Naughty Dog hires Fortnite battle pass expert as it builds The Last of Us multiplayer

Fortnite battle pass designer Anders Howard has joined Naughty Dog to take a leading role in designing monetization strategies for the company ahead of the launch of the Last of Us multiplayer game.

Howard announced the move on Twitter, posting a picture of himself at the Naughty Dog office in Santa Monica, CA with the message "hell yeah!" As noted by TheGamer, Howard's LinkedIn page notes that he's joined Naughty Dog as a principal monetization designer starting in November 2022.

While Howard joins Naughty Dog from Ubisoft Stockholm, his most notable credits are from the seven years he spent working at Epic, where he "helped form the core of battle pass progression strategy" and worked on 12 seasons of content through that system. He also helped introduce battle pass progression to Rocket League and Fall Guys.

There's no official confirmation Howard is working on the upcoming Last of Us multiplayer game, but it's a pretty easy guess to make, given the types of games you might need a 'principal monetization designer'. Naughty Dog has not been specific about what sort of monetization the Last of Us multiplayer game will have, though job listings have hinted that the studio is interested in having free-to-play expertise on hand.

And if you're looking to make a monetization strategy stick, one of the principal folks behind Fortnite's battle pass seems like a solid choice. Fortnite didn't invent the battle pass, but it popularized the scheme to such a degree that it's become effectively inescapable in modern multiplayer games. For a Last of Us multiplayer game reportedly set to be "very, very live service-y," it makes plenty of sense.

The Last of Us TV show will also be expanding the franchise in January, and you can follow that link for a whole lot of info on what we know so far.