Naughty Dog is reportedly working on a remake of The Last of Us that will be developed using the same engine and assets as The Last of Us Part 2.
In a scathing report from Bloomberg that was published by Jason Schreier, who is well-known for his sources inside the Industry, there were multiple projects from Sony Worldwide Studios that were leaked including a remake of The Last of Us. Since the original article is behind a paywall, here is a summary of the information that was included in the article.
The article reveals some interesting tidbits on Naughty Dog’s upcoming projects as well as Sony Bend Studio, and San Diego (Sony’s Visual Arts Service Group).
- Sony’s Visual Arts Service Group mostly act as a support studio
- They wanted to make something of their own from scratch and formed an internal team intending to tackle some of the franchises owned by Sony Worldwide Studios
- They originally wanted to remake Uncharted but deemed it too ambitious so settled on a remake of The Last of Us in 2018, which was deemed more feasible
- They never received the budget and support necessary to expand the scope of the project
- Sony WWS President Herman Hulst felt the remake was too expensive and basically gave the project to Naughty Dog while keeping SVASG on a supporting role thus taking away their project from them
- According to Jason, this Remake will basically play out like Part 2 but with the original game’s story and mechanics
- Sony Bend Studio pitched Days Gone sequel that was rejected
- They were given a supporting role for Naughty Dog to work on a new Multiplayer project
- They were also providing supporting role for a new Uncharted game assisting Naughty Dog
- Bend Studio was finally allowed to make their own new game starting this year
The article makes it to a point to mention how Sony is making sure to focus on their popular IPs and avoids taking risks with new ones. They are more focused on blockbuster games with their tentpole franchises like Uncharted and The Last of Us. They didn’t greenlight a Days Gone sequel because the original game might be profitable but it failed to garner critical reception and had production issues.