The creator behind Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us II is reportedly laying off its contractors that expand in departments from art to production and from quality assurance testing which seem to have taken the biggest hit. According to Kotaku the layoffs affect only contractors and not full-time employed stuff.
The contractors are going to work until the end of October but according to external sources, they haven’t been offered severance packages and were requested to keep a low profile about it.
It should be noted that back in July their co-president Evan Wells announced his retirement after being part of the company for the past 19 years. Neil Druckmann, as the other remaining co-president will be taking over the role himself and in a company update he said the following:
As Evan has pointed out, our good fortune has led to immense and steady growth. With that kind of success and size comes the need to re-evaluate how we structure a Studio Leadership Team that reflects the next chapter for Naughty Dog. NEIL DRUCKMANN