Naughty Dog Claims The Last of Us 2 Has 50/50 Chance of Happening

[Alex Co]

Naughty Dog Claims The Last of Us 2 Has 50/50 Chance of Happening

Naughty Dog reveals a sequel to The Last of Us has a 50% chance of happening, and that Sony has given the studio complete freedom if it wants to create a follow-up or not.

While a it's "being considered." [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131769-Report-The-Last-of-Us-2-Is-Under-Production-For-2015-Release] As it stands, the chances of us seeing a follow-up is at best, a 50% chance, according to senior studio staff. During an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit, The Last of Us Creative Director Neil Druckmann and Game Director Bruce Straley fielded questions from fans about the title's DLC, Left Behind, and talks inevitably turned to the much-anticipated sequel. According to Druckmann, there's a 50/50 chance of a sequel happening, stating, "If you're asking about a sequel... right now I'd say it's 50/50."

In the same Q&A session, Druckmann also revealed that even with The Last of Us being a commercial hit for Sony, the publisher is not forcing the studio to develop a sequel and is giving it complete freedom in what it wants to create next. "Sony has complete trust in us. It's really up to us to come up with something that will keep the team inspired for the next several years - which is why we don't take the decision of what we'll work on next lightly," Druckmann notes.

So, there you have it, folks. We might or might not get a sequel to The Last of Us. As someone who loved the action-adventure game, I'm conflicted. On one hand, The Last of Us was just so good that I really want to see more what Naughty Dog can do in the universe; but on the other, it might be the sort of game that's perfect being a "one-off" and letting our imaginations do the rest of the legwork.

Would you want to see a sequel? Or did the game end the way it should and Naughty Dog would just be better off creating a new franchise altogether?

Source: DualShockers [http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ykno8/hi_were_neil_druckmann_creative_director_and/cflfckb]

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[MCerberus]

So... they're debating whether the next game should be made based on artistic reasons and not as a money grab?

Madness! Insanity! Cats and dogs raining from the sky! THE END OF DAYS!

 

[tippy2k2]

Personally, I think going "Mass Effect" on the bit would be the best route (Shepard's story is done. We will not be seeing him/her again but there will be other Mass Effect games set in that universe).

"Last of Us" could do that. The atmosphere is really cool and the enemies are unique enough to franchise this thing. However, they really should stay the hell away from Ellie, Joel, and company. Let's see how the world is doing in...Europe or Australia or Russia or even somewhere else in 'Merica. Just leave their story out of it. It was beautiful and perfect; we don't need to mess with it.

 

[Goliath100]

Two questions:
1) Does anyone actually want a direct sequel with focus on Joel and/or Ellie?
2) Does anyone actually want a sequel in the same setting(Note: Setting =/= world)?

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Madness! Insanity! Cats and dogs raining from the sky! THE END OF DAYS!

No no no, you're doing it wrong.


OT: I imagine this could work out, so long as they do the game for the story's sake and not for the money's sake. Time will tell which is which if they decide to go for it.

 

[Fox12]

Two questions:
1) Does anyone actually want a direct sequel with focus on Joel and/or Ellie?
2) Does anyone actually want a sequel in the same setting(Note: Setting =/= world)?

1) Possibly. There's definitely room to expand the story and characters, but the writers would have their work cut out for them. The sequel would have to switch a greater focus to Ellie. Joels story arc is pretty much finished.

2) No. If you've seen one post apocalypse, you've seen them all. The setting didn't make TLoU great, the characters did.

 

[Sonicron]

Oh, God no. It was a good game, granted, but it was so crushingly depressing I wouldn't ever want to play it (or another hypothetical entry in the franchise) ever again. There is such a thing as being 'too bleak'.

 

[Irridium]

They're already making another Uncharted. I'd much rather them focus on a new IP instead of working on another sequel. Focusing on a new IP got us Last of Us in the first place, after all.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

I don't get it, did I phase into a world where it's somehow acceptable for the few to deny those unheard who might want a sequel to this?, really I must be because either the studio are called money grubbers or have super artistic talent when they follow exactly as they are told to by certain fans.

Or I'm starting to live in a world where we only see 1's to everything, never a 2 or god forbid a 3 to something, but I know out there someone's going to tell me that's wrong based upon personal fact.

With that put out there for now I honestly don't mind if ND made another TLOU since I'm not one to crush what is technically their call and choice.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I wouldn't at all mind another game in the setting - I really thought their take on the zombification of the world was a pretty interesting one and there seems to be a lot of "stories left untold" in the whole 20 years later gap they left between Day 1 and picking up with Joel again. Some of anything in that span might make for some really good gameplay - or, conversely, a seriously "Last of Us" with the final surviving human pockets really being all that's left of our species in a Spore People World could be interesting too I suppose.

I would like to move away from Joel and Ellie. They weren't big favorites for me on at the all time favorite characters from video games list - just my personal opinion there, but I also feel that their story is pretty well left where it was left.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

If there is a sequel, I'm on board. If there's not, I am perfectly happy with how the game ended. Either way works for me.

 

[Smiley Face]

Two questions:
1) Does anyone actually want a direct sequel with focus on Joel and/or Ellie?
2) Does anyone actually want a sequel in the same setting(Note: Setting =/= world)?

Yes on both counts. Some people don't seem to be big on the idea of Joel/Ellie's story continuing because they feel it's 'finished' - which I suppose it could be, if they decide not to go with it, but I think Left Behind showed that it's entirely possible for their story to continue in one way or another. I think what people's concern actually is is that a sequel involving them would have a lot to live up to, and might well pollute their experience with the story as a whole. I get that, but honestly, I think Naughty Dog did a good enough job with things so far that I'm pretty confident that if they go forward with it, they'll do a good job. And damn it, I really enjoyed the hell out of The Last of Us, and I'm still hungry for more. I'd also enjoy a story with new characters in the same setting, but I'd rather see a direct sequel - starting off with new characters in the same setting would be in many ways less impressive than successfully continuing with the characters they already have.

With that said, I think if they're this iffy on wanting to jump into a sequel right away, maybe they should leave it for now, work on something else, and then come back to it in a couple of years. But I'd really hate to see The Last of Us get left behind (a-ha, bad pun.)

 

[TristanBelmont]

If this does happen, and let's be honest with Sony as a publisher it's gonna happen, I may be a bit upset but I won't kill anyone over it. If Joel and Ellie are in the sequel however, continents will burn and cities will sink before my rage is contained.

 

[TallanKhan]

I am somewhat heartened by this, at least this way if a game gets made it is because there is a story to be told rather than just a pile of money to be generated.

 

[Brian Tams]

If this were Ubisoft, we'd already have a pair of spin-offs and a sequel in the works.

Its nice to see a publisher not forcing devs to spend every minute of their time on a single IP (glares at microsoft & Activision).

 

[Reaper195]

As much as I want to know about the rest of the world (I.E. the actual rest of the world, the origins of the Fireflies, much more of the early days of the infection, etc), Last of Us was so focused on Joel and Ellie that it would kind of defy the point of the game. And the story was disturbingly well told that a sequel will either not be as good, or change too much. I'd much rather ND have the team that works on Uncharted work on Uncharted, and a second team that only makes individual games. No franchises, just single games with no sequels or prequels. DLC...I could give or take. I don't intend on playing Left Behind for a while, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on something by not playing it.

 

[Adam Locking]

Am I the only one here who'd love to see Naughty Dog do another platformer instead? Something bright, innocent, and unique?

 

[SporkySpork]

Naughty Dog isn't a one-hit wonder type of developer. Hell, Uncharted 2 was better than it's predecessor in every possible way, who's to say The Last of Us 2 wouldn't be like that? The nature of the "wildlife vs urban areas" art style will make exploring a new locale all the more exciting (and terrifying), and... that's all I have really. Other than improving the enemy AI and possibly moving on to new characters, I don't know what I could expect from a sequel.

I do hope they keep the controls the same though, they were perfect.