Amy Hennig, the creative director and writer for the Uncharted trilogy, has left Naughty Dog after a decade.

Sony has issued a statement on Hennig’s departure:

“We can confirm that Amy Hennig has left Naughty Dog. Amy has made significant contributions to the game industry and we appreciate all she has done for Naughty Dog. The development timeline of Uncharted will not be impacted.”

The shocking part of this news is that those close to Naughty Dog have said that she was forced out by Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, the creative minds behind Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us.

It does seem odd that she would leave the company in the middle of development of Uncharted on PS4 so there may be some validity to the ousting.

Naughty Dog is the best developer in gaming right now and the last thing they need is internal problems like this. I loved The Last of Us (it was my GOTY) but Uncharted is their cash cow and she provided Nate, Sully, Elena and company their direction.

Whoever lands her is going to get a proven gaming great.