The Next Naughty Dog Game Its 'Most Thrilling Yet', Says Neil Druckmann

Let's maybe lay off the hyperbole, Neil...

Personally hope it's sci-fi, but as long as it holds the quality of uncharted and last of us, I'm onboard. I just hope it's not as serious as tlou again.

With all due respect to the guy and his obvious talent, any time anybody makes that bold of a claim I immediately become skeptical. Not that I expect whatever it is to be bad or anything, don't get me wrong.

Here comes the hype train rollin’ down the tracks. I have a good bit of trust in Naughty Dog, but “it could redefine mainstream perceptions of gaming." ?? Let’s just slow our roll on that big fella. Show don’t tell.

@tameshiyaku i hope it is scifi too! And hoping it is not a fantasy/magic! titel

I just want another uncharted or last of us

That kind of talk almost certainly means it's going to flop.

Can't wait for their next ambitious and thrilling......remaster.

I think I understand what he’s getting at and taken for exactly what it is, “Could redefine mainstream perceptions of gaming” is a pretty broad statement and not all that hyperbolic. Most people in my world still view gaming as either a children’s pastime or a way to pass time on your phone and largely as a meritless waste of that time. Organized Esports are only just being introduced into the school system. There is absolutely massive growth potential for gaming and especially the type of games Naughty Dog makes, which have already been bridging this gap for some time.

"redefine mainstream perceptions of gaming"

Statements like these always make me a little nervous. While I am not someone to shies away from experimentation in gaming, sometimes this leads to alienating the core audience.

Kojima makes the similar kinds of statements and I don't think Death Stranding has been held in the same regard as Metal Gear series.

This guy is so unbearably pretentious.

It’s good that he has such confidence, but why would anyone talk of their personal project in these terms?Just undersell it and then surprise everyone…

Please be a new IP 🙏.

To most people who played the games I think the Last of Us show was just... okay?
Big fan of the Druckmann but this seems like some hubris.

I’ve been a film nerd long before I was a gamer and what Naughty Dog did with the Last of Us games is outstanding. There’s a reason it got adapted by HBO, they’ve been doing prestige television like The Wire and True Detective for over two decades. They make excellent dramas and TLoU is right at home there, in my opinion.

Having a video game adaptation land where it did to such high praise is already paving the way for mainstream audiences to have a more open mind about what games can be. It’s a great opportunity to also invite new talent in to help realize the narrative potential of games.

*Edit: Clarified ND as Naughty Dog, no one person could pull off what they’ve done.

I'm hoping for some kind of period crime or spy thriller in typical naughty dog cinematic and emotive manner, with some huge mainstream crossover potential for tv or cinema projects. In a way the genre doesn't matter too much, as long as it really pushes what is possible narratively and with genuine characters you care about.

But for wild speculations sake... did they earn the use of the Breaking Bad IP, yet? 👀

"Alright guys, picture this...
The Last of Us Part 2... Remake!"

So what are HBO going to do, just wait around for 7 years for the third game to concluded the story so they can finish their tv show? Or god forbid they do what they did to GoT and make it up themselves.

As much as I love The Last of Us games I’m really hoping for something new… and maybe a little lighter in tone… just a little bit lighter

It’s been many years since their last big release and they are a massive studio.
And not being funny it best not be a Hell Blade 2
All show and absolutely no game play etc.
it always worries when they say about blurring the lines between games and movies.

@starbuck2212 My guess is they split part 2 into two seasons. I’d also be happy if the third game is skipped and just made into further seasons of the show so Naughty Dog can get into other projects and maybe evolve their gameplay a bit.

Neil let the Hollywood treatment go to his head. He's starting to sound like Peter Molyneux in his prime.

What has redefined ‘the mainstreams perception of gaming’?

Pac-Man
Super Mario Bros
Tetris
Street Fighter 2
Pokemon
COD
GTA
Wii Sports
Minecraft

Quite a statement. I doubt a 3rd person perspective narrative game will make the casuals turn their head.

I think the games of Naughty Dog are among the best of the best, so I have faith in them that they can deliver. But statements like this are dangerous in this time as social media will overanalyze, over hype or instantly trash these things.

Hopefully they will show what they are cooking in the next showcase.

Well he's not going to say his next game is going to be his most boring yet and will be considered hot trash 😅 that said whatever it is I hope is a new ip, put TLOU in the toy box next to Uncharted! (Although I do want a new Uncharted by another studio!)

From the studio who always backs up what they say, the lack of faith in here is ridiculous.

Crazy how the narrative around Neil has changed to negativity for zero reason. Embarrassing.

You dare keep my hopes up for Jak and Daxter, Push Square? :' )

Under promise, over deliver Neil. 😂

I'll have my fingers crossed for something good though as Uncharted is still my absolute favourite series ever.

On a slightly separate note (but something that I think could do the things claimed here), imagine a game with the scope, polish, narrative and yet freedom of the best GTA/RDR games combined with a Sci-Fi setting.

Basically what I'm asking for is R* to make a Rick and Morty game.

I'm excited to see what game Neil and Naughty Dog come up with. I also can't be the only want that wants to see a Savage Starlight game right? I think a game in that world would he a cool side project for them to tackle if they have the resources/time.

Never in doubt tbh. Still don't understand the hate with TLOU Part 2, story aside, one of the best games ever made. Every game they have made just blows the previous one out of the water.

Really hoping it's a 6 vs 6 hero shooter based on the Garbage Pail Kids license 🙏

@Jacko11 I think it's because of the cancelled Factions game but honestly always baffling to see the hate they get here and on Twitter.

One of the most consistent and quality studio out there. Also the hate for Druckmann is weird as well, as far as I can tell it's just because he killed Joel off

@ProfessorNiggle @Jacko11 I think it's also because of the inclusive themes of TLOU2 and the more grim story in general, which didn't land well with conservative people as well as when it launched in 2020 (people were already depressed and didn't want even more depression, I suppose).

I don’t mind people being this confident if they’ve earned it

Neil is a legend that has proven himself many times. I have full faith he'll deliver something great.

@tameshiyaku a sci-fi would be great. I also think they could do an awesome western game.

@AdamNovice Most awarded studio, most awarded games by a country mile, the first director to have a game that translates to a television series that people actually take seriously and was good enough to be up for numerous Emmys, and THIS F'ING guy Adam Novice is saying "prove it." He's more than earned the benefit of the doubt chief. Sorry that TLOU2 offended your sensibilities and completely broke your spirit, maybe stick to Spidey Man

@ProfessorNiggle The one scene just ruined the game for people. I went in without any spoilers and I loved the game… but I think a lot of people who were fans of the first already knew what was coming and made their minds up. I really wonder what the reception would have been like without the leaks. I think certain crowds would still have been just as hateful but the vitriolic reaction would have been substantially abated by the impact of discovering it in game, rather than prior to release. Who knows though people LOVE to hate on things.

@FreasurePlanten Moreso kids than conservatives. Both can be true of course but the review bombing, non sensical dialogue, entitlement of gamer boys that cant, and dont want to rationalize the harsh realities of that world - they have to do mental gymnastics just to see different perspectives. Further, you just cannot have a cookie cutter part two that involves another Joel and Ellie adventure. It makes zero sense for many reasons and would have very little impact

I wonder how far out this UBERGAME is. Never a bad thing to oversell something in gaming, what could possibly go wrong? ^^

@UncleByron that would work for me too.

So basically he wants to make something like quantum break 🤔

I remain unconvinced.

I remember when he was talking about how epic the new Factions game was going to be. And then, after dodging the topic for over a year, it was cancelled. At this point, I think it's important for them to just actually make a new game instead of trying to be revolutionary......

@IamJT I forget but you're so damn right. ND suffered so much with those leaks. The whole game was leaked months before the release and had people getting mad with no context. Sad really

@FreasurePlanten yeah that's very true too. I remember there also being some discourse way back about the Left Behind DLC from ppl that thought it was ruined because Ellie kissed a girl. So I guess some of the vocal TLOU fans really don't vibe with inclusion

@IamJT Troy Baker literally said before the game came out that it would be divisive and that one scene that made it divisive is less than a couple of hours into the game. It was going to be a divisive game regardless.

@ProfessorNiggle He allegedly helped shove Amy Henning out the door, which rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way considering how crucial she was to Uncharted and Naughty Dog's shift towards a narrative focus generally.

Though, yeah, a lot of criticism is also for Last of Us 2.

@IamJT I'm not sure the drama could have been avoided, honestly. In some ways I think it could be worse. Imagine all the people so mad about it now, except they just dropped $70 to get blindsided by that scene. They would flip out for sure.

It was not a decision that could finessed into universal praise.

ND delivered masterpiece after masterpiece, raising the bar everytime, and setting new standards for the industry. So if anyone is allowed to make such a statement it's him I guess

The Last of Us is the only Naughty Dog game I actually love (not a fan of uncharted, Jak, or TLOU2). That being said when I say I love it I mean it's one of my GOATs so I'll always be interested in what ND is making. But an announcement like this is probably not the best way to go into it considering their recent stumblings. Still excited to see it though.

No thanks, a lot of good games out there minus the pretentiousness.

I might play his next shameless self-promotion documentary though, that is some good fiction

@AKAslickdaddy40 I agree, I think the story is more mature than a lot of people were ready for. I think there definitely is a correlation between being young and immature, but sadly I see also a lot of older people being so childish that I've lost hope of some people maturing much as they grow up. Having said that, on the inclusivity side of things, I don't think age plays that big of a role. I think we saw similar kind of reactions to some of the more extreme reactions to one of the main characters in the new AC being black instead of Japanese.

@glennthefrog The rumor about Neil (and Bruce Straley) forced Amy out from ND was started by IGN article. But it already confirmed as false and completely unfounded by a former IGN employee. Turns out, the two IGN editors wrote that false article for farming clicks and they disgustingly also used other employee name as the writer to protect themself. Never trust IGN.

https://www.thegamer.com/uncharted-amy-hennig-was-not-forced-out-of-naughty-dog/

Anyway...

I reccomend people to read the full interview because it gave better context about what Neil said for the new game "could redefine mainstream perceptions of gaming". I'm personally curious what's the new game but at least it's not a live service or mobile gatcha game.

You heard it here first, next Naughty dog game is....drum roll...."The last of us remastered-redifined for Pro"

The last ND game, I really enjoyed, was Uncharted 3.
Cinematic third-person games, have gotten really boring now.
And way too pretentious.

So I really hope they try to make something different this time.
But... it will probably be more of the same.

@ProfessorNiggle agreed with you. Hate the story but love the gameplay. Solid

Why don't you make poll on this?

I wote for The Last of Us Remastered Remaster of Remastering Remasters (The Last Remaster of Us - or another "fun" name)

@PuppetMaster I had no idea about the IGN article tbh. I was referring to a news story on Push Square several years ago.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2019/03/ex-uncharted_movie_writer_joe_carnahan_calls_neil_druckmann_a_jerkoff

Unfortunately the youtube link in that article is now dead, but a quote from the video is still in the article from a Hollywood screen writer named Joe Carnahan who worked on a few drafts of the Uncharted movie. He said the following:

"Ultimately I wanted to make Amy happy, it was her creation. I think whatshisface – I’m not a fan – the guy that kind of stole credit for it," said Carnahan, referring to Druckmann. Discussing Film clarified his name, and the writer responded, "Yeah, that jerkoff. Whatever, there was a bit of saboteuring there going on with Naughty Dog."

He continued: “Amy created that world and she was the one that I really wanted to please. That other guy, whatever the hell his name is, he’s a hitchhiker."

Maybe there's nothing to it, but he worked with ND/Henning/Druckmann not too long after the time she departed and was clearly of the opinion there was some shady stuff going on. Obviously we'll never get the full story, NDAs and all that, which is why I also said 'allegedly'. In any case, even if it's a false rumor it had certainly soured some fans on Druckmann regardless even before Last of Us 2.

Edit: I also found this interview with the voice of Sully discussing the matter

https://www.reddit.com/r/uncharted/comments/wt2knz/richard_mcgonagle_sully_talks_about_amy_hennigs/

@AKAslickdaddy40 yes he has to prove his claims,I mean every artist has deliver goods to be considered exceptional,in any art form.

@glennthefrog Yea you might be right. For me that ending just made sense for that character. He grew and became a better, more loving, more peaceful person but that made him weak. And the weak don't really survive in that world. The issue might have been the presentation. If all the sections with Joel and Ellie played out in chronological order the average player may have also felt it was a natural end for him. I dunno, its tough with that game because I understand Joel was a favorite character, but he was also a bad dude who met a bad end.

I'm sure others mentioned it already but the quote refers to how non-gamers view gaming. Never said anything about redefining gaming.
It's still a bold claim but not that ridiculous.

@Nepp67
True.
Most good art is.

Haha... Someone please tell Sony that the plural for more than one artistic medium is the word "media", not mediums LOL

@IamJT Yeah, they could have possibly smoothed things over a bit with a better buildup. Maybe if the player had created more of a connection with, or at least sympathy towards, Abby before the deed was done. There would still be an outcry but perhaps a percentage of the unhappy would've been appeased.

Personally I thought the entire scenario was quite ham fisted, but I felt that way about Last of Us 2's narrative overall to a certain extent. It often felt like the game had some things to say and come hell or high water it was gonna make those points regardless of whether it was a logical progression of events or not.

Last of Us 3 is all I want from ND right now to be honest, considering hos the 2nd one ended.

@glennthefrog I thought the progression made a lot of sense. Most of the characters are dealing with grief, anger, fear and/or hatred. People in these states often make poor decisions. For example, when Ellie found out the condition of one of her companions, her instinct was to push her away. She lost people incredibly close to her, including Joel, and her fear caused her to lash out at the people who cared about her. It doesn’t make logical sense. This is the case for many people who are being emotional. It’s part of the reason I loved the writing in Part 2 is there’s a method to the characters madness.

There is people that treat gaming as multiplayer or arcades of old, games with ideas easy to understand of real life, or cool creatures/worlds on a simple enough magical level or just well popular because streamers play it not always REALISTIC AND GRIPPING STORY and there is story telling or people not understanding paint or other cues we do of level design.

I enjoyed Uncharted not because of the tone or story as the main factor but the gameplay. It was an action adventure movie but at the same time the puzzles/gunplay even if gunplay and fist fights had changes that quality of life was nice and the stories were fair experiences even if some for visual showcases like 3 were a bit eh. They were fun, I had no issues playing Golden Abyss other than the getting used to the Vita still besides many other games I've played that use it's features and enjoyed. But didn't play 4 or Lost Legacy.

But otherwise to me the pacing, the puzzles, combat and more of the Last of Us just isn't for me. To me other survival horror games were better and the story/drama and goals just doesn't grab me at all. The enemies are fair but the enemy patterns and environments I didn't care to play in.

I mean do these programmers, animations, artists, etc. forget that what average people play is party games like a board game/cards like appeal (or just digital versions simply) or they want other stuff. Not always wow an adventure but sometimes just some slice of life drama not always a journey to get revenge or do this and that.

Maybe a city builder/life sim, maybe a puzzle game, a survival game. Like how thick are they sometimes of their audience bubble and mainstream perception bubbles to get people interested.

Many in these companies forget that oh right what do average people think of games/how they treat them and what they are playing, what about games they change for an audience and that audience may not even be interested, pick up on such cues we gamers understand without even playing said genre but still know. So why not survival games, interactive drama with no combat or other things.

But they can't they want their userbase sales too so they are still happy and play it.

It's like LA Noire it has to have combat or other elements their audience knows them for right or their audience won't play it. XD Even if the other parts are probably fair detective work systems or other aspects.

What a comment for the article/sub description of 'mainstream perception', why would I play their next game or find it pushes mainstream perception of games. No thanks.

Also the tv show already did in a way anyways. What more could be said. That or if people 'want' to play games instead of just watching because they don't want to control something/pause it all the time.

I don't care for anything they are making right now, visuals fine, gameplay/rest not for me of these types of games so pass.

@UncleByron We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I see your point, but to me it just came off as hack writing. I don't want to go into all the spoilers and wall of text, but to me the rationale 'ah well, they're traumatized so bad decisions make sense' seems like a massive cop out more than a reasonable explanation. Still enjoyed the game overall but the narrative didn't strike me as very reasonably constructed. It's a love it or hate it story for more reasons than just Joel's fate.

@glennthefrog FYI. That IGN article was published back in 2014, 2 years before UC 4 released with no one from IGN confirmed the validity of the article for 6 years, until June 24th 2020 when Mitch Dyer, (ex) IGN employee who's been used by IGN editors as the fake writer, came out on twitter and confirmed the article was false.

So whatever negative words about Neil in that timeframe including what Carnahan said, was mostly influence by that IGN article.

And you shouldn't take Carnahan words seriously either since the guy was angry at Sony who doesn't used his script for Uncharted movie. Carnahan has some anger issues when he lashed out to the movie critics who gave his movie, El Chicano, a mixed reviews. Or when he clashed with Tom Cruise about Mission Impossible 3 direction and decided not to direct it, which isn't the first case for him to clashed with actors / producers and then backed out from the project.

So i'm not surprised when Carnahan talked sh*t about Neil just because they has different view. He called Neil as a "hitchiker" is just disrespectful since Neil was one of the main writers for Uncharted from the very first game. Neil pretty much has an important role on creating Uncharted series almost the same as Amy.

As for Sully's VA, well, i don't think Richard knows anything about why Amy left at the start of UC 4 pre-production. He's pretty much guessing of what happened.

I personally think nothing shady happened. Maybe some different views between Neil-Bruce with Amy which is normal between creative minds. But i don't think that's the reason why Amy left ND.

@glennthefrog it’s not a massive cop out so much as an explanation of how storytelling works in dramatic films. Directors like Paul Thomas Anderson and The Cohen Brothers utilize a form of storytelling where you have to weigh the characters actions, perspectives, and experiences to infer what’s happening with them. Games tend to have the characters explain all of this outright. There’s no right or wrong way to approach character development, it’s just that the team at Naughty Dog chose to do it in a way that’s not done very often in games.

@FreasurePlanten i always say never say never , but 100% jax and daxter isn't coming back ( at least from naughty dog).

@twitchtvpat I agree. And in general it doesn't seem to be the kind of games that PlayStation as a whole is interested in, sadly (though I like the more grounded and narrative focused games, don't get me wrong). Of the three big hero series from the PS2, only Ratchet keeps being alive, and I imagine it's due to Insomniac insisting to making them.

@Starkei Yeah I really thought compared to the game it was pretty boring and lacklustre and then comparing it to the earlier series of the walking dead it really did nothing for me, go watch that instead it's far superior. It's an ok show don't get me wrong but it's not worthy of the hype and praise it got imo.

I would have laughing if it was Tom Howard at Bethesda saying this.

But this guy.. I'm not laughing, I'm sceptical but very curious what they are cooking up.

I do not know if anyone else has mentioned this, but what about a game set in the universe of Savage Starlight?

Considering that we know next to nothing about it, beyond the title.

I imagine it being something along the lines of Valerian and Laureline.

@Pete_Stooge

Really? Just... really, dude? They were great in the 90's and the 2000's, but after the original Last of Us in 2013 they fell into the abyss - hard. And they haven't climbed back out yet.