| Occupation: | Game director, artist |
| Years Active: | 1993–2023 |
| Employer: | Naughty Dog |
| Co-president | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Alma Mater: | Stanford University |
Evan Wells is an American video game designer and programmer and former president of Naughty Dog. Wells's 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 . 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. Wells announced his retirement in 2023.
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 (1995) as a programmer, and (1998) as lead designer. Wells then moved to Naughty Dog, where he worked on (1998), Crash Team Racing (1999),[2] (2001), Jak II (2003), Jak 3 (2004) and (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 became 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 was an executive producer on the film Uncharted (2022), and on the television adaptation of The Last of Us with HBO. In July 2023, Wells announced he would retire by the end of the year.[7]
| Year | Game title | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron | Lead tester, level design | |
| 1995 | Gex | Programmer | |
| 1998 | Lead designer | ||
| 1998 | Lead designer | ||
| 1999 | Crash Team Racing | Lead designer | |
| 2001 | Lead designer | ||
| 2003 | Jak II | Lead designer | |
| 2004 | Jak 3 | Lead designer | |
| 2005 | Co-president | ||
| 2007 | Co-president | ||
| 2009 | Co-president | ||
| 2011 | Co-president | ||
| 2013 | The Last of Us | Co-president | |
| 2014 | Co-president | ||
| 2016 | Co-president | ||
| 2017 | President | ||
| 2020 | The Last of Us Part II | President |
| Year | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Grounded: Making The Last of Us | Documentary[8] | |
| 2015 | Conversations with Creators | Web series; Episode 2[9] | |
| 2022 | Uncharted | Film; executive producer[10] | |
| 2023 | The Last of Us | Television series; executive producer[11] |