Evan Wells is an American video game designer and programmer, and co-president of

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

. Wells' first video game was at Sega, 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 ...

'', before moving to

Crystal Dynamics Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California and part of Embracer Group. The studio developed the ''Gex'', '' Legacy of Kain'', and ''Tomb Raider'' series. Founded in 1992 by Madeline Canepa, Judy ...

in 1995 to work on ''

Gex Gex or GEX may refer to: People *Amélie Gex (1835–1883), French writer and poet * Émilie Gex-Fabry (born 1986), Swiss ski mountaineer, biologist, and botanist * John Peter De Gex (1809–1887), English barrister and law reporter * Walter J. 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 co ...

'' and ''

Jak and Daxter ''Jak and Daxter'' is an action-adventure 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 ...

'' 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 franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of Treasure hunting, treasure hunters who tra ...

'' 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 State ...

''. 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 for the PlayStation 4. Set five years after ''The Last of Us'' (2013), the game focuses on two playable charac ...

'', until

Neil Druckmann Neil Druckmann ( he, ניל דרוקמן; born December 5, 1978) is an Israeli-American writer, creative director, designer, and programmer who has been co-president (alongside Evan Wells) of the video game developer Naughty Dog since 2020. He ...

's promotion to co-president in 2020.

Career

Evan Wells graduated from Stanford University in 1995 with a computer science degree. He worked at Sega in 1993, working on ''

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

from 1994 to 1998, working on ''

'' (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 ''Crash Team Racing'' (stylized as ''CTR: Crash Team Racing'') is a 1999 kart racing video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It is the fourth installment in the ''Crash Bandicoot'' ...

'' (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 it is both a sequel and a prequel to '' ...

'' (2003), ''

Jak 3 ''Jak 3'' is a 2004 Action-adventure game, 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'', the third game in the series and serves as t ...

'' (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 co ...

and

Andy Gavin Andrew Scott Gavin (born June 11, 1970) is an American video game programmer, entrepreneur, and novelist. Gavin co-founded the video game company Naughty Dog with childhood friend Jason Rubin in 1986, which released games including '' Crash Bandi ...

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 upcoming television adaptation of ''The Last of Us'' with

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, 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 ba ...

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 Video game programmers Uncharted Stanford University alumni Naughty Dog people Year of birth missing (living people)