Neil Druckmann, the head of Naughty Dog, recently talked about the studio's single-player projects, teasing that there are multiple games currently in the works.
During a recent interview that was published over the weekend by LA Times, Druckmann said that he does not expect Naughty Dog to be The Last of Us studio forever. He added that the team has been working on "multiple single-player projects."
Naughty Dog's Single-Player Projects
(Photo : Naughty Dog / Screenshot taken from official website)
While the interview does not go so far as to go into detail regarding these new games, it is exciting for fans that they are being worked on. The short feature also described how the Naughty Dog head had the idea for The Last of Us while he was in college and that he initially wanted it to be a graphic novel.
He was then able to work on the project after going to ex-Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells and asking to be taken off a Jak and Daxter project. Despite the latest reveal, it is unclear what the studio's next announced project will be, according to DigitalTrends.
This comes as it recently canceled its The Last of Us online multiplayer game after it had been in development for several years. Druckmann has also done a lot of anticipation building and he previously talked about the future of video game development at Naughty Dog during a Sony interview.
The article was eventually retracted for misquotes and Druckmann himself posted one of his unredacted answers on X, formerly known as Twitter. There, he reflected on who he was excited about an upcoming studio title.
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At the time, he said that he was excited about the new game that the studio was making, noting that it was something that was "really fresh" for them. He also said that he was excited to see how the world would react to it.
Druckmann said that due to the success of The Last of Us game as well as the live-action adaptation series, people even outside of the video game industry are waiting to see what Naughty Dog puts out next.
The Future of the Studio
He also noted that they want to create experiences that are "steeped in story and characters, especially relationships." Druckmann said that these stories have some sort of philosophical core that everything is going to revolve around and feed into, said GameInformer.
The success of The Last of Us franchise can be seen with all of the awards that it has won, including several "Game of the Year" recognitions. Additionally, the series ranks among the best-selling games on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.
The popularity of the video game also led to its expansion into other mediums, most notably the highly successful 2023 HBO TV live-action adaptation. The second season of which is anticipated to come in 2025.
There are also rumors of the third entry in The Last of Us video game franchise that claimed production of the game was ongoing in late 2022. However, there has so far been no official announcement regarding the title, according to 80lv.
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