Artist accuses Naughty Dog of stealing his work for The Last of Us

Cameron Booth, a graphic designer and illustrator, has accused Naughty Dog of appropriating his redesign of the Boston MBTA Transit map from 2012 and used it in The Last of Us. In this Tumblr, Booth alleges that the game developer used his map in their game without securing prior permission or compensating him for his work.

“For a software developer – especially a big developer working on a blockbuster title like this – to casually appropriate someone else’s work and incorporate it into their game without any discussion with the owner of that work is completely unacceptable. (Not to mention hugely ironic, as the software industry is always complaining about piracy of their work.)

Naughty Dog seems to have known that they couldn’t use the official map without paying a hefty license fee, so it looks like they just went on the internet and found another one. Cos, you know, images on the internet are free for anyone to use, right? Not.

To be clear: at no point have Naughty Dog contacted me about using my intellectual property (this visual representation of the Boston rapid transit network) in their product.

To be even more clear: if you want to use my work commercially, payment before usage is required. If you’re making money from your product, then you can pay me for my work as well.”

Naughty Dog has not responded to the accusation at this time.

UPDATE: Cameron Booth removed his earlier blog post (reprinted above) and noted that he spoke to Naughty Dog representatives via phone and they “acknowledge their error” and that “matters will be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.”