If you’ve been wondering why critically acclaimed Sony studio Naughty Dog has been so silent about its current projects lately, the reason seems to be that it’s more focused on maintaining a manageable work-life balance for the wants to focus his employees. Co-President Neil Druckmann interviewed Comicbook.comsaid that announcing games too early has historically contributed to an increased burden on developers.
Druckmann and Merle Dandridge (who plays Marlene in both Naughty Dog games The last of us and the new HBO adaptation) sat down comic book.com to talk about the new TV series. In the short interview, Druckmann was asked why Naughty Dog has been so quiet and what the mood in the studio has been lately. Druckmann explained that part of the reason the developer has gone radio silent is because Unknown 4 and The Last of Us Part 2 were revealed a little too early, which Naughty Dog is hoping to avoid with its next project.
“We have announced Unknown 4 and The Last of Us Part 2 way ahead of time, but that actually led to a bit of the work-life balance issues we sometimes had in the studio,” Druckmann said. “The delay in making this announcement has allowed us to play more with the schedule and are now more aware of how we are approaching production.”
Naughty Dog has been scrutinized in the past for how hard its employees had to grind to get The Last of Us Part 2 out the door. In March 2020 my city Reports of grueling overtime, with some developers calling the studio’s work culture “unsustainable”. In a 2021 game informant interview, Druckmann said there is “no solution” to solving Crunch, noting that the studio is trying to approach the issue in a way that recognizes that “everyone has a unique situation that we may need to address.” . After the studio shipped its latest game, The Last of Us Part 1 (the PS5 remake of Naughty Dog’s groundbreaking zombie game), a leading environmental artist said on Twitter that for the first time in his 13-year career he “didn’t have to grind to finish [this] Game.”
my city has reached out to Naughty Dog and Sony for comment.
Elsewhere in Comicbook.com Interview, Druckmann mentioned The last of us Multiplayer project that has been in development for a minute and says that it will expand the world of the game. He also hinted at another project in the works, suggesting that Naughty Dog is currently concocting several games.
“We mentioned there was one The last of us Multiplayer project we’ve been working on for a long time, even before The Last of Us Part 2 sent,” said Druckmann. “This is the most ambitious project we’ve ever done, which continues to expand the world and continue to tell a story, but in a multiplayer space. I won’t say too much about it. So, there’s this multiplayer project, there’s another project that I’m not going to say anything about, beyond that, which we’re really looking forward to as well.”
With news that Naughty Dog is now taking its time revealing games, it’s unclear when we’ll see that standalone The last of us multiplayer project. Druckmann has assured people of that, however some reveal of this game will totally happen this year. However, when is unclear.
