‘Just stick to your guns’: Neil Druckmann isn’t phased by all the hate Intergalactic got, ‘There’s stuff happening with media right now that you just have to ignore’

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet debuted at last year’s The Game Awards. Naughty Dog managed to snag a spot towards the end of the showcase, a spot reserved for those with bags of cash who want to make an impact. While it did have an impact, it probably wasn’t the one that was intended.

Intergalactic’s trailer was met with waves of people in the livestream comments calling it a DEI game and whining about how woke Naughty Dog is, as Intergalactic’s protagonist is a Black woman.

Unfortunately, this kind of knee-jerk reaction has become pretty common when it comes to new releases. Hate for The Witcher 4 having Ciri as the protagonist got so bad that Geralt’s voice actor Doug Cockle stepped in saying how “We can’t just have Geralt for every single game” and “read the damn books, you won’t think it’s so woke anymore”.

But this is something that Neil Druckmann, Naughty Dog studio boss, knows all too well. “I don’t know if there’s much I could add to that conversation, to be honest,” Druckmann says in an interview with Last Stand Media. “There’s stuff happening with media right now that you just have to ignore for the most part, just stick to your guns, and do what you believe in. And I feel like that’s how I want artists to carry themselves.”

There were loads of big reveals during The Game Awards 2024, and while Elden Ring: Nightreign and The Witcher 4 were my standout picks of the night, Intergalactic’s trailer did catch my eye.

Though not much happened during the trailer, and it was maybe a little stretched out, getting to look around the retro spaceship, take a look at our new bounty hunter protagonist, and see a small glimpse of some robotic monster was enough to make me take mental note to look out for Intergalactic in the future—the Akira reference also helped.

It seems like this excitement isn’t misplaced. “I can just say I’m very, very excited for this game, maybe as excited as I’ve been for any game,” Druckmann says. “It’s very cool, it’s the deepest gameplay we’ve ever done, and I can’t wait to show it off.” It doesn’t matter how many times he says it, I still have no idea what “deepest gameplay” means, but I’m ready to find out.