The Last of Us Director Neil Druckmann May Not Direct Many More AAA Games

Neil Druckmann, the famed director at Naughty Dog on projects like The Last of Us, The Last of Us Part II, and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, has indicated that he might be nearing the end of his career when it comes to making AAA games. Over the past few years, Druckmann has been incredibly busy. Not only did he helm the aforementioned The Last of Us Part II, but he also helped create HBO’s The Last of Us TV adaptation and has more recently been working on a new, secretive project at Naughty Dog. With so much going on at once, Druckmann has now opened up about how he believes the end of his career on this front might be in sight. 

Interviewed on the Logically Speaking podcast, Druckmann explained that every successive project he has worked on at Naughty Dog since Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has come with heightened expectations and stress as a result of larger development teams. To that end, Druckmann said that he feels like the process has taken a lot out of him and he doesn’t see himself working on major video game projects of this type for the long haul. Instead, Druckmann says that he would like to remain creative, just on smaller works. 

“I guess that I don’t see myself doing this forever at this scale. It’s just a lot, and it takes a lot out of you. It’s very stressful to manage that many people and multiple studios worldwide,” Druckmann said. “I’m just at a point in my life where it’s like, you start looking at, ‘What’s the end game here? When is it time to call it?’ […] But you know, I’ve started thinking about how many more of these games do I have in me, and it’s not that many.”

Druckmann said elsewhere in the podcast that in recent years, he’s been revitalized by working on projects that haven’t involved creating AAA video games. He pointed to HBO’s The Last of Us TV series and the Last of Us-themed Halloween Horror Nights experience at Universal Studios as two such endeavors that he has gotten a lot out of. He also mentioned that as his children have grown older, he has started to realize how “precious” his own time is. 

As for his next game, Druckmann and those at Naughty Dog haven’t formally revealed what will be coming around the corner. However, it was said earlier this year that the idea for The Last of Us Part III has been discovered, which means that this is likely the next title that Naughty Dog is developing. More information on this front could be revealed before 2024 comes to a close. 

[H/T VGC]