The Last of Us co-creator calls out HBO’s adaptation for not crediting him in the pilot episode

Bruce Straley has spoken out about his lack of credit or acknowledgment for HBO’s The Last of Us series despite the fact that he served as a co-director for the original game at Naughty Dog.

When speaking to the LA Times recently, Straley revealed that the lack of credit he was given for the recent pilot of HBO’s The Last of Us series relates to the lack of workers’ rights within the gaming space.

“It’s an argument for unionization that someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those characters isn’t getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it,” he said. “Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators.”

On the flip side, Druckmann – who does serve as an executive producer for the TV series – is one of the main credits in the pilot. As well as this, seven other Naughty Dog developers were also credited at the end of the show. However, Straley’s name is nowhere to be found.

In an interview with Empire Magazine back in 2020, Straley explained the collaborative experience that he and Neil Druckmann developed when creating the first game.

“The shortest answer is it takes both Neil and I to make the game. The job’s too big to take on one of these 200-plus people team projects, and keep everything on track. So Neil handles story and characters, I handle gameplay and, moment-to-moment, what’s happening in the game. But we have to really be on the same page and see eye-to-eye on everything. So we’re kind of like Voltron, only there’s just two components.”

Unionization has become an increasingly larger issue within the gaming space and industry. Many notable gaming companies such as Activision Blizzard have found themselves at the center of this issue. With working banding together and in recent years, protesting the lack of support and unions that have been established for staff.

HBO and Sony reportedly declined to comment on the record. However, we’ll be sure to keep you updated if more on the issue is revealed.

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