Naughty Dog Talks About ‘Friendly’ Competition With Other PlayStation Studios

The team at Naughty Dog has been hard at work on The Last of Us Part II, which is shaping up to be one of the better exclusives on the PlayStation front. And if you think that has other Sony studios feeling jealous as a result, the studio has assured that everyone is getting along fine.

First reported by Twinfinite, the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu featured art director John Sweeney and director of communications Arne Meyer opening up about how Naughty Dog’s work doesn’t get in the way of progress by other Sony-owned studios. In fact, they show full support for them, even with all their work going into the long-awaited Last of Us sequel.

First off, Famitsu asked if the members of the team play games from other studios, in which they noted they do. In fact, Meyer admitted that it helps with discovering new possibilities for its own games, with a slight bit of pressure to try and meet (or even exceed) their level.

A few examples were then mentioned, with Meyer talking about God of War from Sony Santa Monica; Marvel’s Spider-Man from Insomniac Games; and Horizon: Zero Dawn from Guerrilla Games. These alone help the team push The Last of Us Part II development even further.

Sweeney then added that new games set hurdles for the teams to try and find a way to get over, including his own work.

But this in no way creates rivalry, as Meyer explained that while there is a level of competition amidst teams, it never gets to the point of these guys versus these guys. It’s more along the lines of cooperation, with a Sony studio asking about a strong aspect of development, and the team sharing with another as a result. It goes both ways.

It’s nice to see the teams helping each other out to make their PlayStation developments the best they can be. And more than likely, this will continue onward as the PlayStation 5 looms for a possible reveal sometime later this year, with a release in 2020. Hopefully we won’t be waiting that long to see what Naughty Dog has in store with The Last of Us Part II, as the game is still confirmed for PlayStation 4, though it still doesn’t have a release date.