On the Kinda Funny spoilercast for HBO’s The Last of Us (obviously beware of spoilers), he confirmed that it’s Naughty Dog’s “next big title.” For Druckmann, it’s even more interesting since he’s neither the primary writer nor director.

“What the team has put together is so cool. It’s very different than what I would do because it’s made by different people, but that to me is exciting. Getting to see other people play in this world, in a leadership role, and see how it comes together. I can’t wait to be able to show it off.” Druckmann will serve as more of a producer while Uncharted and The Last of Us veterans Vinit Agarwal, Joseph Pettinati and Anthony Newman head up the team.

Naughty Dog has been working on the title for a “long time,” even before The Last of Us Part 2 was released. It’s the studio’s “most ambitious” project to date and will expand the series’ world further. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

In fact, according to Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann, the multiplayer title is the studio’s most ambitious project ever. Druckmann expressed the same in an interview with ComicBook (via @DomTheBombYT on Twitter), where has also reiterated that Naughty Dog has been working on the title since before The Last of Us Part 2 even shipped. The studio did, of course, confirm as far back as in 2019 that it was working on a multiplayer The Last of Us experience, in spite of its exclusion from Part 2.

“There is The Last of Us multiplayer project that we’ve been working on for a long time, since even before The Last of Us Part 2 shipped,” Druckmann said. “And that’s the most ambitious project we’ve ever done. We’re expanding the world even further, continuing to tell a story, but in a multiplayer space. I won’t say too much about that. ”

There’s no word on when the multiplayer game will launch, but Naughty Dog has said that it’ll be sharing more details on the title later this year.

As for what lies ahead for the series in terms of future single player outings, Druckmann has said that there’s more stories to be told in The Last of Us, with leaks claiming that Part 3 is already in development. That said, it doesn’t look like Naughty Dog intends to reveal its next titles until they’re much closer to launch, so we’re unlikely to get concrete details on that front anytime soon.

https://twitter.com/DomTheBombYT/status/1613907040480411650

Speaking with ComicBook.com, Naughty Dog co-president said that while the likes of Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us Part 2 were announced several years ahead of release, the studio now wants to wait until its games are much further along in development before officially unveiling them, so as to avoid production and work-life balance issues Naughty Dog has been plagued with in the past.

“We did announce Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us Part 2 way in advance, but that actually caused a little bit of the work-life balance issues that we’ve sometimes had at the studio,” Druckmann said. “By delaying that announcement a bit, we could play with the schedule more and we’re more conscious now about how we’re approaching production. So there’s our [The Last of Us] multiplayer project and there’s another project that I will not say anything about that’s beyond that that we’re also very much excited for.”

Though it hasn’t been formally unveiled yet, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us multiplayer project is confirmed to be in development, and will be receiving concrete details later this year. Meanwhile, leaks have also claimed that The Last of Us Part 3 has also entered development, and that Naughty Dog is providing assistance to a newly-established first party PlayStation studio with the development of a new Uncharted game.

That said, Druckmann has advised fans to be wary of “insider” information, so as always, take any leaks with a grain of salt – even if he has made it quite clear that Naughty Dog isn’t quite done with The Last of Us just yet.

At the time, Naughty Dog showed off nothing more than a single piece of concept art. While it seems like the wait for a full unveiling of the title is still a little ways down the road, the developer has shared another new piece of concept art, which you can check out above. The new concept art showcases a dilapidated and overgrown environment with two characters looking on at a massive cruise ship that seems to have run aground.

Meanwhile, Naughty Dog co-president and The Last of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann has reiterated that new, concrete details on the multiplayer project will be revealed later this year, while also providing a very brief primer on the direction the game is taking.

“Later this year we will begin to offer you some details on our ambitious The Last of Us multiplayer game,” Druckmann writes. “With a team led by Vinit Agarwal, Joe Pettinati, and Anthony Newman, the project is shaping up to be a fresh, new experience from our studio, but one rooted in Naughty Dog’s passion for delivering incredible stories, characters, and gameplay.”

Naughty Dog has also announced that The Last of Us series has now collectively sold over 37 million units worldwide. Read more on that through here.

It won’t surprise too many that one of those projects is allegedly The Last of Us Part 3, which ViewerAnon says is Neil Druckmann’s next directorial project and is currently in development. Druckmann confirmed in June this year that his next game had entered development.

Though official details on the same obviously remain scant, there have been indications in the past that a new Last of Us game could be the project in question. Druckmann has previously said that The Last of Us Part 3 could be next for a studio, while he also confirmed in April 2021 that a story outline for the game was already ready.

Meanwhile, ViewerAnon also mentions that a new Uncharted game is being developed by a different studio, which aligns with recent leaks that claimed that an Uncharted reboot was in the works, but not at Naughty Dog. Finally, as per ViewerAnon, Naughty Dog’s standalone multiplayer The Last of Us game will launch before its other projects- which may or may not also include a new IP.

Sony has yet to make any official statements regarding the future of The Last of Us and Uncharted, and that may not change for a while- even if the aforementioned titles are indeed in the works, they’re likely to be in the early stages of production, which means we may not hear much about them for some time (in an official capacity, at least).

https://twitter.com/ViewerAnon/status/1602812234815574016

https://twitter.com/ViewerAnon/status/1602813427365265408

Former Fortnite veteran Anders Howard has joined Naughty Dog as the studio’s Principal Monetization Designer, as he recently announced on LinkedIn. Howard was at Epic Games for seven and a half year as Senior Systems Designer, during which time he worked on Fortnite’s monetization systems, Battle Pass, progression mechanics, and more, while also consulting on the implementation of similar models in Rocket League and Fall Guys.

Between January and October of this year, Howard was at Ubisoft Stockholm, where he served as Lead Systems Designer on the “social and economic systems” of a new IP.

Earlier this year, reports claimed that the multiplayer The Last of Us project was going to be a “very, very live service-y” game, which would certainly suggesting that it could adopt a free-to-play model.

Naughty Dog has previously said that concrete details on the game will begin arriving sometime next year. There’s no word on which platforms it will target, but PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst recently said that future live service titles by Sony will see simultaneous releases on PlayStation and PC.

A new job listing for Live Ops Producer has been posted with the studio hiring for its “major new multiplayer title.” Though it doesn’t outright confirm the title will be free-to-play, it is seeking “experience in a production role supporting a AAA, free-to-play, live title.” Customer and player support, community management, and experience with networking, online, or server processes are also cited as bonus skills.

A free-to-play model would fit with a report by Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb, where he noted the game to be “very, very live service-y. They’re building all the services in, so they can, like, swap in huge parts of it, in and out. That’s what they’ve been working on and trying to make it bigger and bigger and more ambitious.”

The only official details that have been confirmed are that it will take place in a different part of the United States and have its own story and characters. It’s also very ambitious and “as big as any of the single-player games that we’ve done and in some ways bigger” as per Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann. We’ll see a “lot more” of it next year, though it’s unknown whether it will launch by then, as Grubb’s report suggested.

As always, stay tuned for more details. In the meantime, Naughty Dog is collaborating with a new internal development team created with PlayStation Studios Visual Arts on a “high visibility project.”

Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann took the stage and showed off the first bit of concept art from the game, and also confirmed that it will have its own story and its own characters, and will be set in a different part of the United States from the series’ two mainline games. According to Druckmann, this is a big and ambitious game, and is being worked on by several Naughty Dog vets who’ve worked on Uncharted and The Last of Us.

“What I can tell you is that this game is big,” Druckmann said. “It’s as big as any of our single-player games that we’ve done, and in some ways bigger. It’s got a story. The way we’re telling that story is very unique to this game. It’s got a brand new cast of characters, it takes place in another place, another part of the United States, and it’s really cool. It’s being headed by Vinit Agarwal, Anthony Newman, and Joseph Pettinati, all veterans of Uncharted and The Last of Us, and you’re going to see a lot more of this game come next year.”

Previous leaks had suggested that the multiplayer game could be out as soon as the later months of 2022, but it doesn’t seem like Naughty Dog is quite ready for that just yet. Either way, more details on it will arrive next year, so stay tuned for more updates in the coming months.

Specializer is a dataminer that’s previously dug into The Last of Us Part 2’s files and discovered potential details about the multiplayer game, and they seem to be at it again. Recently, they uploaded a new video that showed three armour pieces that were left over in the game’s files- a level 1 police armour, a level 2 plain black armour, and a level 3 military camouflage armour. Meanwhile, over on Twitter, the dataminer also showed an in-game model for a jet-pack, which might hint at some interesting multiplayer possibilities.

Of course, this shouldn’t be taken as confirmation of these things being in the final The Last of Us: Factions (or whatever it ends up being called). There’s every chance that plans have either changed, or that Naughty Dog never intended to actually include these assets in this form in the multiplayer anyway- though of course, they do hint at what direction the project could be headed in.

As for when we might hear something official about the game, that remains to be seen. Recent leaks have suggested that it and the rumoured remake of the original game could both launch by the end of the year, and if that is the case, formal announcements might not be far away. Either way, stay tuned, and we’ll keep you updated on any new details that come our way.

https://twitter.com/Speclizer_/status/1497277235593678867

In the job ad, Naughty Dog confirms that it’s looking to recruit developers to work on “the studio’s first standalone multiplayer game.” And clearly, Naughty Dog has grand ambitions for the project. The studio claims it’s looking to “bring the same level of ambition and quality of our signature, story-driven games to this unique multiplayer project.”

Though the job listing obviously doesn’t mention what multiplayer game the studio is working on, there’s little doubt in anyone’s minds that this is the The Last of Us: Factions project that’s been rumoured for a while. Back in 2019, when Naughty Dog confirmed that The Last of Us Part 2 wouldn’t have the fan-favourite multiplayer mode, the studio also said that Factions would “eventually” return in some form. Recent reports have also indicated that Days Gone developer SIE Bend Studio helped out with the multiplayer game’s development.