Last of Us director Bruce Straley apologizes to God of War Laufey team over 'boring' AAA remark
After calling modern AAA games unexciting and singling out Sony Santa Monica's Laufey, Straley walked back the target but not the critique.
What to know
- Bruce Straley's original comment in an Edge magazine feature framed God of War Laufey as an example of visually impressive but uninspired AAA design.
- Straley apologized specifically for naming Laufey and Sony Santa Monica, but reaffirmed his underlying criticism of triple-A industry leadership.
- The remark reignited a recurring online debate over whether AAA studios have stopped innovating and whether indie games are actually more original.
The dispute Whether the real problem is AAA studios' risk-aversion, or whether indie games are equally formulaic and just get more credit for 'innovation'. · positions read across 17 posts and comments
AAA studios avoid real innovation because of shareholder pressure and risk-aversion, favoring safe, established franchises.
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“I think its that they aren't innovating anymore or it will upset John Shareholder, the design process is increasingly about following a formula and a big part of that is being risk adverse which means don't do something untested.”
Master_of_Spanks · reddit ↗
Indie games get an unfair pass for innovation when they're often just as formulaic (roguelikes, metroidvanias, deckbuilders) as AAA titles.
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“I never understand this notion that AAA games don't innovate ever and only indies do. Every indie I see pop off is some roguelike, metroidvania, retro platformer or a combo of those things.”
Iggy_Slayer · reddit ↗
Indie games remain the real incubator of fresh ideas, even if some recent hits build on familiar genres.
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“Indie games are still the incubator for new ideas, I see new takes and new ideas and fresh things from indie way way way way way more than I see it from AAA.”
thedeadsuit · reddit ↗
“God Of War Laufey, I look at that game, and every pixel is mindblowing. The amount of work and skill that's gone into every single frame… I've made those kinds of games, and I'm still blown away. But when I actually look at what you're doing in the game? I'm not excited.”
Bruce Straley, Game director · Edge magazine, via IGN ↗ · Sep 16
Bruce Straley Game director, The Last of Us / Uncharted; founder of Wildflower InteractiveSony Santa Monica Developer of God of War Laufey
How it unfolded 5 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlespostscomments
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Eurogamer confirms apology, names Sony Santa Monica
Later coverage reiterated the apology, specifying that the God of War Laufey team belongs to Sony Santa Monica and that Straley's original comment stemmed from not being excited by the game's gameplay.
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first by Eurogamer.net, 4d ago · also Eurogamer
1 more headline
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Online debate splits over whether AAA or indie games innovate
Discussion across gaming forums debated Straley's premise, with some backing his view that shareholder pressure makes AAA studios risk-averse and others arguing indie games are just as formulaic, citing roguelikes and metroidvanias as examples.
“I think its that they aren't innovating anymore or it will upset John Shareholder, the design process is increasingly about following a formula and a big part of that is being risk adverse which means don't do something untested.”
— Master_of_Spanks, Reddit commenter · source -
As a game lead developer i can tell you that most AAA games companies, invests so much in making the next AAA gams and have big pressuresfrom the high expections from their shareholders that they are afraid to risk innovation and only invest on "secure brands/paths". Also, like in other industry sectors, they have economic power but are too big…
2 more of the top 3 · 7 posts in this stretch
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OK cool so you have no point, glad we established that. You can still just walk away instead of making yourself look like even more of a clown if you want. PS, feel free to acknowledge you were completely wrong at any time about CotDG if you want, your call. I notice you just sorta stopped mentioning it after that :) It's so funny that you can't…
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Haha I like how you deleted your first comment because it was petty and dumb, then just typed a slightly different version. "No confidence in your argument" is fucking hilarious. You were W R O N G brother, just fucking say "my bad, I was wrong'. It's not that hard
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Straley stands by criticism, blames industry leaders
In follow-up posts, Straley did not retract his underlying point, instead expanding on it to argue that industry leadership, not individual dev teams, is responsible for the perceived lack of 'clear direction and conviction' in triple-A games.
“I want to apologize to the Laufey team for dragging you all into this uninvited & unnecessary negative attention. I was trying to illustrate an industry concern & my mistake of naming your game is being used out of context & for clickbait. You don't need this. I'm sorry.”
— Bruce Straley, Game director · source -
Yeah nothing against indies (Cairn is my favorite game of the year so far) but I feel like people have turned too snobby with how much people talk down to AAA games while hyping up indies. Like you said, everything is rogue like, metroidvania, deck builder, cozy and procedurally generated worlds. And of course, friend slop type games. Like it…
2 more of the top 3 · 10 posts in this stretch
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To be fair, those were direct sequels. For 2025 Blue Prince and Expedition 33 were pretty innovative in their respective genres. (E33's closest analogue for the battle system is probably Mario RPG / Paper Mario games, which are... a little different tonally). Edit: I agree with the Last of Us' game director though on his original criticism. I…
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I never understand this notion that AAA games don't innovate ever and only indies do. Every indie I see pop off is some roguelike, metroidvania, retro platformer or a combo of those things. Like I played both silksong and hades 2 last year and not once did I think "wow I'm seeing something I've never seen before" with them or their predecessors…
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Straley apologizes to the Laufey team on X
After the remark spread widely and was framed as an attack on Sony Santa Monica's game, Straley posted an apology on X, saying naming Laufey specifically had brought the team unwanted negative attention.
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Straley calls modern AAA games 'boring', cites Laufey
In an Edge magazine feature on the games industry, Bruce Straley said he isn't excited by God of War Laufey's gameplay despite its visual craft, using it as an example of a lack of innovation across triple-A development.
“But when I actually look at what you're doing in the game? I'm not excited. And that's nothing against the God Of War team. Just, across the board in triple-A, it feels like there's no opportunity to inject fresh, innovative ideas.”
— Bruce Straley -
4 outlets first by 玩具人 TOY PEOPLE, 6d ago · also GamesRadar+, Beebom, IGN · read ↗
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1 outlet The Last of Us Director Apologizes to God of War Laufey Devs After Calling Recent AAA Games 'Boring'
first by IGN, 4d ago
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Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet
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first by GameSpot, 6d ago · also Wccftech
1 more headline
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first by wnhub.io, 6d ago · also Push Square
1 more headline
- Modern AAA Games Are 'Boring', Says The Last of Us Game Director Push Square · 6d ago
and 2 smaller pieces
What people are saying 10 voices from 1 site · best of 17 · verbatim
- Is there an actual example of a recent AAA game doing something genuinely new, beyond visual fidelity?
- How do you even pronounce 'Laufey'?
- Sep 19
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Appreciate the crash out, it obviously doesn't take much for you to do it so overtly Anything else? Or you going to keep spamming these accusations till you feel better?
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The low in allow, and then fay similar to day. Saying allow-fay should get you there.
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Wow dude that's one desperate response to deflect from the pretty awful responses you gave so far. It's very apparent you have no confidence in your argument so I'll just leave it here. Good luck man you clearly need it
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Yeah it’s been a weird sentiment. I love a lot of indie games, but there are many that are equally beholden to convention and well worn design tropes as AAA games. That’s not a bad thing even. Videogames at this point are a relatively mature medium. It’s natural that there’s become a lot of common design language. It’s the execution that matters.
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Like what? Again I always see people say this but no one can say what they're actually doing. I don't consider sticking roguelikes into every genre, including card games now, to be all that innovative. I mean I guess it's technically new but at this point I just roll my eyes every time I see "_ but roguelike!" now.
- Sep 18
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you just referred to a couple of the biggest blockbusters in all of indie. Indie games are still the incubator for new ideas, I see new takes and new ideas and fresh things from indie way way way way way more than I see it from AAA. I can't remember the last AAA game that felt like it was doing something fresh
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Today I was thinking sony lost the plot. Their main job is to draw people to the platform. They are busy trying to be take 2 etc as if they don't make money off every GaaS game already (if they don't then they should be working on that rather than wasting money trying to build one). They shifted from the games that bring people to the platform and…
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I'm shocked that you played a couple of sequels and weren't blown away by the originality 🙃
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Liking indie games has gone from 'hey let's support small devs making good games instead of corporations' to elitism. Now if you say you're excited for a new AAA game a thousand people become and angry and cry about how they're better for being more excited about Floor-Scrubber Simulator than GTA 6.
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I need to hear someone actually say the title of the new god of war game. I have no idea how to pronounce Laufey.