Evan Wells
Introduction
Evan Wells is an American video game designer and programmer, and the current President of Naughty Dog. Wells first video game was at Sega, where he worked on ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron, before moving to Crystal Dynamics in 1995 to work on Gex and Gex: Enter the Gecko. He was employed at Naughty Dog in 1998, working on several Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter titles before becoming co-president of the company alongside Stephen White in 2005; White was replaced the following year by Christophe Balestra, who retired in 2017. The two oversaw the release of the Uncharted series, and The Last of Us. Wells remains the sole president.
Career
Evan Wells graduated from Stanford University in 1995 with a computer science degree. He worked at Sega in 1993, working on ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (1993) as a lead tester, before working at Crystal Dynamics from 1994 to 1998, working on Gex (1998) as a programmer, and Gex: Enter the Gecko (1998) as lead designer. Wells then moved to Naughty Dog, where he worked on Crash Bandicoot: Warped (1998), Crash Team Racing (1999), Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (2001), Jak II (2003) and Jak X: Combat Racing (2005). Following the departure of founders Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin in 2004, Wells became co-president of Naughty Dog alongside Stephen White; White was replaced by Christophe Balestra after a year. Wells continued to work as co-president during the release of the Uncharted titles (2007–17), as well as The Last of Us (2013). Balestra retired from the company in April 2017; Wells remains the sole president.
Works
Video games
| Year | Game title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron | Lead tester, level design |
| 1995 | Gex | Programmer |
| 1998 | Gex: Enter the Gecko | Lead designer |
| 1998 | Crash Bandicoot: Warped | Lead designer |
| 1999 | Crash Team Racing | Lead designer |
| 2001 | Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy | Lead designer |
| 2003 | Jak II | Lead designer |
| 2004 | Jak 3 | Lead designer |
| 2005 | Jak X: Combat Racing | Co-president |
| 2007 | Uncharted: Drake's Fortune | Co-president |
| 2009 | Uncharted 2: Among Thieves | Co-president |
| 2011 | Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception | Co-president |
| 2013 | The Last of Us | Co-president |
| 2014 | The Last of Us: Left Behind | Co-president |
| 2016 | Uncharted 4: A Thief's End | Co-president |
| 2017 | Uncharted: The Lost Legacy | Co-president |
| TBA | The Last of Us Part II | Co-president |
Film and television
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Grounded: Making The Last of Us | Documentary |
| 2015 | Conversations with Creators | Web series; Episode 2 |