Naughty Dog Co-President Neil Druckmann recently claimed that the studio has moved on from the Uncharted series and might do the same with The Last of Us series.
According to Druckmann in an interview with BuzzFeed, should the studio decide not to develop a third title for The Last of Us series, they might also “move on” from that too. Even though he said that statement, the studio is still developing the standalone TLOU multiplayer game which includes its own story and a new cast of characters. There is also the HBO TV adaptation of the franchise, which has recently gained very positive reviews from critics and audiences worldwide.
Druckmann claims that Naughty Dog’s parent company Sony will not pressure them into continuing the story of Ellie and Abby. It will be up to the studio if its team would be able to come up with a compelling story for a possible Part 3 sequel and is passionate about it. If the studio is not able to do so then it will move on from the series just like they have done with its other franchise Uncharted.
Druckmann and Naughty Dog on Sequels
“I know there’s a bunch of people wondering about The Last of Us Part 3 and whether that will be a thing or not,” Druckmann said. “All I could say is, at Naughty Dog we’re very, very privileged that our publisher is Sony — which means Sony funds our games, supports us, and we’re owned by Sony.
“They have supported us every step of the way to follow our passions — meaning that just because something is successful, people think there’s all this pressure and we have to make a sequel. That’s not the case.
“For us, Uncharted was insanely successful — 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.
“Likewise, with The Last of Us, it’s up to us whether we want to continue it or not,” he said.
While Druckmann did say that the studio is done with the Uncharted series, back in April 2022 a recruiter at the studio hinted that Sony might be planning for a future Uncharted release. Maybe that got shut down due to the mediocre feedback it got last year.
