Naughty Dog, Inc.

Naughty Dog, Inc. is a company that makes video games
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Naughty Dog is a game developer owned by Sony and is most famous for its action platformers, such as Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter.

Overview


Origins and PS1

Naughty Dog is an American video game development company founded in 1986 by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin. When the company was first established they were known as JAM and their first official game was Ski Crazed for the Apple II which was made when Andy and Jason were only 16. By the Nineties the company had changed their name to Naughty Dog and progressed to creating Way of the Warrior for the 3DO. Arguably their most renowned property, the Crash Bandicoot series, came about when Sonic The Hedgehog 2 producer Mark Cerny suggested the company focus on a character based platform game for the newly revealed Playstation console. The Crash series, consisting of 4 games went on to sell over 22 million copies combined on the Playstation, making Naughty Dog the most successful developer in the US for that generation.

The PS2 Generation

With the next Playstation console Naughty Dog decided to start afresh with a new series, Jak & Daxter, and to use the increased power of the console to give the game a larger, open world scope and a greater degree of fidelity and detail. Almost a year before completion of the first Jak & Daxter game, in January 2001 it was announced that Naughty Dog was becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony. As with the Crash series Naughty Dog released 4 games in the main series on the PS2 (as well as a Daxter only spin off on the PSP) and each sold well and were generally received positively by gamers. Unlike Crash however, it has been strongly hinted that we will see Jak & Daxter return on the current generation of consoles, namely the PS3. In 2004, co-founder Jason Rubin left the company to focus on a comic book project.

The PS3 Generation

With the bump up in technology again afforded by the new generation of consoles Naughty Dog decided to take another step forward graphically, this time creating a series based in the real world. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune debuted at E3 2006 and was initially criticized for looking similar to the Tomb Raider series. When the game was released it was received positively by critics and eventually sold over 2 million copies. A sequel to the game is now in the works titled Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, currently targeted for late 2009.

Relationship With Insomniac

Naughty Dog has a strong working relationship with developer Insomniac Games, originating from their history of working in the same building on the Universal Studios backlot. Even their output shares a close resemblance, Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter, even the move to realism taken with Resistance and Uncharted. Indeed the developers have stated that they are able to share technology and development knowledge to mutually improve the user experience. One important distinction is that while Naughty Dog is owned by Sony, Insomniac Games are fully independent but choose to develop only on the Sony platforms.
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Naughty Dog, Inc.
General Information Edit
Company Name Naughty Dog, Inc.
Street Address 1601 Cloverfield Blvd. Suite 6000 North
City Santa Monica
State California
Country United States of America
Website http://www.naughtydog.com
Contact Email ndi-dog@naughtydog.com
Phone Number
Date Founded Jan. 1, 1986
Count of Games Published 0
Count of Games Developed 15
Aliases
Recurring Appearances
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