Naughty Dog Sets Expectations for The Last of Us Day Event

Naughty Dog’s annual The Last of Us celebration is coming up soon with the aptly named “The Last of Us Day” scheduled to take place again tomorrow on September 26th. Part of The Last of Us Day will consist of a stream from Naughty Dog that’ll include announcements about various topics including merch and more, but the developer had some bad news for fans: none of those announcements will be related to new games nor will there be any announcements about HBO’s The Last of Us show.

That’ll naturally be a blow to anyone who was hoping for announcements of those kinds to come from this week’s event, but it should’ve been expected that there’d be nothing of the sort on The Last of Us Day seeing how Naughty Dog hasn’t really said much about the event until now. There are also the WGA and AMPTP strikes to consider which would’ve prevented any meaningful announcements related to HBO’s The Last of Us from happening even if talks do seem to be going well now for at least one of those strikes.

Naughty Dog Comments on The Last of Us Day

The Last of Us Day was mentioned in a tweet from Naughty Dog shared on the eve of the annual holiday. While diehard The Last of Us fans will probably still be watching anyway, those popping in for game and TV show announcements won’t get what they’re looking for.

“The Last of Us Day is nearly upon us!” Naughty Dog said. “We’re celebrating with a #TLOUDay stream tomorrow at 9am PT featuring announcements focused on art, merch, and more. While we’re honoring the series’ 10-year legacy, we will not be discussing any future game or TV show projects.” 

For those fans who remember The Last of Us Day as being called something different, you’re correct: it used to be called “Outbreak Day.” However, Naughty Dog opted to change the name in 2020 because it “didn’t feel right” to go on calling it Outbreak Day in light of the COVID-19 epidemic at the time.

Upcoming The Last of Us Projects

We may not be hearing of any new game or TV show announcements from this week’s stream, but if that were to be the case, what projects would fans be looking for anyway? There’s the ever elusive The Last of Us Part 3 which has never been confirmed by Naughty Dog, but that hasn’t stopped fans for hoping for an announcement and speculating on what it might entail. Naughty Dog boss Neil Druckmann has talked about working on a new game, but he hasn’t said what it is.

Nothing much has been said about Naughty Dog’s Last of Us multiplayer project, but unofficial rumors about the game suggested it was not in a good spot earlier in the year. Season 2 of HBO’s The Last of Us has effectively been on hold since the strikes began, though it wasn’t going to be out until roughly 2025 even before work on these shows and movies was halted.