Sony Interactive Entertainment isn’t pleased with Naughty Dog for spending over 5 years and more than 300 million US Dollars on a single-player game.
Update: In a post on the ResetEra forums, Schreier offered clarification on his earlier statement on Blue Sky, saying that Sony Interactive Entertainment, like most game companies, has an issue with development costs swelling beyond 300 million US Dollars and timelines going beyond five years, regardless of the first-party studio. According to him, the company doesn’t specifically have an issue with Naughty Dog.
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier took to Blue Sky to talk about his recent findings on the current status of Bungie, mentioning that the studio is planning a significant layoff following the end of Destiny 2’s development and that a sequel isn’t in active production. As per him, cost of production was the reason why the developer didn’t immediately start working on Destiny 3 after finishing work on The Final Shape expansion 2 years ago. To this, a follower commented that Sony Interactive Entertainment seemingly has no issue letting Naughty Dog spend over 5 years and more than 300 million US Dollars on a single-player game, yet is concerned about spending money on a new MMO shooter with a dedicated fan base.
In his response, Schreier said that Sony Interactive Entertainment also has an issue letting Naughty Dog spend over 5 years and more than 300 million US Dollars on a single-player game. “Oh [Sony] definitely [has] an issue with that,” he said. The studio took around 7 years to release The Last of Us Part II and may take even more to finish work on its next title, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Meanwhile, other PlayStation first-party studios like Insomniac Games and Housemarque have released multiple single-player titles in the time frame it takes Naughty Dog to finish one.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet has been in development since 2020, as confirmed by Naughty Dog president and game director Neil Druckmann across multiple interviews. If the game does end up seeing the light of day next year in 2027, it will maintain the studio’s 7-year release cadence. The developer began work on The Last of Us Part II after the release of The Last of Us back in 2013.
