Shaun Escayg, creative director for Marvel’s Avengers, has left developer Crystal Dynamics and rejoined Naughty Dog.
Before his stint on Avengers, Escayg served as director for Uncharted spin-off Lost Legacy, after working on both Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us. Once upon a time, he also served as co-director of the legendary 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.
Naughty Dog welcomed Escayg back into the fold last night via a post on Twitter. “Happy to be back with the Dogs!”, Escayg wrote.
Welcome back @ShaunEscayg!
Excited have you back at the studio and looking forward to doing awesome stuff together. https://t.co/E23pQ00XjS
— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) April 19, 2021
A recent report pegged Naughty Dog as working on a The Last of Us remake while another team within the studio is working on a multiplayer game with Days Gone developer Sony Bend – presumably the long-awaited online experience once part of The Last of Us 2.
Early plans for a new Uncharted game at Sony Bend were recently scrapped, that report continued, with the fate of that project now unclear. A Eurogamer source suggested that had been intended as something of a reboot for the franchise, with one idea being for a prequel.
Back in 2017, I interviewed Escayg on the potential future of Uncharted series in exploring the stories of other fan-favourite characters.
As for Marvel’s Avengers, Square Enix has issued a roadmap for future modes coming to the game – though the arrival of Black Panther, its next character, is not expected until a vague “Summer and beyond” launch window. The game’s PlayStation-exclusive Spider-Man content also lacks a release date, and has now been officially delayed.