Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann has said the studio has officially moved on from Uncharted and is now focusing on the next chapter of The Last of Us through the new multiplayer game.
In an interview with Buzzfeed, Druckmann explained that Sony doesn’t pressure Naughty Dog into creating a sequel just because a game is successful, and that the publisher has been very supportive in letting the studio follow its own passions.
“That’s not the case. For us, Uncharted was insanely successful,” Druckmann said. “Uncharted 4 was one of our best-selling games, and we’re able to put our final brushstroke on that story and say that we’re done. We’re moving on.”
Druckmann didn’t elaborate on whether he was referred to Nathan Drake’s story, which ended with Uncharted 4, or the franchise as a whole. Its last release was 2022’s Legacy of Thieves Collection, with the most recent mainline entries being 2016’s Uncharted 4 and the 2017 side-story Lost Legacy.
Sony Pictures also released a film adaptation starring Tom Holland that was met with mixed reviews, but was ultimately able to gross $401 million in the international box office.
Naughty Dog weighs in on The Last of Us Part 3
When asked about a potential The Last of Us Part 3, Druckmann noted that it’s up to Naughty Dog itself to decide if it wants to expand the stories of Ellie and company, but it’s currently focused on creating a brand new story for the multiplayer game.
“We’ve been pretty open that the next Last of Us game is going to be this multiplayer experience, where you’ll be able to enter the world of The Last of Us with your friend and get to experience the tension and the brutality of that world — and a brand new story and cast of characters that live in another city that we haven’t seen yet in the world of The Last of Us. This is going to be another chapter in the universe of The Last of Us.”
As for a dedicated, single-player Part 3, however, Druckmann continued: “Our process is the same thing we did when we did Part 2, which is if we can come up with a compelling story that has this universal message and statement about love — just like the first and second game did — then we will tell that story. If we can’t come up with something, we have a very strong ending with Part 2 and that will be the end.”
Naughty Dog showed off new concept art for the multiplayer game earlier this month and teased that more updates will be coming this year. Thanks to The Last of Us HBO TV adaptation, sales for The Last of Us Part 1 increased by 238% in the UK.
The Last of Us Part 1 was released on PS5 back in September 2022, but it’s coming to PC on March 3. In IGN’s The Last of Us Part 1 review, we said, A gorgeous and well-honed remake of one of the biggest boppers in the PlayStation pantheon, The Last of Us Part I is the best way to play – or replay – Naughty Dog’s esteemed survival classic.”
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey