Naughty Dog working to remove phone-sex numbers from The Last of Us

And now we know how they got the name Naughty Dog. About a week ago, it was discovered that a few phone numbers posted on a bulletin board in-game actually turned out to be phone-sex hotlines — not pest control. Is the studio responsible for PlayStation hits like Jak and Daxter, the Uncharted series, and now The Last of Us, really just a bunch of horn dogs?

Turns out it was all an "honest mistake." This is according to the game's creative director Neil Druckmann who told Kotaku the inclusion of the numbers "was an artist's honest mistake."

"What happened was, they put some phone numbers in the game and then they thought they could change the area code to 555, then it's invalid because it's what they do in the movies," he explained. "But I guess that doesn't work when you have a 1-800 in front of it."

Druckmann said it was "just an honest mistake" that the studio is working. I got to hand it to the person who actually called the numbers, that's some dedication. Below is a recording of the greeting for the number 1-800-555-2545; I warn you, it is a bit raunchy.

Earlier this week Naughty Dog also caught some flak for allegedly stealing the work of graphic designer Cameron Booth. The studio apparently copies his rail map of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority without permission. That issue appears to have been resolved already.

[Kotaku]