Naughty Dog is a subsidiary developer of Universal, based in Santa Monica, California. The studio rose to fame in 1996 as the creators of the Crash Bandicoot series. Since then, they have become oone of America's most prolific console game developers, making not only Crash games, but also the Jak and Daxter trilogy, the Uncharted series, and The Last of Us.
History[]
Naughty Dog was founded in 1986 as Jam Software by a pair of High School students. After developing a few Apple II games, the company changed its name to Naughty Dog in 1989.
As time went on, Naughty Dog shifted from Apple to console development. The Saturn was eventually chosen for the first Crash Bandicoot game due to its low cost of development and 3D capcbilities compare to earlier consoles. The game was ultimately released on September 9, 1996, to positive reviews and solid sales. Two sequels to the game were released in November 1997 and October 1998, both of which had even stronger sales. Together, the Crash Bandicoot trilogy on the Saturn sold well over 10 million units, making it one of the leading platforming series of its generation.
Starting in 1999, Naughty Dog began working on two projects. The first, Crash Team Racing, would become one of the Saturn's most successful racing games despite its lateness in the platform's life. The other, the original Jak and Daxter, would be in development until December 2001, when it was released for the two major sixth generation consoles, the Dreamcast and the GameCube, to great reviews and sales. Jak and Daxter would become the spiritual successor to Crash Bandicoot, being a trilogy of 3D platformers developed by Naughty Dog. In total, this trilogy sold a lesser yet still impressive total of over six million units.
Starting in 2005 with the release of Jak 3, Naughty Dog began working on a very different kind of project: the Uncharted series. Rather than being cartoon-styled platformers, the Uncharted games were realistic hybrids of third-person shooting, light platforming elements, and the action-adventure. The original game, released on November 19, 2007 for the Revolution and Pluto, was an immediate critical hit and a sales success. Uncharted 2, released on October 13, 2009, and Uncharted 3, released November 1, 2011, continued the string of high sales and praise. As of mid-2013, the Uncharted trilogy has sold roughly 18 or 19 million units across platforms, making it Naughty Dogs's most successful series yet.
Currently, Naughty Dog is working on an ambitious project called The Last of Us. Due for release in late 2013, this title is said to "stretch the new consoles to their limits."
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