A new report says that Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will be the last new IP released by Naughty Dog for a while.
According to MP1st, a new game in the Uncharted franchise is next in line for launch after Intergalactic comes out, whenever that may be. And then beyond that, if we don’t lose Earth to the heat death of the universe: we will see The Last of Us Part III.
Interestingly, the MP1st report bucks the news from Naughty Dog itself, which said earlier this week it is working on two TLOU projects in addition to the new sci-fi IP, Intergalactic. There was no mention of Uncharted, so this project is quite clearly in early, early development. And therein lies the rub.
I can’t help but laugh at the report, because Naughty Dog hasn’t released a new game since The Last of Us Part II in 2020, and we still haven’t seen much of anything at all from Intergalactic. So, I have a really hard time imagining anything else the studio may be working on for several years down the line unless it somehow seriously streamlines dev time.
The report says that the new Uncharted is being headed up by Shaun Escayag, who directed Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and is also the former creative director of Marvel’s Avengers at Crystal Dynamics. And beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess where a new Uncharted would take us, especially considering Uncharted 4 saw Drake seemingly hang up the treasure-hunting harness and settle down with his wife Elena, and their child Cassie (portrayed by The Last of Us TV show’s Kaitlyn Dever, who plays Abby in live action). But it’s reportedly a new game and not a remake.
Am I shocked to see Naughty Dog return to something that’s likely to be a sure thing? Not at all. But I can barely look six months into the future, let alone the many, many years standing between us and a potential sequel.
