Bruce Straley Calls Modern AAA Games “Boring” and Lacks Innovation

Bruce Straley, the former game director behind *The Last of Us* and several *Uncharted* titles, told Edge that today’s big-budget games “lack innovation” because developers are “afraid to take risks.” He used the upcoming *God of War: Laufey* as an example, acknowledging its visual polish but saying the gameplay does not inspire him.

IGN Entertainment

Straley left Naughty Dog in 2017 after the release of *Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End*, citing burnout from the intensive AAA development cycle. In 2022 he founded Wildflower Interactive, a smaller studio focused on indie-style experiences. The studio’s first announced title, the puzzle-platformer *Coven of the Chicken Foot*, was revealed at the 2025 Game Awards and is slated for release without a set date.

IGN Entertainment

Straley’s observations were echoed by Playable Worlds studio head Raph Koster and former PlayStation Studios head Shawn Layden, who told Edge that AAA creators have “driven themselves into a corner” by avoiding fundamentally new experiments. Layden highlighted mid-budget publishers such as Kepler Interactive and Lyrical Games as “a ray of hope” for fostering innovation in the market.

The co-author of the original The Last of Us finds today's AAA games boring

• “When I look at God of War: Laufey, every pixel is mind-blowing. The amount of work and skill put into each frame… I have created similar games myself, and I am still impressed. But I am not inspired by what you need to do during the gameplay,” — Bruce Straley

The co-author of the original The Last of Us finds today's AAA games boring