Despite the recent successes of The Last of Us Part I and the HBO adaptation, Naughty Dog may be about to bid farewell to its epoch-making franchise.
Naughty Dog may decide not to continue with the third instalment of The Last of Us and instead move on, as it did with Uncharted. Aside from remasters and PC ports, Naughty Dog has been done with Uncharted since 2017’s The Lost Legacy. The developer may be planning to do the same with The Last of Us.
The Last of Us is a nearly decade-old franchise launched in 2013 and is currently enjoying the spotlight thanks to HBO’s critically acclaimed live-action adaptation.
A sequel was due in 2020, and a standalone multiplayer game is in development. But despite the almost guaranteed success of another sequel, developer Naughty Dog may decide to pursue new endeavours and IP.
Studio co-president Neil Druckmann says Sony is not pressuring them to continue Ellie and Abby’s story. The second part’s revenge narrative has come to a hotly debated end among fans. However, plenty of possibilities could inspire a third game or even spinoffs. However, Naughty Dog will reportedly only make The Last of Us Part 3 if they can come up with a compelling story. The studio can’t settle for anything less. Elements of a sequel have been met with a very heated response. It would not be surprising if some developers wanted to distance themselves from the franchise.
Druckmann previously said that the synopsis for the third title in the series had already been written. But it does not appear to have gone into development. Naughty Dog is currently hard at work on its first standalone multiplayer title, inspired by the Factions mode that was part of the original Last of Us game.
Fans were disappointed to learn that the online mode did not return with the recently released remake, sparking controversy over its $70 price tag, which many felt was unreasonably expensive.
Even if the studio were to end The Last of Us soon, the same could not be said for fans. HBO’s TV premiere boasted a record 4.7 million viewers, which jumped 22% for the second episode. That’s the biggest second-week viewership increase in the network’s history. The universal praise is also having an impact on video game purchases. In the UK, box office sales of The Last of Us Part I increased by 238%.
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