Comicbook edition took interview with Naughty Dog studio head Neil Druckmann. During it, they asked why the studio hasn’t announced its next PS5 game yet.
In short, the studio does not want to start once more the processing and crunch that was during the development of Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us Part 2.
We had early announcements for Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us Part 2, but it actually caused some of the work-life balance issues we sometimes had in the studio. We’ve delayed the announcement of the next game a bit so we have more time to plan our schedule. We have The Last of Us multiplayer and another game in development that I won’t talk regarding.
Crunching causes ambitious studios like Naughty Dog to run into staffing issues, where talented developers give their all to a project, but can burn out by the end of development and leave the studio.