While we know Naughty Dog is currently developing its next big single-player adventure Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, studio head Neil Druckmann casually mentioned Tuesday that the studio concurrently has another game in the works.
Appearing on the Press X to Continue podcast, Druckmann said, “There’s another game that’s being worked on at Naughty Dog where I’m [in] more of a producer role and I get to mentor, and watch this other team, and give feedback and be like the executive in the room. I enjoy all those roles, and the fact that I jump from one to the next it makes my job very exciting and always feeling fresh. I’m never bored.”
While Druckmann is credited as Creative Director on both The Last of Us games and Intergalactic, he seems be embracing a more hands-off role with this new project. Having multiple teams develop separate games alongside each other is nothing new for studios as large as Naughty Dog. It was recently working on a The Last of Us multiplayer game before that was cancelled in 2023.
Perhaps Druckmann is overseeing the revival of one of the studio’s dormant franchises — Naughty Dog was known for the Crash Bandicoot and Jax and Dexter series before it pivoted its focus to The Last of Us and Uncharted. Speaking of which… could an Uncharted 5 be on the way?
2016’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End closed out Nathan Drake’s journey as a swashbuckling treasure hunter, though it kept the door open for more adventures through the introduction of his and Elena Fisher’s daughter, Cassie. Kaitlyn Dever portrayed Cassie in Uncharted 4’s epilogue and currently stars as Abby in season 2 of The Last of Us.
A 2023 PS5 ad ignited speculation the Uncharted series was due to return. It featured live-action clips emulating Sony’s robust first-party lineup, and one Uncharted-like clip showed a young woman holding a torch and exploring a cave in search of some sort of artifact. Job listings at that time sought talent for a separate studio “co-developing an exciting new project with Naughty Dog in a beloved franchise” (via VGC), though it’s not confirmed if that “beloved franchise” is Uncharted or something else.
We likely won’t know what Naughty Dog is working on for some time, if it gets formally revealed at all; remember, plenty of games get cancelled before the public even knew they existed.
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