Naughty Dog, having wrapped up development of The Last of Us 2 and releasing the game in mid-2020, has no currently announced next project. That’s naturally driven speculation, questions as to whether Naughty Dog is making another Uncharted or The Last of Us, or something new entirely. So when a Naughty Dog concept artist posted art online referencing a “new game,” fans are understandably going to go wild. Unfortunately, in this case, the artist has clarified his art is unrelated to any Naughty Dog game.
Speaking with IGN, Naughty Dog Senior Concept Artist Hyoung Nam confirmed that the art was not based on Naughty Dog’s next project. He’s also updated the art on his ArtStation account to clarify the issue. Nam’s fantasy art is, as some had speculated, fanart. Further, it’s fanart based on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, according to Nam. Nam’s Artstation now explicitly states that the art is inspired by Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
The confusion began in part due to the language used in Nam’s original ArtStation post. That post initially read that the pieces were “inspire by new game.” The new game wasn’t specified, unfortunately, which is what led Naughty Dog fans to assume he was talking about the next project he was working on. The post now reads “Inspire from new game call ‘Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘.” Nam’s grammar likely contributed to the confusion, but it shouldn’t be an issue anymore.
Nam’s new description does leave some room for ambiguity, however. Though at this point it can only be assumed to be unintentional. The next in his update adds a line that reads, “You know what I’m talking about…” with a winking emote after. It’s unclear what Nam is intending to imply with this comment, though it’s likely contextual to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in some way.
What Naughty Dog is working on next is back to being a grand mystery, though it may be some time before fans are done mourning the possibility of a fantasy game from the studio. With both Uncharted and The Last of Us revolving around gun-based combat, the possibility of a sword and sorcery game is just too exciting to consider. Maybe Naughty Dog will keep in mind the reception to Nam’s art in the future.
For now, however, Naughty Dog’s focus is probably somewhere else. Nearer to The Last of Us 2‘s release, Director Neil Druckmann mentioned two possibilities for what he’d work on next. The first was The Last of Us 3, while the other was a new IP. Only time will tell which direction Naughty Dog ultimately chose.
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