Neil Druckmann has made some interesting comments about Naughty Dog’s future when it comes to their biggest franchises, namely, Uncharted and The Last Of Us.
Talking to Buzzfeed about the possibility of future The Last Of Us games, Neil of course pointed out that they have a multiplayer The Last Of Us game in the works. However, this is what he had to say about making a The Last Of Us 3, and for that matter, a new Uncharted game:
“Beyond that, I know there’s a bunch of people wondering about The Last of Us Part 3 and whether that will be a thing or not. All I could say is, at Naughty Dog we’re very, very privileged that our publisher is Sony — which means Sony funds our games, supports us, and we’re owned by Sony. They have supported us every step of the way to follow our passions — meaning that just because something is successful, people think there’s all this pressure and we have to make a sequel. That’s not the case. For us, Uncharted was insanely successful — Uncharted 4 was one of our best selling games — and we’re able to put our final brushstroke on that story and say that we’re done. We’re moving on.
Likewise, with The Last of Us, it’s up to us whether we want to continue it or not. Our process is the same thing we did when we did Part 2, which is if we can come up with a compelling story that has this universal message and statement about love — just like the first and second game did — then we will tell that story. If we can’t come up with something, we have a very strong ending with Part 2 and that will be the end.”
While The Last Of Us TV show is so far enjoying positive buzz on HBO Go, Naughty Dog also saw success in the big screen with the release of the Uncharted movie. It seems to only make sense that these video games that leaned into their inspirations from movies and shows would also be able to successfully transition into movies and shows.
On the side, Neil Druckmann revealed in a separate interview that they do, in fact, have a script for The Last of Us Part 3 that they have started work on:
“I don’t know how much I want to reveal. [Co-writer Halley Gross] and I did write an outline for a story that we’re not making – but I hope one day can see the light of day – that explores a little bit about what happens after this game.”
While some fans do want to imagine either The Last Of Us or Uncharted as franchises that could just keep going from strength to strength, it actually hasn’t been that simple for Naughty Dog. With all the critical praise and awards that they have received, these games have not been immune to criticism, and a big deal of that criticism is itself based on the kinds of stories they tell.
It isn’t at all hard to imagine Naughty Dog feeling creatively restrained by the scope of both Uncharted and The Last Of Us, and wanting to move on. It would actually be interesting to see what other ideas the studio has that they haven’t even put to paper yet.
Think to that famous Pixar lunch break in 1994. While they were finishing production of their first movie, Toy Story, the animation company’s four big directors were already sketching out ideas for future projects on napkins. Those projects turned out to be A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc, and Wall-E. All would go on to be successful in their own right.
That’s the moment that Naughty Dog should be facing right now. Having proven themselves with these projects, they aren’t looking to be pigeon holed, and perhaps want to take risks for themselves to see what else they can accomplish. While no one would hate the idea of more sequels to their most successful games, we can also ask them, as ourselves, what’s next?
Source: Buzzfeed via Video Games Chronicle, Game Informer
