While Naughty Dog may currently be best known for its post-apocalyptic The Last of Us series, with multiple remasters and an award winning TV series under its belt, it won’t be like this forever.
That’s according to studio head Neil Druckmann, who additionally told the LA Times Naughty Dog currently has a number of games in the works, including “multiple single-player projects”.
While the creator did not share any further specifics as to what these upcoming games are, he suggested they will be as story rich as the studio’s previous works.
“We create experiences that are steeped in story and character, especially relationships,” Druckmann told the publication. “The stories have some sort of philosophical core that everything is going to revolve around and feed into.”
Druckmann and Naughty Dog are currently working on an unannounced game, which the studio exec is both writing and directing. Some have speculated that this upcoming title will be a fantasy-themed release.
As for what the studio’s other aforementioned single-player titles could be, there is still a chance one of them is The Last of Us Part 3. Druckmann previously said Naughty Dog is open to developing Part 3, but only if “[the team] can come up with a compelling story that has this universal message and statement about love”, as it did with Parts 1 and 2.
Meanwhile, in 2021, Druckmann revealed Naughty Dog had penned a story outline for The Last of Us 3, which he hoped “one day can see the light of day”.
I am also still hopeful for more Uncharted…
The studio was previously working on a standalone The Last of Us multiplayer entry, however this project was cancelled at the end of last year. At this time, Naughty Dog said it did not want to become a “solely live service games studio”. Rather, it wanted to continue “to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage”.