Naughty Dog’s most recent project in The Last of Us Part II only just launched back in June 2020, but it seems as though the studio is already beginning to work on its next game. While this information hasn’t been outright confirmed by those at the company, recent activity by some of the studio’s employees gives us a good idea of what could be happening internally.
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A number of Naughty Dog developers near the end of last year began announcing that they had received new promotions within the company. While the most notable of these moves likely saw Neil Druckmann becoming the Co-President of the studio, a handful of other changes also came about. As spotted on the LinkedIn pages for developers Richard Cambier and Vinit Agarwal, each member was promoted to a directorial position in September of last year. These two moves are specifically noteworthy as it seems to indicate that both Cambier and Agarwal will be leading development teams moving forward.
As for what team the two could be leading? Well, that’s the big question here. Agarwal specifically notes in his own profile that he primarily has experience with multiplayer titles. It’s also worth pointing out that in recent months, Naughty Dog has also been hiring a number of new employees as well. This tells us that clearly, the first steps of work on a new game look to be beginning.
Even if Naughty Dog is starting to work on its next project though, work associated with The Last of Us Part II doesn’t seem to necessarily be finished. Back in 2019, it was revealed that the multiplayer aspect of the sequel had been removed from the larger package but that development on it wasn’t being scrapped altogether. Instead, the vision for this multiplayer component was said to be much larger in scope compared to the Factions mode in the original The Last of Us and that its new iteration would be unveiled in the future. As of this writing, that reveal still hasn’t transpired.
As a whole though, what do you think Naughty Dog is working on next? Would you like to see it return to work on a property like Uncharted or The Last of Us, or would you prefer to see something entirely new come about? Give me your thoughts in the comments down below or shoot me a message on Twitter at @MooreMan12 if you’d like to chat more.
[H/T Twisted Voxel]
