Evan Wells

Evan Wells is an American video game designer and programmer, and co-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 remained the sole president, overseeing the release of The Last of Us Part II, until Neil Druckmann's promotion to co-president in 2020.

Evan Wells
Wells at the Game Developers Choice Awards in 2010
NationalityAmerican
Alma materStanford University
OccupationGame director, artist
Years active1993–present
EmployerNaughty Dog
TitleCo-president

Career

Evan Wells graduated from Stanford University in 1995 with a computer science degree.[1] 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),[2] Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (2001), Jak II (2003), Jak 3 (2004) and Jak X: Combat Racing (2005).[3] 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.[4] Neil Druckmann was promoted to vice president in March 2018,[5] and to co-president alongside Wells in December 2020.[6] Wells will executive produce a television adaptation of The Last of Us with HBO.[7]

Works

Video games
YearGame titleRole
1993ToeJam & Earl in Panic on FunkotronLead tester, level design[3]
1995GexProgrammer[3]
1998Gex: Enter the GeckoLead designer[3]
1998Crash Bandicoot: WarpedLead designer[3]
1999Crash Team RacingLead designer
2001Jak and Daxter: The Precursor LegacyLead designer
2003Jak IILead designer
2004Jak 3Lead designer
2005Jak X: Combat RacingCo-president
2007Uncharted: Drake's FortuneCo-president
2009Uncharted 2: Among ThievesCo-president
2011Uncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionCo-president
2013The Last of UsCo-president
2014The Last of Us: Left BehindCo-president
2016Uncharted 4: A Thief's EndCo-president
2017Uncharted: The Lost LegacyPresident
2020The Last of Us Part IIPresident

Film and television
YearTitleNotes
2013Grounded: Making The Last of UsDocumentary[8]
2015Conversations with CreatorsWeb series; Episode 2[9]
TBDThe Last of UsTelevision series; executive producer[7]

References
  1. "Naughty Dog 30th Anniversary Contest". welovefine. Mighty Fine. Archived from the original on July 26, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  2. https://www.usgamer.net/articles/how-crash-team-racing-challenged-mario-kart-and-made-naughty-dog-what-it-is-today
  3. "Naughty Dog's Evan Wells". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on July 26, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  4. Dornbush, Jonathon (March 8, 2017). "Naughty Dog Co-President Christophe Balestra Announces Departure From Studio". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on March 9, 2017. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  5. Wells, Evan (March 9, 2018). "An Update from Studio President Evan Wells". Naughty Dog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 10, 2018. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
  6. Valentine, Rebekah (December 4, 2020). "Neil Druckmann named co-president of Naughty Dog". Gamesindustry.biz. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  7. Otterson, Joe (March 5, 2020). "'The Last of Us' Series in Development at HBO From 'Chernobyl' Creator". Variety. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  8. Naughty Dog and Area 5 (2013). Grounded: Making The Last of Us. Sony Computer Entertainment. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  9. Wheaton, Wil (June 22, 2015). "Conversations with Creators with Wil Wheaton Premieres July 7th". PlayStation Blog. Sony Computer Entertainment. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
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