Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
Between The Last of Us’ live-action adaptation on HBO Max and the untitled multiplayer game set in the post-apocalyptic universe, Naughty Dog has its hands full with one of its most beloved franchises. While speaking with Buzzfeed, Naughty Dog president Neil Druckmann brought up one of the studio’s other beloved properties, Uncharted. However, it wasn’t to tease any future installments in the story of Nathan Drake. In fact, Druckmann has made it clear that Naughty Dog is “moving on” from the Uncharted franchise.
The Neil Druckmann Buzzfeed interview primarily focused on HBO’s hit adaptation of The Last of Us, in which Druckmann serves as a producer, writer, and even director for the second episode. When asked about the possibility of a The Last of Us Part 3, Druckmann stated that he’s open to the idea, but only if the team can come up with a story worth telling. If they can’t, he’s perfectly fine with where things end in The Last of Us Part 2. When explaining how Naughty Dog has creative freedom over what products they make, regardless of success, Druckmann referenced the current state of the Uncharted franchise.
Druckmann is pretty straightforward in saying that the Uncharted franchise has run its course and that there has been no pressure from publisher Sony to make a new game in the series, despite the massive success of its last entry. The last title in the franchise was 2017’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, which was a standalone expansion to Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Since then, the two recent titles were ported to new platforms with Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection in 2022.
If you’re an Uncharted fan that had been holding out hope that Naughty Dog would return to the franchise after it was done juggling its The Last of Us projects, that won’t be the case. Of course, anything can happen down the road, and we’ll be curious to see if there are any further developments in the Uncharted franchise.