The Last of Us 3 is finally official, but there’s a catch

After months and months of rumors, Neil Druckmann officially speaks on The Last of Us 3 and confirms the sequel that many gamers have been waiting for.

The Last of Us quickly established itself as one of the strongest licenses in PlayStation’s portfolio. By early 2023, it alone had sold over 37 million worldwide. Since then, the remake, a TV series that conquered everything in its path, became a remaster. The success of Naughty Dog’s license reached its peak last year and the announcement of The Last of Us 3 was just a formality. Rumors have been swirling for months, we will soon be able to leave the conditional behind us.

The last 3 of us are officially in development

After the phenomenal success of the HBO series and Naughty Dog’s efforts to bring previous episodes up to date, we suspected they wouldn’t stop there. The misadventures of Ellie, Abby, and Joel would have served well enough as a conclusion to this already fascinating saga, but the Californian studio still has other stories to tell. The co-director of the franchise, Neil Druckmann, had already spilled the beans on 2021, saying that the draft of The Last of Us 3 had already been written. Since Naughty Dog refused to confirm if this third episode was one of their upcoming games, it has now been confirmed.

In a documentary dedicated to the creation of The Last of Us Part 2, Druckmann finally confirmed that a third episode was in development, or at least still in the conceptual stage several months ago. An opus that would apparently deal fundamentally with the themes of its predecessors, but whose story and words would be part of the saga’s continuity.

The first game revolves around the concept of unconditional love that a parent feels for their child. The other about the pursuit of justice at all costs, justice for the one you love, we felt like there was a clear concept and continuity with the first game about love. If we never get the chance to remake the game, that’s a good endpoint. One final part, the story ends.

I wonder, is there any concept here for a sequel? And for years I couldn’t find it, but recently things have changed. I don’t have a story yet, but I have an idea that, to me, is as exciting as the others and has its own thing, while having a common throughline for all three games. So there may be one more chapter in this story.

Neil Druckman, on The Last of Us 3

Meanwhile another game

Druckmann also walked back his headline-grabbing statement. He explains that he once wrote a story with Tommy at its center. ” I hope we can do that one day. It was always a short story, never a full game “, he clarified. The studio’s priority at the time was to improve the working conditions of its employees and its production. The controversial story was eventually trashed. ” I believe one day it will see the light of day. I don’t know if it will be with the game or the TV series” is enough to raise hopes around a spin-off of the HBO series The Last of Us.

The Last of Us 3, however, will not be Naughty Dog’s next game. As a reminder, rumors point to an entirely new license that revolves around science fiction or fantasy. It has been in development for several years and should logically come to our PS5. It’s hard to be so optimistic for this next episode of TLOU. As the story has not yet been written, pre-production is not expected to begin for some time. We’ll probably have to wait until the PS6 or whatever the next generation of consoles is called. Since the documentary is set to be filmed in April 2023, there’s a good chance things have moved on since then. at what time It’s hard to say, although rumors from proven sources suggest that motion capture could begin as late as 2023.