No answers, only questions
If you were looking for any clarify about what’s next for Naughty Dog, you’ve come to the wrong post.
Naughty Dog vice president, director, and writer Neil Druckmann gave an interview that sheds exactly no light on the developer’s next project. Speaking with GQ, Druckmann says “As you start wrapping things up [with The Last of Us Part II production], creatively there are fewer and fewer responsibilities and my mind can’t help but think about the next thing. So, yeah, the next thing could be a [The Last of Us] Part III, the next thing could be some new IP.”
There are two ways to interpret this quote. The first is very binary: Naughty Dog’s next game will be another Last of Us or a brand new property. That’s not how I see it though. I read it as Druckmann essentially saying nothing’s off the table. As Video Games Chronicle points out, Druckmann said in February that the studio hasn’t ruled out making another Uncharted game.
So, the sky’s the limit, anything’s possible. Well, in theory. Pragmatically, Naughty Dog is almost certainly in some stage of pre-production on this next game. Naughty Dog knows what’s next, it’s just not time to tell us yet.
The Last of Us Part II: how Naughty Dog made a classic amidst catastrophe [GQ]
