Naughty Dog Teases Future: “Single-Player Experiences Are Near And Dear To Us”

Naughty Dog is currently making its first-ever standalone multiplayer game, but what other projects might the studio make in the future? We don’t know for sure just yet, but Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells said fans can look forward to the studio making new IP and also working on established franchises.

“I think the easy answer is: both. I think there’s excitement to develop new IP, but there is still a ton of love for Uncharted and The Last of Us, and I think you’ll see both kinds of projects from us in the future,” Wells said in an interview with Game Informer.

Naughty Dog is known for its big, cinematic single-player story-focused games, and you can expect this to continue in the future.

“Single-player experiences are near and dear to us. It’s what has attracted a lot of people to Naughty Dog, and that’s what inspires them, so I think we’re going to keep at it as long as we can,” Wells said.

Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann is also quoted in the interview, saying Naughty Dog studio owner Sony has never come to the team with a mandate to make a certain type of game.

“There has never been a mandate like, ‘Oh, this is where we see the winds shifting. Can you start making these kind of games instead?’ We know just as they know that when you work on something you’re excited by, something you’re passionate by, you’re going to do great work,” he said.

One of Naughty Dog’s first successful games was Jak and Daxter, and Wells said if the studio had “endless resources and time,” it would be fun to return to making “lighter fare” games like that. “You look at what Insomniac is doing with Ratchet and Clank and it’s exciting. It’s great to see that stuff. We’re just limited with time, you know, I’m 48 years-old and how many more games do you get to make, so you got to pick and choose,” Wells said.

As for Druckmann, he said when Naughty Dog finishes a particular project, the team will spend “quite a bit of time” deciding what to do next and if it should make a new IP or dig back into its catalog for a sequel.

“We really take our time with it, and if you were to see our folders of concept art you’d see unused concepts that are all over the gamut,” Druckmann said. “Then we look at everything and we ask ourselves what are we excited by? What’s something that’s going to challenge us and push us, and push the medium as far as games that can be? Because that inspiration is so important to carry through years of production.”

Beyond the new Last of Us multiplayer game, Naughty Dog has no announced projects. Naughty Dog has already said it will not make more Uncharted games, but the studio is open to having a different developer come in to make Uncharted 5.

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