Naughty Dog co-president Neil Drakmann said that the studio may not release a sequel to The Last Of Us Part 2, despite the success of the HBO TV adaptation.
The Last Of Us was released in 2013, before a sequel in 2020 and a remake in 2022. The series is among the best-selling video games, and the recent HBO adaptation (starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey) introduced more people to the world of Naughty Dog.
However, in a new interview, Drakmann (who also participated in the HBO series) said that Naughty Dog is not required to create Part 3.
“I know a lot of people are wondering about The Last Of Us Part 3 and whether it will be released. All I can say is that we at Naughty Dog are very, very proud that our publisher Sony supports us every step of the way to follow our hobbies,” he told Buzzfeed.
He further explained that this means that “just because something turned out to be successful, people think that there is all this pressure and we have to make a sequel. It’s not like that.”
Drakmann explained that despite the fact that the Uncharted series was “insanely successful”, Naughty Dog was able to “put the finishing touch on this story and say we’re done [with Uncharted 4]. We’re moving on.”
“It’s the same with The Last Of Us, it depends on us whether we want to continue or not. If we can come up with a compelling story with this universal message and statement of love — as it was in the first and second game — then we will tell this story. If we can’t come up with something, we will have a very strong ending with Part 2, and that will be the end.”
Naughty Dog is currently working on a separate multiplayer game in the universe of The Last Of Us.
More news is expected this year, but in a conversation with Buzzfeed, Drakmann explained: “You will be able to enter the world of The Last Of Us with your friend and experience the tension and brutality of this world [along with] a brand new story and a set of characters who live in another city that we haven’t seen yet. It will be another chapter in this universe.”
In other news, Disney Dreamlight Valley has unveiled its roadmap for 2023, in which new characters, storylines and items will appear in the game over the next few months along with the multiplayer game.
