Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann has stated the studio is “moving on” from Uncharted, and it could do the same with The Last of Us if it doesn’t have a “compelling” enough story to tell for Part 3.
In an interview with BuzzFeed, the developer acknowledged fans are eager to hear more about the prospect of a third story in its The Last of Us series. However, Druckmann was keen to stress that just because something is successful, it doesn’t necessarily mean it needs a sequel.
Druckmann stated Naughty Dog is in a “very privileged position” with Sony, with the publisher “[supporting the studio] every step of the way to follow [its] passions”, meaning it wasn’t feeling any pressure to make a sequel.
Druckman explained: “For us, Uncharted was insanely successful – Uncharted 4 was one of our best selling games – and we’re able to put our final brushstroke on that story and say that we’re done. We’re moving on.”
It is a little unclear here if Druckmann means there will be no more Uncharted games at all, or if he is referring to Nathan Drake’s story which concluded in A Thief’s End. After all, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy was a standalone expansion after A Thief’s End, and followed the story of Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross as they searched for the Tusk of Ganesh. Drake was only mentioned in a passing comment.
Additionally, it could be Druckmann meant that Naughty Dog as a studio is done with the Uncharted series, meaning others could pick it up down the line.
If this does happen to be the case, it wouldn’t be the first time a studio other than Naughty Dog developed an Uncharted game, with Bend Studio developing spin-offs Fight for Fortune (a digital card game) and Golden Abyss for the PlayStation Vita.