The Last of Us 2 director praises Sony for not forcing Naughty Dog to keep making Uncharted games

PlayStation is well regarded for having arguably the best console exclusives, and in 2025 fans can look forward to Death Stranding 2 as well as Ghost of Yotei. In the further future, fans can look forward to Naughty Dog’s next game, Intergalactic. There’s very little we know about Intergalactic as of this moment in time, but it will be very different to both The Last of Us and Uncharted. Acknowledging this in a recent interview, The Last of Us 2 director has praised Sony for giving Naughty Dog the freedom to explore different experiences rather than having to keep making Uncharted games.

The Last of Us 2 director praises Sony for “freedom” given to Naughty Dog

The Last of Us Part 2 director and Studio Head, Head of Creative at Naughty Dog, Neil Druckmann, recently conducted an interview with Colin Moriarty for Last Stand Media via Genki_JPN on X.

During the interview, Druckmann praised Sony for giving Naughty Dog a “lot of creative freedom to do what we want to do, stick to our vision”. The director said that, “Even when it seems from the outside very controversial, they’ve always been very supportive”.

Examples cited by the director include “wanting to end Nathan Drake’s story in Uncharted 4,” as well as wanting to leave Uncharted for The Last of Us. As per Druckmann, this was “very controversial” at the time because Naughty Dog were “going to leave Uncharted at the height of its success and do this brand new IP”.

Lastly, the Naughty Dog Studio Head said, “A lot of other publishers would have said ‘hell no, you stick to Uncharted until Uncharted stops making us money.’”. As for why Sony didn’t force Naughty Dog to keep making Uncharted, Druckmann believes PlayStation understands the developer makes their “best work when we’re really excited about it, when we’re really passionate about it”.

Neil Druckmann says PlayStation gives them a lot of freedom and resources to do what they want to do! vis @LastStandMedia

"PlayStation just gives us a lot of freedom, a lot of resources and a lot of creative freedom to do what we want to do, to stick to our vision.

Even when… pic.twitter.com/HVMnU4ZeGU

— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) May 21, 2025

There hasn’t been a new Uncharted experience since the Lost Legacy starring Chloe and Nadine back in 2017, and there hasn’t been an Uncharted starring Nathan Drake since A Thief’s End in 2016. There’s no strong rumors or leaks of another Uncharted in development, but, recently, Druckmann has said he and Naughty Dog are working on another unannounced games besides Intergalactic. Speculation is rife that this could be The Last of Us 3, or it could be Uncharted or another entirely new IP. We will just have to wait and see.

In other PlayStation news, a job listing suggests Tomb Raider 12 might be late-in-development, and a Death Stranding 2 tech lead has admitted PS5 games don’t look much better than PS4.

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