A touching story emerged on reddit yesterday of a terminally ill father, a grieving son and how developer Naughty Dog proved the internet isn’t always a cruel and barren place.
Video games have always been a way of bringing people together, and the emotions a good game can give you are always amplified tenfold when you experience them with somebody you care about. For reddit user Deadmanx132489, that person was his father.
It’s a story most of us can relate too. He would play Crash Team Racing for hours on end with his dad when he was younger, and when his father’s health declined, they would take it in turns to play The Last of Us. After his father died, he wrote to Naughty Dog thanking them for helping to create such an important bond between them, never expecting a reply.
3 months later, he received a letter from Naughty Dog which said:
Thank you so much for writing to us and sharing your story. I can’t begin to tell you how much it touched our hearts here at Naughty Dog. And knowing how involved our games were with you and your father is amazing to hear.
Stories like yours are the reason why we work so hard to make great games, and reading that The Last of Us changed your life is inspiring. When I read that you felt you were with your father again while playing it, it nearly drove me to tears. I can’t imagine the pain you went through these last several months, but I’m touched that we’ve been able to help you get through it.
Please enjoy these items being sent over for you. We hope you like them and hope your continued support of our games carries on. When you receive this, please send me an email with your shirt size, I’d love to send some shirts. Thank you again for writing in ____ you’re a true inspiration for all of us!
As well as the letter, he uploaded some images of what Naughty Dog sent him.
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Mark is the Gaming Editor for UNILAD. Having grown up a gaming addict, he’s been deeply entrenched in culture and spends time away from work playing as much as possible. Mark studied music at University and found a love for journalism through going to local gigs and writing about them for local and national publications.