When Naughty Dog hired a company to coordinate focus groups for the testing of its upcoming game, The Last of Us, it was surprised to learn that the company had no plans to seek the opinions of women.

According to an interview with Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckman on The Escapist, the studio had to specially request that women be involved in focus testing the game. Druckman said, "My big surprise during this process is that the research group wasn't planning on focus-testing female gamers – it's something we had to specifically request. I hope this is a relic of the past that will soon go away." Druckman declined to identify the research firm.

To not seek out women in the focus testing of any video game is strange, but it is especially bizarre in the case of The Last of Us, a game that prominently features a female protagonist in lead role. Women play video games, and the fact that this research firm doesn't know this calls into question how much research it has actually performed.

You can check out the latest developer diary from Naughty Dog for The Last of Us by clicking here. The game will release on PlayStation 3 June 14.

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