When Intergalactic was announced, Naughty Dog touted it as a new franchise. Granted, we don’t even know when the first game will be released, but it does make you wonder if the studio is planning additional titles to expand on it further. Variety delved into this further with director Neil Druckmann and asked whether there’s a chance for The Last of Us Part 3 or a new Uncharted instead.
“We don’t tend to plan too much in the future, because we find — and this is something I inherited, it’s just the Naughty Dog culture — that we do our best work when it’s something we’re really excited about, really passionate about,” said Druckmann.
Following the success of The Last of Us Part 2, he recalls the team debating about “whether we should just go straight into ‘The Last of Us 3,’ and we had a really long period where we looked at ideas for maybe what could be in that game. We looked at — we have ‘Uncharted‘ as an IP, we have ‘Jak and Daxter‘ as an IP. But the team was really excited to do this sci-fi thing that we’ve been talking about for a while, and that’s where our passions lie, so that’s where we’re moving forward.”
If Intergalactic is a success, then Druckmann is sure that players will “see it again,” but that doesn’t mean it will be Naughty Dog’s next game. “Whether that will be our next game right after that, I can’t say, and I leave that door open. Not to be coy for this particular question, we want to see how we feel once we’re done with it and look at the options in front of us, because we have some other ideas that we’d like to explore as well.”
Druckmann previously said he had a “concept” in mind for The Last of Us Part 3, but not the full story. Of course, he would more recently tell Santa Monica Studio’s Cory Barlog that he didn’t have the confidence to plan sequels in advance. Speaking to Variety last March, he revealed that The Last of Us Part 2 could very well be the end of the series, but as his latest statements indicate, there’s no guarantee.
Regardless, it’ll be a while before Intergalactic launches on PS5, so in the meantime, head here for Druckmann’s thoughts on how it’s the studio’s most ambitious and expansive title yet.
