A new online rumor spread over the past few days indicates that Naughty Dog has begun active development work on “The Last of Us Part III”.
The post-apocalyptic series of games is one of the crown jewels of PlayStation’s most-valued exclusive IPs, with the first game in 2013 for the PS3, a second in 2020 for the PS4, and a full remake of the first for the PS5 arriving the other month ahead of an HBO TV series adaptation in January.
A third game makes sense in that the narrative could provide content for the HBO series, capitalise on increased interest in the games spawned by the show, deliver an entry in the franchise made specifically for this generation of console, and offer something quite different with an entry that could go in any direction in the wake of the second game’s ending.
Game director Neil Druckmann previously revealed he had co-written an outline for a story set after the second game that he hopes “one day can see the light of day” and “explores a little bit what happens after this game,” but at the time also clearly said they were not “making it”.
The ViewerAnon Twitter account broke the report, an account responsible for leaking accurate information about the television series in the past. The account claims the new game is currently ‘in production’ at Naughty Dog.
Naughty Dog hasn’t yet commented on what its next big project is beyond the ‘Factions’ multiplayer spin-off of the franchise, which is expected to arrive first, so any ‘Part III’ is likely a few years off. As previously reported, a different studio is said to be working on a reboot of Naughty Dog’s other signature franchise – “Uncharted”.
“The Last of Us Part 1” remake and “The Last of Us Part 2” are now out for PS5, with the former coming to PC on March 3rd. HBO will debut “The Last of Us” TV series on January 15th. Check out a couple of new TV spots for that show below:
