14 DAY TRIAL // Despite rumors about a sequel to The Last of Us being in active development, which were stocked by both statements from Naughty Dog and by an interview with voice actor Nolan North, it seems that the studio is at the moment focusing on the delivery of the final Uncharted title.
Neil Druckman, who is the creative director of the original title, acknowledges in a new interview, quoted by Games Radar, that his company should have been clear that A Thief's End is the current priority and there are no resources that can be allocated to any other full-scale projects.
He adds, "we were brainstorming ideas for The Last Of Us 2 with new characters; ideas for TLOU 2 with Joel and Ellie; ideas for a sci-fi game; ideas for a fantasy game, and building prototypes for each one of those ideas. And just as we were getting close to settling or narrowing that list down, we were asked to work on Uncharted 4."
The fact that Naughty Dog evaluated ideas about a sequel is probably a good sign that one will be created at some point in the future, but it's pretty clear that, at the moment, the studio has other priorities.
Druckman mentions that the shift to The Last of Us 2 will take place a few months after Uncharted 4 is actually launched.
Nathan Drake will end his career on March 18, 2016
A Thief's End is designed as the final title starring the much-loved characters, and the developers are aiming to deliver both impressive gameplay sequences and a lot more emotion associated with the narrative.
The studio also says that the main theme of the title is responsibility and how far Drake is willing to go in order to protect those that have loves.
The chase and combat sequence that was presented during E3 2015 was truly impressive and shows how the creativity of Naughty Dog can be combined with the power of the PlayStation 4 to deliver cool results.
Before A Thief's End arrives, gamers will be able to play the previous three titles in the franchise on the PlayStation 4, with the Nathan Drake Collection set to be launched on October 7 in North America and two days later in Europe.