Amy Hennig
Hennig in 2019
Born	(1964-08-19)August 19, 1964 (age 61) United States
Occupation	Video game writer video game director
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley
Notable works	Legacy of Kain series Jak and Daxter series Uncharted series
Notable awards	Writers Guild of America Video Game Writing Award nomination SpecialBAFTA Games Award Game Developers Choice Awards Lifetime Achievement

Amy Hennig (born August 19, 1964)^[1][2] is an Americanvideo game writer and director, formerly for the video game companyNaughty Dog. She began her work in the industry on theNintendo Entertainment System, with her design debut on theSuper Nintendo Entertainment System gameMichael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City. She later went to work forCrystal Dynamics, working primarily on theLegacy of Kain series (which she considers her greatest achievement).^[3] With Naughty Dog, she worked primarily on theJak and Daxter andUncharted series, the latter of which she created.

Hennig graduated fromUniversity of California, Berkeley with abachelor's degree inEnglish literature.^[1] She went on to the film school atSan Francisco State University, when she was hired as an artist for anAtari game calledElectroCop.^[1] Her work on the game made her realize that the video game industry interested her more than thefilm industry; she dropped out of film school soon after.^[1] Hennig has said that her literature degree and film studies have helped her work: "Everything I learned as an undergraduate with English literature and in film school about editing and shots and the language of film has come into play, but in a way I couldn't possibly have planned."^[1]

Hennig has worked in thevideo game industry since the late 1980s.^[4] Most of her early jobs involved games on theNintendo Entertainment System, where she was primarily employed as an artist and animator.^[5] Her first job was as a freelance artist forElectrocop, an unreleasedAtari 7800 game, based on theAtari Lynx launch title.^[1] Afterwards she joinedElectronic Arts as an animator and artist, doing work on an unreleased title,Bard's Tale 4, andDesert Strike. She later moved to designing and directing video games.^[6]

Two years after being hired at Electronic Arts, Hennig worked as an artist onMichael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City.^[4] However, when the lead designer quit, Hennig landed the job.^[1] In the late 1990s, she moved toCrystal Dynamics,^[7] where she assistedSilicon Knights in the development ofBlood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Later, she acted as thedirector,producer, and writer forLegacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.^[8][9] She also directed and wroteSoul Reaver 2 andLegacy of Kain: Defiance.^[10]

Hennig departed Crystal Dynamics to act as the creative director forNaughty Dog.^[7] She contributed to theJak and Daxter series before working as the game director forUncharted: Drake's Fortune,^[11] and as head writer and creative director for theUncharted series. WithUncharted 2: Among Thieves, Hennig led the 150-person team who created the game, as well as acting as writer.^[1] After directing and writing forUncharted 3: Drake's Deception and beginning work onUncharted 4: A Thief's End for thePlayStation 4, Hennig leftNaughty Dog in 2014.^[12]

In April 2014, Hennig joinedVisceral Games withTodd Stashwick to work onProject Ragtag, aStar Wars game.^[13] It was reported in October 2017, that EA was shutting down Visceral Games and that theirStar Wars project was delayed and moved to another studio to allow for "significant change". A representative of EA toldPolygon that EA are "in discussions with Amy about her next move".^[14] Hennig announced the following June that she had left EA in January and started a small studio to explore options involvingvirtual reality games.^[15]

In November 2019, Hennig announced she had joinedSkydance Media to start a new division there, Skydance New Media, for "new story-focused experiences [that] will employ state-of-the-art computer graphics to provide the visual fidelity of television and film, but with an active, lean-in experience that puts the audience in the driver's seat".^[16] Stashwick said in May 2021 that he was working with Hennig on an action-adventure game;^[17] in September, this was revealed to beForspoken. Hennig and Stashwick are part of the writing team alongsideGary Whitta and Allison Rymer.^[18]

In October 2021, Skydance New Media later announced that it was working withMarvel Entertainment to produce a new action-adventure game that will take place in the Marvel Universe.^[19][20] In September 2022, it was revealed that it was an untitled Captain America and Black Panther game.^[21] In March 2024, the game's name was revealed asMarvel 1943: Rise of Hydra.

In April 2022, Skydance New Media and Lucasfilm Games announced they are working on a narrative-driven, action-adventure game "featuring an original story in theStar Wars galaxy", with Hennig at the helm.^[22]

Hennig believes the term "platformer" is outdated and misused with many modern games, preferring a different term like "traversal" for some.^[23] In 2007 she said that video game developers were too obsessed with graphical realism. She predicted that as game technology improves, developers would explore using graphics for creative expression instead of realism.^[24]

She often uses supporting characters to highlight personality aspects of other characters through interactions within the script. For example,Chloe Frazer acts as afoil forNathan Drake, highlighting the darker aspects of his personality and past.^[25] With her work in theUncharted series, Hennig described the writing and plot as on the "bleeding edge" of the genre of cinematic video games.^[7] She has won twoWriters Guild of America Video Game Writing Awards in addition toseveral other awards for her work onUncharted 2 andUncharted 3.^[26][27]

Hennig has been cited as an example of a successful woman in a historically male-dominated industry, and of how women are taking more important roles within it.^[28] Hennig herself says that she has not encountered sexism in the industry, but that differing perspective from men in the industry has helped on some occasions.^[1] The UK video magazineEdge named her one of the 100 most influential women in the game industry.^[5]

Hennig was given aBAFTA Special Award in June 2016.^[29] She received the Lifetime Achievement award at theGame Developers Choice Awards in March 2019.^[30]

• Amy Hennig atIMDb

• 1964 births
• American electronic literature writers
• American video game artists
• American video game designers
• American video game directors
• American video game writers
• American women writers
• Atari people
• BAFTA winners (people)
• Game Developers Conference Lifetime Achievement Award recipients
• Jak and Daxter
• Legacy of Kain
• Living people
• Naughty Dog people
• San Francisco State University alumni
• Skydance Media people
• Square Enix people
• Uncharted
• University of California, Berkeley alumni
• American women video game designers
• Women video game developers

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from September 2016
• Place of birth missing (living people)