The latest whispers about Naughty Dog’s new project are anything but encouraging: instead of arriving sooner rather than later, it now sounds like PlayStation’s flagship studio will keep players waiting well beyond what earlier rumors suggested. For months, fans had hoped that Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet might land in 2026 and even show up at The Game Awards, but a reliable industry voice now claims we should not expect the game before 2027 at the earliest.

We finally have an update on Naughty Dog’s next game, and it is not the kind of news fans were hoping for. The studio behind some of PlayStation’s most iconic series appears to be taking even longer than expected to ship its next major release. At the center of all the speculation is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, a title that many insiders had penciled in for 2026, possibly with a high-profile reveal at this year’s The Game Awards ceremony.

A Generation Without Naughty Dog

The latest information comes from a Reddit post written by Jason Schreier. The Bloomberg journalist – widely regarded as one of the most trustworthy reporters in the video-game industry – replied to a thread that treated the 2026 launch as a done deal, and dropped the blunt line that has since been quoted everywhere: “I can assure you that Intergalactic will not be released in 2026.” Several other members of the press have echoed that they have heard the same thing, and it now also seems almost certain that the game will not be shown at the upcoming The Game Awards event in December.

Even though we will always argue that games should only ship when they are truly ready, this delay has obvious downsides for both players and Sony. Naughty Dog’s last brand-new title was The Last of Us Part II, which launched on PS4 back in 2020. If the new project really does not arrive until 2027, we are talking about a seven-year gap between releases from one of the most highly-regarded studios in the business. The team’s creative output was supposed to be one of PS5’s major selling points, yet this console generation is edging toward its final stretch without a single fresh Naughty Dog game on the platform.

Very Few Concrete Details On Intergalactic So Far

As for what has caused such a long dry spell, we only have a partial picture. What we do know is that Naughty Dog poured considerable resources into a multiplayer project set in the world of The Last of Us, which was officially cancelled in 2023. While this is only speculation, it is not difficult to imagine a link between that shelved spin-off and the long stretch without a new release. On top of that, big-budget development is getting more complex and expensive every year: even when everything goes right, it is increasingly common for a AAA project to need five to seven years of work before it is ready to launch.

From PlayStation’s perspective, two major first-party releases are currently locked in for next year: Saros and Marvel’s Wolverine. The former is a roguelike-action game that clearly follows in the footsteps of the excellent Returnal. The latter hardly needs an introduction: it is the next project from Insomniac Games, the studio behind Marvel’s Spider-Man, its sequel, and the Miles Morales spin-off, which has already proven how well the team handles high-energy, comic-book-inspired action games.

Source: 3djuegos