Naughty Dog began developing The Last of Us in 2009. Sony Computer Entertainment published the action-adventure game for PlayStation 3 on June 14, 2013. The three-year development was led by game director Bruce Straley and creative director Neil Druckmann. In the game, players assume control of Joel, a middle-aged smuggler tasked with escorting a 14-year-old girl named Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States in an attempt to create a potential cure against the world-ending infection to which Ellie is immune. Set 20 years after the outbreak has destroyed much of civilization, the game explores the possibility of the Cordyceps fungi infecting humans.