We’ve heard a lot about Naughty Dog in recent days because the creators are to work on a new Uncharted, network production (probably Fractions for The Last of Us) and The Last of Us Remake. As it turns out, only one of these games will be in full production.
We can assume this conclusion by reading the words of Evan Wells, one of the vice-presidents of Naughty Dog, who confirmed during the Game Maker’s Notebook podcast that his studio cannot work on two large productions at the same time.
While designing The Last of Us, the developers tried to pull two projects at the same time, but in some way they failed, because each time one game receives great support and the other items have to wait their turn:
“We tried our first big multi-project development with The Last of Us. At the end of Uncharted 2, Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann left to start designing [TLOU]though they spent a good, solid three or four months working on Jak and Daxter before deciding to put it back on the shelf and focus on something new. “
“They did it and the idea was that we would build a team around it and we would have two teams working simultaneously, but we just didn’t get it. The amount of work it took to complete Uncharted 3 at the time was taking away The Last of Us’s resources, and we never got to the point where we had two full productions. I would say that even today we are a bit lacking for that. We definitely have a lot of projects, but only one is the lion’s share of attention at a time. “
Evan Wells has confirmed that even now Naughty Dog doesn’t have two projects that several hundred people are working on at the same time. The creators deal with one game, and at the same time have it “A few that are in the pre-production phase, or maybe just coming out of the pre-production phase”, but the items have to wait.
During the interview, the Vice President emphasized that projects developed by Naughty Dog are actually chosen by the developers themselves – the devs couldn’t work on Uncharted 6 or Uncharted 7, because at some point the team couldn’t provide enough creativity. It is for this reason that management tests interest and decides to take the next steps.
Evan Wells also mentioned that there have been big changes to Naughty Dog since the premiere of The Last of Us 2. Many developers have been promoted, the team has expanded its management staff so that more people can manage – this allows developers to focus on their teams.
We can also be sure that Naughty Dog is not working on the new Jak & Daxter – although the studio constantly hears the requests of fans and even Wells would like to develop the game, the title is not in production.
–
