The Last of Us Devs Avoid Stress by Abandoning Early Game Announcements
Lately, it has been almost impossible to find official details about Naughty Dog's upcoming projects. Neil Druckmann revealed why the studio is not announcing extensive plans for the future.
Releasing such series as The Last of Us or Uncharted, Naughty Dog has made a very strong name for itself in the gaming industry. So it's no wonder that a ton of gamers is waiting for the developer's next high-quality games. And such are being created, there is no doubt. We have known for some time that the flagship PlayStation studio is creating, for example The Last of Us: Factions a multiplayer shooter set in a post-pandemic world. In addition, there is another project in the pipeline, but most likely we will not hear about it soon.
During an interview with ComicBook, Naughty Dog's co-president revealed the reason for this lack of information. The developer stressed that Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and The Last of Us: Part II were announced long before their release. This, in turn, caused haste, tensions and "trouble with work-life balance" within the ranks of the team. Learning from the experience, the studio decided to consciously postpone official announcements in order to give itself more freedom and peace of mind in its approach to the new project.
"By delaying the announcement a bit, we have a more flexible schedule that we can adjust to how production is actually progressing.. That's why we're working on a multiplayer game now, but we're also working on another project, which I won't say anything about, except that we're very excited about it," Druckmann said.
Such a decision by Naughty Dog is hardly surprising. The official announcement intensifies interest, raises expectations, and thousands of players start looking at the developers' hands. This effectively adds to the stress and ultimately reflects on the technical condition of a game as well. Sounds familiar? Certainly, CD Projekt RED employees could tell you more.
So there's nothing left for us to do but to be patient and await information from Naughty Dog. Before that happens, however, we can only guess what title the developer is currently working on.
