Naughty Dog, a studio known for its games throughout the history of PlayStation, has released a new video celebrating its 40th anniversary. The video features a host of the developers from the Naughty Dog that have worked on projects ranging from Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, the Uncharted series, The Last of Us, and even the upcoming Intergalactic.
While most of the video focuses on the classic games under Naughty Dog’s hat, the developers also spoke about the future of the studio. That includes Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin reiterating the focus on storytelling.
“I hope the future holds more of what Naughty Dog has always done: being at the forefront of making entertainment that is of the highest possible quality, telling the stories it wants to tell, with depth and meaning,” said Rubin in the video. Studio manager and head of operations Alison Mori echoed this statement. “I know our studio will continue to create amazing story-driven, character-based games that touch upon the human experience.”
“It’s really about embodying these characters that are very specific, and strong-willed characters, even though they’re flawed, and then making you connect with them and their journey in a way that, hopefully by the time you’re finished with that experience, you view reality a little bit differently,” said studio head Neil Druckmann.
Intergalactic is the next title by Naughty Dog, and will be the first new IP that the studio has worked on since it released The Last of Us all the way back in 2013. While there is no release date for the game as of yet, Druckmann has described it as being the studio’s “most ambitious”, “most expansive”, and “most expensive” game so far.
“We’re making it, we’re playing it. We’re firing on all cylinders,” said Druckmann about the development of Intergalactic back in September. “I’ve said this before, but I really mean it, I’m really feeling it right now: It’s the most ambitious game we’ve ever made. It’s the most expansive game we’ve ever made, maybe the most expensive, by the time we finish it.”
Druckmann also spoke about the potential for a sequel to Intergalactic if the title ends up being successful by noting that Naughty Dog as a studio doesn’t really tend to plan things like that out in advance. “We don’t tend to plan too much in the future, because we find — and this is something I inherited, it’s just the Naughty Dog culture — that we do our best work when it’s something we’re really excited about, really passionate about,” he said.
He also spoke about the studio discussing starting work on The Last of Us Part 3 after the success of Part 2. However, the team ultimately decided to start work on Intergalactic instead because there was passion behind wanting to work on a new sci-fi experience.
Intergalactic is being developed for PS5. Druckmann has also previously confirmed that he was stepping back from his duties on the TV adaptation of The Last of Us to focus on the upcoming game.
