The Last of Us 2 Was Prototyped But Naughty Dog Focused on Uncharted 4 For Now

Naughty Dog's creative director, Neil Druckmann, has said although a prototype for The Last of Us 2 was made, the sequel is not currently in development at the studio.

Speaking to Official PlayStation Magazine UK, Druckmann addressed recent statements from voice actor Nolan North, who stated The Last of Us 2 was in development.

"I can say that was kind of a surprise for us for him to say that," Druckmann said. "I was like 'Oh he knows more than we know [about] what we're doing next.' We joked about it afterwards during shoots and stuff."

According to North, who voices Nathan Drake in Naughty Dog's Uncharted series and David in The Last of Us, the sequel was in development alongside Uncharted 4, but this does not seem to be the case.

Instead, the studio prototyped it--along with a number of other ideas--before ultimately being pulled into the Uncharted 4 development project and dedicating itself to that.

"When Bruce (Straley, co-director) and I moved over to Uncharted 4, we were brainstorming ideas for The Last of Us 2 with characters; ideas for TLOU 2 with Joel and Ellie; ideas for a sci-fi game; ideas for a fantasy game, and building prototypes for each one of those ideas," he explained.

"And just as we were getting close to settling or narrowing that list down, we were asked to work on Uncharted 4."

On the subject of returning to those prototypes, Druckmann said there's "a part of me that's really looking forward to going back to those things," but added that he has "no cycles left in my mind even to be thinking about that right now.

"So, I guess [Nolan North] was kind of right in that we were working on stuff, but we don't know what we're doing next and we won't know until probably a few months after we finish Uncharted 4."

In March 2015, Sony delayed the released date for Uncharted 4 to spring 2016. Druckmann and Straley, said the delay was necessary to ensure the PlayStation 4 game matches the high expectations from fans.

Sony has revealed the multiplayer beta for Uncharted 4 will launch on December 4.