PS4 ICE Team Programmer Cort Stratton Leaves Naughty Dog

Graphics programmer leaving team after 11 years.

Naughty Dog’s ICE Team, which has developed graphic library updates for Sony’s PlayStation 3 and 4 (along with solutions for other SCE developers), will unfortunately see a departure soon. Graphics programmer Cort Stratton revealed on Twitter that he will be leaving the company after 11 years.

“Nobody will believe me if I post this tomorrow, so I’ll do it now instead: after 11 years, tomorrow will be my last day at Naughty Dog.” Stratton also played a role in bringing The Last of Us from PlayStation 3 to PlayStation 4 in remastered form. And considering how good the third person title looked on previous gen, that’s no small feat.

According to Stratton, “The decision was extremely difficult; I’ve spent ~85% of my career here. It’s been a huge honor to contribute to the PlayStation platform.” Stratton is leaving on good terms though. “Everybody I’ve worked with has been awesome/brilliant, and I’ll miss them terribly! Thank goodness for Twitter, Slack, and GDC parties.”

Don’t count on any leaks and such now that he’s no longer part of the Sony family. “Finally, if you only follow me in hope of hot Uncharted news or Sony leaks, now would be a great time to jump ship. No hard feelings.”

What are your thoughts on Stratton leaving the ICE Team? Let us know in the comments.