Naughty Dog, known for its infamous crunch on titles like Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and The Last of Us Part 2, has reportedly ordered mandatory overtime for Intergalactic. Sources speaking to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier revealed that the staff has been working an additional eight hours weekly since late October on the sci-fi title.
This is apparently due to “several missed deadlines” and an effort to “get the production back on track.” It’s not the first time for Intergalactic either – “some teams” put in “long hours” to complete last year’s trailer.
For the past several weeks, however, the entire studio has been working overtime, putting in five days a week and apparently being asked to restrict total work time in that period to 60 hours. What about the team of producers created to deal with crunch? Many have reportedly left.
Mandated overtime recently ended for most staff this week and will return to three office days for the remainder of January. However, a “more detailed schedule” for next year is reportedly in the works, so plans could very well change.
Intergalactic is in development for PS5, and despite offering up several details, there’s been no indication of release date. Schreier has previously reported that it won’t arrive next year, however.