Naughty Dog working on second game from Uncharted director says rumour

Although it doesn’t seem Naughty Dog has begun work on The Last Of Us Part 3, the studio does have at least one other game coming out besides Intergalactic.

It’s a tad shocking that Naughty Dog, one of Sony’s premiere studios, hasn’t released an original game since The Last Of Us Part 2 in 2020. And it’s still going to be a while until it does.

Announced at The Game Awards 2024, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is a brand new IP, but the mostly cinematic trailer and lack of any release date suggests it is years away from launching – in fact, rumours this week suggest it definitely won’t be out until at least 2027.

In an ideal world, Naughty Dog would have something else to keep fans occupied before then and the latest rumour implies that could be the case, with a claim that a second game at the studio has been in the works for at least three years.

This rumour comes courtesy of DanielRPK, who typically shares rumours on Marvel movies but has dabbled in video game related ones as well. Just a couple of months ago, he suggested the next God Of War game will feature an Egyptian setting.

In a new Patreon post (as reported by The Game Post), DanielRPK claims Naughty Dog’s secret second game has been in development is being helmed by Shaun Escayg, the director of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.

While he doesn’t know much more than that, he has ruled out this second game being The Last Of Us Part 3 – which would almost certainly be handled by series creator Neil Druckmann, if and when it happens.

Naughty Dog has already confirmed that it has at least one other game on the go besides Intergalactic, which Druckmann is co-directing it alongside Matthew Gallant and Kurt Margenau.

Not only that but Escayg doesn’t seem to be involved with Intergalactic. He’s made no mention of it on his X or LinkedIn accounts and with him returning to Naughty Dog in 2021, to take up a creative director position (he left for a few years to helm Crystal Dynamics’ Avengers game), he is presumably working on a different project.

So in that sense the rumour makes sense and seems to have some evidence behind it. The problem is that DanielRPK’s track record with gaming related rumours has so far been pretty spotty. For example, he once claimed that a third The Last Of Us game was in the works even though Naughty Dog head Neil Druckmann had said just a month beforehand that it wasn’t.

As for what Naughty Dog’s other game could be, a common fan assumption is a new Uncharted. Naughty Dog and job listings have implied the series could continue, and Sony has reportedly tried to get a new game off the ground in the past.

The problem is that Naughty Dog themselves have said they’re finished with the franchise, even if it can continue at other developers. Although that doesn’t mean they couldn’t change their mind.

Given Escayg’s experience directing The Lost Legacy, another smaller-scale game could be a possibility. A 2023 ad campaign for the PlayStation 5 even seemed to tease an Uncharted game with a female protagonist (speculated to be Nathan Drake’s daughter) but nothing has come of it so far.

Fans once speculated that Naughty Dog could be working on a fantasy game, which Intergalactic being sci-fi doesn’t inherently dispute. We’ve also seen some hoping for a new Jak & Daxter, but that seems like wishful thinking considering Naughty Dog hasn’t touched the series in 20 years.

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