Evan Wells is an American

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...

and

programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...

and former president of

Naughty Dog Naughty Dog, LLC (formerly JAM Software, Inc.) is an American first-party video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1984, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001. G ...

. Wells's first video game was at

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

, where he worked on ''

ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron ''ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron'' is a platform video game developed by Johnson Voorsanger Productions and published by Sega in 1993 for the Sega Genesis. The game is the sequel to cult video game '' ToeJam & Earl'', released in 1991. The g ...

'', before moving to

Crystal Dynamics Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California. The studio is best known for its games in the ''Tomb Raider'', '' Legacy of Kain'', and '' Gex'' series. Madeline Canepa, Judy Lange, and Dave Morse ...

in 1995 to work on '' Gex'' and '' Gex: Enter the Gecko''. He was employed at

in 1998, working on several ''

Crash Bandicoot ''Crash Bandicoot'' is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. It has seen numerous installments created by various developers and published on multiple platforms. The series c ...

'' and ''

Jak and Daxter ''Jak and Daxter'' is a platform video game franchise created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series was originally developed by Naughty Dog with a number of installments being outsourced to Re ...

'' 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 ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who trav ...

'' series, and ''

The Last of Us ''The Last of Us'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States ...

''. Wells remained the sole president, overseeing the release of ''

The Last of Us Part II ''The Last of Us Part II'' is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Set four years after '' The Last of Us'' (2013), the game focuses on two playable characters in a post-apo ...

'', until

Neil Druckmann Neil Druckmann (; born December5, 1978) is an Israeli–American writer, creative director, designer, and programmer. He is the studio head and head of creative of the video game developer Naughty Dog, and is best known for his work on the g ...

's promotion to co-president in 2020. Wells announced his retirement in 2023.

Career

Evan Wells graduated from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1995 with a computer science degree. He worked at

in 1993, working on ''

'' (1993) as a lead tester, before working at

from 1994 to 1998, working on '' Gex'' (1995) as a programmer, and '' Gex: Enter the Gecko'' (1998) as lead designer. Wells then moved to

, where he worked on '' Crash Bandicoot: Warped'' (1998), '' Crash Team Racing'' (1999), '' Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy'' (2001), ''

Jak II ''Jak II'' is an action-adventure video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 in 2003. It is the second game of the ''Jak and Daxter'' series and a sequel to '' Jak and Daxter: The Prec ...

'' (2003), ''

Jak 3 ''Jak 3'' is a 2004 action-adventure video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. The game is the sequel to '' Jak II'' and serves as the conclusion of the trilogy. The story of the prev ...

'' (2004) and '' Jak X: Combat Racing'' (2005). Following the departure of founders

Jason Rubin Jason Rubin (born 1970) is an American video game director, writer, and comic book creator. He is best known for the '' Crash Bandicoot'' and '' Jak and Daxter'' series of games which were produced by Naughty Dog, the game development studio he ...

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 ''

'' titles (2007–17), as well as ''

'' (2013). Balestra retired from the company in April 2017; Wells became the sole president.

was promoted to vice president in March 2018, and to co-president alongside Wells in December 2020. Wells was an executive producer on the film ''

'' (2022), and on the television adaptation of ''The Last of Us'' with

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

. In July 2023, Wells announced he would retire by the end of the year.

Works

Video games

Film and television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Evan Place of birth missing (living people) Date of birth missing (living people) Living people American video game designers American video game programmers Uncharted Stanford University alumni Naughty Dog people Year of birth missing (living people)