Naughty Dog reportedly has a second original game in development, other than Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
The Game Post quotes a report from DanielRPK, AKA Daniel Richtman, on his paid Patreon. Richtman said this:
“Naughty Dog has a second project (not The Last of Us III), directed by Shaun Escayg (Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Avengers). It’s been in development for three years now.”
Shaun Escayg has an interesting work history. As listed on his LinkedIn and Mobygames, he worked at Naughty Dog from 2011 to 2018, working on the The Last Of Us and Uncharted franchises. He then moved to Crystal Dynamics, from 2018 to 2021, where he was creative director of Marvel’s Avengers. He returned to Naughty Dog in 2021, where he was creative director for the PlayStation 5 remaster of The Last Of Us: Part I.
Escayg also worked in other game studios, and has a non-video game career as a CG animator and film director. In so many words, he wasn’t tied down to making the same Naughty Dog games like everyone else in the studio. At the same time, he’s a veteran who likely has the reputation and seniority to spearhead an original project in the company.
Given how different Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is to their other projects under Sony, it would be hard to predict or guess what Escayg’s new project is. While I would love to get the news of a Way Of The Warrior reboot, I wouldn’t bet on it.
Sony fans may not want to acknowledge it, but we also can’t disregard Sony’s push for live service games. While we know that Sony has considerably ramped down their live service efforts, there are still a few unannounced games that have also not yet been cancelled. Successful or not, Marvel’s Avengers was itself live service. So Escayg may be carrying over what he’s learned making that game, for an ostensible second chance under Sony.
Naughty Dog head Neil Druckmann has repeatedly expressed his personal distaste for making more The Last Of Us games or media, so it looks like this push towards making new IPs and original games is an inevitability. In fact, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised if there even more ideas in incubation, waiting for Naughty Dog and Sony to give the greenlight to full production.
Given Naughty Dog’s central role in ushering in the era of cinematic action games, that’s likely the direction they are leaning towards. Unless, they’re really itching to take new risks and try something actually new.
