Yesterday, Bruce Straley announced his departure from Naughty Dog. He worked there for 18 years, meaning he started at the tail end of the Crash Bandicoot era and at the beginning of Jak and Daxter. He is most well-known as being a co-director of Uncharted 2, Uncharted 4, and The Last of Us.
Noting he was employee #15 at Naughty Dog, he was at the company longer than most. Even before Sony acquired Naughty Dog back in 2001. Before their real big hit in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, though you can't really turn your nose up at the Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter series either.
Bruce had many to thank in his farewell post. He thanked Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin, Naughty Dog's co-founders, for giving him a chance in the first place by hiring him. He also specifically thanked Amy Henning and Neil Druckmann, both of which have been co-directors on some Uncharted games among others.
Naughty Dog president Evan Wells had some parting words for Bruce as well:
Bruce’s drive for excellence and enthusiastic support for his teammates has helped shape the studio culture and will continue to have a lasting impact. For that alone, the entire team is grateful. And for me, I can attribute much of my own personal growth as a game developer to having worked alongside his amazing talent for more than twenty years. It's really crazy to think that much time has passed! And through it all, I’m even more fortunate to be able to count him as a friend.
After spending some time away from Naughty Dog following the release of Uncharted 4, it seemed he wanted to venture on his own. Bruce ended his post saying that he will continue pursuing his creative process and that he will have an announcement in the future but doesn't seem to know what that may be yet.