Naughty Dog ‘Will Not Be The Last of Us Studio Forever’ as it Works on ‘Multiple’ Single Player Projects, Neil Druckmann Says

The Last of Us and Uncharted developer Naughty Dog has “multiple single player projects” in the works, studio head Neil Druckmann has said.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Druckmann didn’t mention what projects the PlayStation studio was working on or if any had entered full development, but did suggest it was looking to break away from being predominantly associated with The Last of Us.

“I promise you, we will not be The Last of Us studio forever,” Druckmann said, speaking of Naughty Dog’s beloved post-apocalyptic franchise that debuted in 2013 and received its “Part 2” sequel in 2020. The studio is otherwise best known for creating the Uncharted franchise, though this was put to bed with 2016’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and smaller follow-up The Lost Legacy a year later.

Naughty Dog hasn’t released a game since The Last of Us: Part 2 beyond remasters, remakes, and collections, and while the studio confirmed it had decided on its next major title in March 2023, nothing is known about it externally.

Druckmann’s comments suggest it may not be a new The Last of Us game, however, if he’s certain Naughty Dog won’t be predominantly known for the franchise in the future. It’s also entirely possible The Last of Us is just one of these “multiple single player projects” in the works at Naughty Dog. Only time will tell.

Druckmann didn’t say these projects were all in development either, but simply being worked on, meaning several, if not all, could still be in early conceptual phases and far from being worked on proper, never mind released. Projects this early in development are also regularly cancelled or drastically changed.

Regardless, Druckmann did say Naughty Dog’s incoming games would follow the same principles as the studio’s previous. “We create experiences that are steeped in story and character, especially relationships,” he said. “The stories have some sort of philosophical core that everything is going to revolve around and feed into.”

These comments will hopefully not be retracted like another media appearance from Druckmann was, as in a bizarre turn of events, Naughty Dog owner Sony published and then deleted an interview with him after several misquotes.

Myriad comments from Druckmann were published incorrectly, forcing him to release clarifying statements online. “We apologize to Neil for misrepresenting his words and for any negative impact this interview might have caused,” Sony said.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.