The Last of Us co-director calls for unionisation after not getting HBO credit

The co-director of the original The Last of Us video game has advocated for unionization in the games industry, after he was not credited in the recent HBO adaptation.

Bruce Straley, who co-directed the 2013 game alongside creative director Neil Druckmann, left Naughty Dog shortly after the release of 2016’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which he also directed.

In multiple past interviews, Straley and Druckmann have alluded to their collaborative relationship when creating the original The Last of Us game.

In particular, Straley has been credited for contributing to The Last of Us’s violent and tense tone, which is said to have been inspired by a trip to watch the movie No Country for Old Men, and his input into some characters, such as survivalist Bill.

Speaking to the LA Times in a recent interview, Straley said that the lack of credit in the recent pilot for The Last of Us HBO series had made him think more about workers’ rights in the video game 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.”

Druckmann, who is an exec producer on the HBO show, is prominently credited in the show’s opening sequence as the writer of the game. Seven Naughty Dog developers are also credited at the end of the show for consultation.

HBO and Sony reportedly declined to comment on the record.

Straley announced his return to game development last year with a new studio called Wildflower Interactive. In the LA Times interview, his relationship with Naughty Dog is described as “strained”.

While Hollywood’s broad unionisation means crediting is typically strictly regulated, the issue of properly crediting developers in video games is an ongoing one, with numerous companies having been criticised for not giving proper credits to creators.

Further reading

Game credits are still a broken mess

With no real regulation for game crediting, confusion reigns and developers' reputations suffer

With no real regulation beyond International Game Developers Association (IDGA) guidelines – which aren’t enforceable – game developers are effectively at the mercy of their employers as to how, where or if they’re credited.

The Last of Us TV show debuted on HBO and Sky last weekend and gained an audience of 4.7 million viewers. According to Warner, this makes it the second-largest debut for HBO, behind only House of Dragon, since Boardwalk Empire premiered with 4.81 million viewers back in 2010.