Naughty Dog’s latest project in The Last of Us Part II just launched in June 2020, but it looks like the studio is already starting to work on its next game. Although this information has not been confirmed by everyone in the company, the recent activity of some of the studio’s employees gives us a good idea of what may be happening internally.
Several developers at Naughty Dog towards the end of last year began to announce that they had received new promotions within the company. Although the most notable of these moves was probably Neil Druckmann becoming the co-chair of the studio, several other changes have also taken place. As noted on the LinkedIn pages for developers Richard Cambier and Vinit Agarwal, each member was promoted to a board position in September last year. These two moves are specifically notable, as they seem to indicate that Cambier and Agarwal will lead development teams in the future.
As for which team could the two be leading? Well, that is the big question here. Agarwal specifically notes on his own profile that he has experience primarily with multiplayer titles. It is also worth noting that, in recent months, Naughty Dog has also hired several new employees. This tells us clearly that the first steps of working on a new game seem to be starting.
Even though Naughty Dog is starting to work on its next project, work in partnership The Last of Us Part II it doesn’t necessarily seem to be over. In 2019, it was revealed that the multiplayer aspect of the sequel had been removed from the larger package, but its development was not being completely discarded. Instead, the vision for this multiplayer component was considered to be much larger in scope compared to Factions mode in the original The last of us and that its new iteration would be revealed in the future. At the time of this writing, that revelation has not yet happened.
As a whole, what do you think Naughty Dog is working on next? Would you like to see it back up and running on a property like Unknown or The last of us, or do you prefer to see something totally new happen? Give me your opinion in the comments below or send me a Twitter message at @ MooreMan12 if you would like to chat more.
[H/T Twisted Voxel]