It May Be a While before We See New ‘Last of Us’ Gameplay
Earlier today, we reported on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and where Naughty Dog hopes to take the franchise. In the same interview, Shaun Escayg talked about the team’s current focus on The Last of Us Part 2.
Currently, Naughty Dog is working on The Lost Legacy and The Last of Us sequel simultaneously. After we missed the latter at Sony’s E3 press conference, director Niel Druckmann told fans that Uncharted is currently the focus. Today, we have a solid understanding of how much focus.
According to Escayg, the entire Naughty Dog crew are working on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. He even gave an approximate total:
“Right now, the studio’s focus is Lost Legacy. We have a truly ambitious schedule. The Last of Us [project] is working but at a lot slower pace right now. The entire team is on Lost Legacy – that’s a couple hundred of us strong.”
If you were wondering why we didn’t see The Last of Us Part 2 at E3 2017, Escayg’s statement paints a solid picture. And judging by his statement, the sequel is still a long way out. Developers didn’t originally plan for The Lost Legacy to be as large as it is. Now that it’s a full-fledged game, this may have stalled development on other projects.
Speculation
Because The Lost Legacy is a standalone game, it seems Naughty Dog placed their whole team on the project in order to release it as soon as possible. The sooner it’s done, the sooner The Last of Us development can begin in earnest. We suspect that will happen near or after release, which is on August 22nd.
Escayg did mention that Naughty Dog’s schedule was “ambitious,” therefore, the team is probably working at a breakneck pace in order to deliver their games within their original time frame. Time will tell where it leads.
Considering the news, what are your thoughts? Let us know your anticipation for The Last of Us Part 2 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy in the comments below.