infinity and beyond.”

Minkoff later added: “New job! Design Director at Infinity Ward. Love ND; can’t wait to play Uncharted 4 as a fan. Excited to work with the talented team at IW!”

What are your thoughts on more Naughty Dog employees leaving? Let us know in the comments.