Bruce Straley
Straley in 2016
Occupations	Game director artist designer
Employers	Western Technologies (1992–1993) Pacific Softscape (1993–1995) Crystal Dynamics (1996–1999) Naughty Dog (1999–2017) Wildflower Interactive (2021–present)
Notable work	Uncharted The Last of Us
Signature

Bruce Straley is an American game director, artist, designer, and studio director. He previously worked for the video game developerNaughty Dog, known for his work on the video gamesThe Last of Us andUncharted 4: A Thief's End. Straley's first video game work was as an artist at Western Technologies Inc, where he worked on theMenacer six-game cartridge (1992)^[a] andX-Men (1993). He formed a company, Pacific Softscape, working as a designer onGenerations Lost (1994). After the company disbanded, Straley was hired atCrystal Dynamics, working as a designer onGex: Enter the Gecko (1998) and as game director forGex 3: Deep Cover Gecko (1999); he left the company during development of the latter.

Straley was hired atNaughty Dog in 1999, working as an artist onCrash Team Racing (1999) and theJak and Daxter series (2001–2004). He became co-art director onUncharted: Drake's Fortune (2007), and was promoted to game director ofUncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009). He was later chosen to leaddevelopment onThe Last of Us (2013) as game director, a role he continued during the development ofUncharted 4: A Thief's End (2016). Straley has received praise for his work. In particular, his work onThe Last of Us was highly praised, and the gamereceived several awards and nominations. He departed Naughty Dog in September 2017, and started his own studio, Wildflower Interactive, in March 2021.

Bruce Straley grew up nearTampa, Florida.^{[1]: 12:04 [2]: 6:02} He felt pressure from his mother to attend school after his brother and sister dropped out; since he felt that drawing was his only talent, he attended theArt Institute of Fort Lauderdale and received a degree in advertising design.^{[1]: 10:49 [2]: 5:58} When Straley heard aboutCalifornia from his friend, he decided to move toLos Angeles. After struggling to find a job in advertising, he applied for an art design position at Western Technologies Inc.^[1]: 13:30 At thejob interview the following day, a programmer showed him footage fromSonic the Hedgehog (1991) and asked if he could make similar art; he said he could, and was offered the job by the end of the day.^[1]: 15:00 He worked on a video game aboutRobosaurus for some time, though it was eventually canceled.^[1]: 17:21

Straley worked on two more games at Western Technologies Inc: theMenacer six-game cartridge in 1992,^[a] andX-Men in 1993.^[3] Following this, he formed a company, Pacific Softscape, with some ex-employees at Western Technologies. There, he worked as designer onGenerations Lost in 1994.^[1]: 21:30 He felt too inexperienced to run a company, and did not get along with some of his coworkers, so the company disbanded in 1995.^{[1]: 25:20 [1]: 28:49} He left the industry for a short time, traveling to Europe, before moving toSan Francisco in 1996 and receiving a job atCrystal Dynamics through a friend.^{[1]: 26:13 [1]: 28:55} There, Straley worked alongside several futureNaughty Dog employees,^[4] includingAmy Hennig, who later became creative director of theUncharted series,^[4]Evan Wells, who later became co-president of Naughty Dog,^[5] and Danny Chan, who later worked as a lead programmer onCrash Team Racing.^[1]: 42:06

Straley worked as designer onGex: Enter the Gecko (1998),^[6] and was promoted to game director forGex 3: Deep Cover Gecko (1999). Around this time, some of his coworkers, including Wells and Chan, had moved to Naughty Dog inSanta Monica, California; Straley, unhappy with the development ofGex 3 and missing his friends, followed them and met Naughty Dog co-founderJason Rubin.^[1]: 42:06 Having left during development, Straley was credited for "additional art" onGex 3.^[7] In March 1999, Straley was employed at Naughty Dog;^[8] he was the fifteenth employee.^[9]

At Naughty Dog, Straley worked as an artist onCrash Team Racing in 1999.^[10] Although he was employed as a texture artist, the small size of the team resulted in Straley performing various jobs, including design, background modeling and foreground animating, among others. As the size of the studio grew, the tasks became more specific.^[11] Straley acted as artist onJak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (2001),^[12]Jak II (2003),^[13] andJak 3 (2004).^[14] Straley is credited with creating the technology that managed the appearance of theJak and Daxter series, and having the knowledge to understand the technical and artistic features, bridging the communication gap between the two departments.^[5] ForUncharted: Drake's Fortune (2007), Straley was appointed the role of co-art director, alongsideBob Rafei, which involved advancing the team's technology from thePlayStation 2 to thePlayStation 3. He was then given the role of game director forUncharted 2: Among Thieves, which was released in 2009.^[11]

Following the development ofUncharted 2, Naughty Dog split into two teams to work on projects concurrently. With one team working onUncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2011), co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra chose Straley andNeil Druckmann to leaddevelopment on a new game; Straley was selected to lead the project, as game director, based on his experience and his work on previous projects.^[5] Though they were originally set to develop a new game in theJak and Daxter series, the team felt that they "weren't doing service to the fans of [the] franchise", and decided to create a new game, titledThe Last of Us.^[15]

Straley and Druckmann had previously worked together onUncharted 2, and found that they shared similar interests. During the development ofThe Last of Us, Straley and Druckmann often joked that their relationship was "like a marriage", in which they have many differing ideas, but ultimately wish to achieve the same goal.^[16] Straley's role in developingThe Last of Us was to handle gameplay.^[16] In the final weeks of development, Straley undertook roles from different departments that were busy with other tasks; for example, he was seen hand-arranging the texts on the game's training screens, a task that lead artist Nate Wells found unusual. Wells said: "I have never even heard of a game director doing that! That's like... an intern task."^[17]

At theElectronic Entertainment Expo 2012, Straley showcased a gameplay demonstration ofThe Last of Us atSony's press conference; his stance on the stage became anInternet meme, and was referred to as "The Bruce".^[18] The game was released on June 14, 2013, to critical acclaim.^[19] For his work on the game, Straley and Druckmann were nominated for Best Director fromThe Daily Telegraph; it was ultimately awarded toDavey Wreden for his work onThe Stanley Parable (2013).^[20] Straley later continued his role as game director forThe Last of Us: Left Behind (2014), adownloadable content andexpansion pack for the 2013 game.^[21]

Following Hennig's departure from Naughty Dog in March 2014, it was announced that Straley and Druckmann were working onUncharted 4: A Thief's End (2016) as game director and creative director, respectively.^[22] Initial reports claimed that Hennig was "forced out" of Naughty Dog by Straley and Druckmann, though Wells and Balestra later denied this.^[23] Straley presented gameplay demonstrations ofUncharted 4 at thePlayStation Experience in December 2014,^[24] and at theE3 2015 in June.^[25] The game was released on May 10, 2016, to critical acclaim.^[26] For his work on the game, Straley won Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project at the15th Visual Effects Society Awards, alongside visual effects artists Eben Cook and Iki Ikram.^[27]

Straley took a break from development after the release ofUncharted 4; he did not return to directThe Last of Us Part II.^[28] On September 13, 2017, Straley announced his departure from Naughty Dog, stating that he "found [his] energy focusing in other directions" following his break.^[29] His decision to leave was also partly due toburnout;^[30] his relationship with Naughty Dog and Sony became strained. Following the lack of credit to Straley in the television seriesThe Last of Us in 2023, he considered the support forunionization in the video game industry, saying it may be necessary "to protect creators".^[31][32]

Straley worked as a story consultant onChained: A Victorian Nightmare (2018), avirtual reality theater experience. He was awarded the Vanguard Award at theFun & Serious Game Festival in December 2019.^[33] After leaving the industry in 2017, Straley was unsure if he wanted to continue making games; however, after thinking more about the medium, an "idea kept following [him]".^[34] He and some friends began prototyping, and eventually decided to create a studio, Wildflower Interactive,^[34] founded on March 11, 2021,^[35] and announced in July 2022. As studio director, Straley wants the studio to be "inclusive, equitable, and collaborative".^[34] It is operating in a fullyremote work environment.^[34]

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