Uncharted Series Director Being Honored With BAFTA Award

Amy Hennig, a writer/creative director on the first three Uncharted games at Naughty Dog who now works at Electronic Arts on Star Wars, will be honored by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). She will receive a BAFTA "Special Award," the group announced this week.

She'll be handed the award at an evening in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 12, which is just before the start of E3 2016.

Hennig has worked in the video game industry for almost 30 years. Before joining Naughty Dog, she worked at Crystal Dynamics on the Soul Reaver/Legacy of Kain series.

"Amy is one of the industry's most successful and respected creative leaders, and we are thrilled to recognize her outstanding contribution through this special award--one of BAFTA's highest accolades," BAFTA Games Committee chairman Harvey Elliot said in a statement.

"Her work in the games industry spans nearly three decades, and throughout this illustrious career she has championed the importance of a game's script, with this creative vision pervading all her work." he added. "We look forward to celebrating this much-deserved award with her."

Hennig was writing Uncharted 4: A Thief's End before being replaced by Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley. According to a report, Hennig was "forced out," though Naughty Dog has since denied this was the case. As a result of Hennig's departure, about eight months of work was reportedly thrown out as the new directors went in something of a different direction.

A line from Uncharted 4's credits sequence honors Hennig and her contributions to the game.

A month after leaving Naughty Dog in 2014, Hennig joined EA where she is now working on Dead Space developer Visceral Games' new Star Wars project. This game has yet to be formally announced, but is rumored to be an open-world title.

Hennig holds a B.A. in English Literature from U.C. Berkeley.