[8][9] He left the industry for a short time, traveling to Europe, before moving to San Francisco in 1996 and receiving a job at Crystal Dynamics through a friend.

[10][11] There, Straley worked alongside several future Naughty Dog employees,[12] including Amy Hennig, who later became creative director of the Uncharted series,[12] Evan Wells, who later became co-president of Naughty Dog,[13] and Danny Chan, who later worked as a lead programmer on Crash Team Racing.

[19] Although he was employed as a texture artist, the small size of the team resulted in Straley performing various jobs, including design, background modeling and foreground animating, among others.

[23] Straley is credited with creating the technology that managed the appearance of the Jak and Daxter series, and having the knowledge to understand the technical and artistic features, bridging the communication gap between the two departments.

With one team working on Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2011), co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra chose Straley and Neil Druckmann to lead development on a new game; Straley was selected to lead the project, as game director, based on his experience and his work on previous projects.

During the development of The Last of Us, Straley and Druckmann often joked that their relationship was "like a marriage", in which they have many differing ideas, but ultimately wish to achieve the same goal.

"[26] At the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012, Straley showcased a gameplay demonstration of The Last of Us at Sony's press conference; his stance on the stage became an Internet meme, and was referred to as "The Bruce".

[31] Initial reports claimed that Hennig was "forced out" of Naughty Dog by Straley and Druckmann, though Wells and Balestra later denied this.

[37] On September 13, 2017, Straley announced his departure from Naughty Dog, stating that he "found [his] energy focusing in other directions" following his break.

Following the lack of credit to Straley in the television series The Last of Us in 2023, he considered the support for unionization in the video game industry, saying it may be necessary "to protect creators".

[42] After leaving the industry in 2017, Straley was unsure if he wanted to continue making games; however, after thinking more about the medium, an "idea kept following [him]".

[43] He and some friends began prototyping, and eventually decided to create a studio, Wildflower Interactive,[43] founded on March 11, 2021,[44] and announced in July 2022.