When we talk about “next game”, we carefully put aside The Last of Us multiplayer, about which we are promised information this year. Here, we are talking about the next big solo title from the Californian studio, the one that Neil Druckmann is overseeing while doing his best not to spill the beans. According to the creative director and vice president, the success that Naughty Dog has always had has given the studio the ability to choose its projects freely, without facing pressure from the leaders of Sony Interactive Entertainment.
” When I joined the studio it was already so successful that we were like divas and could do whatever we wanted. I know not everyone has this privilege and I don’t take it lightly. So, at the end of each game, we voluntarily explore several different projects. Some of them may be a sequel, a bunch of new ideas, and then we have to ask ourselves where our passions lie, because that’s the fire that has to be kept going for years to come. If we choose the wrong project and we exhaust ourselves on this idea because we weren’t passionate about it, two years after the start of a four-year project, we’re screwed. I think that’s how you do mediocre things, losing your enthusiasm commented Neil Druckmann.
Of course, the latter still cannot admit if Naughty Dog has chosen to continue on The Last of Us Part 3 or mark the occasion with a new license. The words are therefore carefully chosen: I know fans really want The Last of Us Part 3. I hear about it all the time and all I can say is we’re already working on our next project so the decision has already been taken. I can’t say what it is, but we thought a lot about different things and chose the one we were most excited about. »
Strike the iron while it is molten
Truth be told, it’s hard to imagine Neil Druckmann going on anything other than The Last of Us Part 3. Between the franchise’s PC debut in two weeks, the upcoming multiplayer game reveal, and the monumental success of the TV adaptation, which rivals the record numbers of House of the Dragon on HBO, commercial common sense would dictate that The Last of Us Part 3 takes precedence over everything else. On the other hand, we know that Naughty Dog has such creative autonomy that the studio has allowed itself to put a franchise like Uncharted in the closet, each new episode of which nevertheless shattered the sales of the previous one.
Sold over 37 million copies according to the figure announced in January 2023, The Last of Us games have benefited very visibly from the success of the TV series. As seen on PlayStation Blog, The Last of Us Part I reappeared in the top 10 most downloaded games last month on PS5. At the same time, The Last of Us Part II has squarely taken 1st place on PS4, a platform on which The Last of Us Remastered from 2014 is also back in the top 10. By the way, HBO and PlayStation Productions have confirmed that the events of the second episode will span at least two seasons.
Neil Druckmann also had the opportunity to speak on the multiplayer game The Last of Us, announced as very ambitious and placed under the direction of Vinit Agarwal, Joe Pettinati and Anthony Newman. ” The Last of Us multiplayer game is our next big title. You’ll be hearing a lot more about it over the course of the year and I’m very excited to be a part of it. It’s an interesting experience for my personal case, because it’s the first Last of Us game that I’m not the main writer, nor the director, so I get to see it in the background and play a role of producer and mentor. It’s very exciting for me, what the team has put together is really cool. »
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