Naughty Dog via Twitter
Our Head of Technology Christian Gyrling has decided to leave Naughty Dog after an amazing 17-year career at our studio. We’re grateful for his many contributions to the studio, our games, and his teammates. We will miss christian greatly and wish him the best of luck on where his path leads next. Travis McIntosh, a 19-year veteran at Naughty Dog, will succeed Christian as Head of Technology.
This departure is just five months after Christian took on the role of Head of Technology. That title was proceeded by being a Co-Vide President since December 2020, alongside Alison Mori.1
Christian started at Naughty Dog in September 2006 working on Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. He had many titles at the studio, with his longest stint being a Lead Programmer from January 2010 to March 2017. As I understand it, Christian is one of the many people that make Naughty Dog’s internal engine sing. It’s what makes them look and run so well on Sony’s hardware.
Travis McIntosh has also been a Lead Programmer and Programming Director at Naughty Dog since 2004, with his first title with the team being Jak X: Combat Racing.
I wonder why the shake up so soon after a promotion.2 I’m curious what Christian is off to do next. There has to be a deep well of knowledge, not just about Naughty Dog’s own engine, but of the PlayStation architecture as well. For a studio that hasn’t put out a new game this year, there sure is a lot happening at The Kennel.
Side note: I couldn’t find a leadership page on Naughty Dog’s site. I should get on that.
1. Who took on the role of Studio Manager and Head of Operations when Christian took on Head of Technology this past July.
2. Is going from Co-Vice President to Head of Technology a promotion? The leadership promotions/shake up in July 2023 after Evan Wells announced his retirement read to me as a clarification of the leadership at the studio. Folks seemed to be put into more clearly defined roles. Maybe I’m wrong about that.