Studio head Neil Druckman stated that Naughty Dog is delaying the proper announcement of its next game to avoid crunch issues and allow for more flexibility in the release schedule, while learning from experiences during development of previous titles.
With the development crunch (working overtime under high pressure to meet release schedules) now a growing issue in the industry, a number of game studio heads have publicly condemned the practice in recent times. After I announced titles that are expected years in advance (The Last of Us 2 has been announced over three years before release), Druckman chooses to reveal little about Naughty Dog’s next project until close to launch:
You are right, we informed Uncharted 4 and The last of us part 2 Way up front, but it actually caused some of the work-life balance issues we sometimes had in the studio. By delaying this announcement a bit, we can play with the schedule more and we are more conscious now about how we approach production. So there is our multiplayer project (our last) and there is another project that I won’t say anything about other than that we are also very excited about it.”
While the official announcement may be quite a while away, we do know that Naughty Dog’s next game will be “built more like a TV show” than any of its previous titles. The studio recently shared a new piece of concept art for its multiplayer game The Last of Us, and HBO’s adaptation of the original title will premiere next Sunday.
source: comic book