Chasing the Stick: The History of Naughty Dog

The History

A deep-dive into the history of PlayStation Studios team Naughty Dog and their development during the PS4 generation. From the The Last of Us on PS3 to Nathan Drake’s finale in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End to the 7-year sequel, The Last of Us Part II, Chasing the Stick explores how the team puts narrative on the control stick. Available as an article or a podcast for audio listeners.

Behind the Scenes

Dive into Max’s creative process as he shares how he wrote and recorded Chasing the Stick. Explore the apps, locations, and tools he used alongside the creative decisions he hade to make to bring the definitive history to light.

Naughty Dog’s Development Timeline

Check out Naughty Dog’s turnaround time from announcement to release all the way from the PS1 generation to today.

Cutting the Hair: The History of Neil Druckmann’s Hair during the PS4 Era

Inspired by Halley Gross revealing Neil cut his hair after The Last of Us Part II released, Max took the Chasing the Stick format for research and accurate reporting to explore the evolution of Naughty Dog Co-President Neil Druckmann’s hair.

It turns out that one lunch-break idea can turn into one of your more popular articles that you’ve ever written.

The Last of Us Part III

A collection of stories about the rumored development of The Last of Us Part III.

The Last of Us Multiplayer Game

A collections of stories about the development of The Last of Us multiplayer game.

The Last of Us Prequel – From Animation to DLC to Second-Party to HBO

A very Chasing the Stick-lite timeline and analysis of the prequel story about Ellie’s mother and father.

Evan Wells Announces Retirement

After 25 years at Naughty Dog, co-president Evan Wells announced his retirement from the studio by the end of 2023.

Ski Crazed in 4K

Using a MiSTer FPGA console, Max played Naughty Dog’s second game, Ski Crazed. Max recorded the off-screen CRT footage with his Canon 90D to show off the Apple II game in 4K.

Announcement and Trailer

You can check out both the original announcement and the launch trailer for Chasing the Stick.

Help Turn Chasing the Stick into a Book

Max has been slowly chipping away at the research to expand Chasing the Stick in to a book covering all of Naughty Dog’s history. You can read more about the initial idea and how to help here.

The Last of Us Season 1 Episode Reviews

Being such an important game in Max’s life, he decide to review each episode of the first season of HBO’s The Last of Us.

Naughty Dog Previews and Reviews

Here is a collection of Max’s previews and reviews on Naughty Dog’s library of games. The list is in order of the game’s release order, not publication.