- Primary Subject: Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
- Key Update: Jason Schreier sheds light on why Naughty Dog hasn't been able to put out a new game in six years.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: August 20, 2026
- Quick Answer: Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet only had a small portion of the Naughty Dog staff working on it before The Last of Us Online was cancelled.
It's been quite a while since Naughty Dog released a new title. The iconic studio's latest new release to this day is still The Last of Us Part II, which came out in 2020.
We know that their next project in the pipeline is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, a completely new story set thousands of years in the future where we follow bounty hunter Jordan A. Mun.
With the game rumored to be released in 2027, that would mean the studio would take at least 7 years to launch a new title, not counting all The Last of Us remakes/ports or the Uncharted collection. Why is it taking them so long? Well, reporter Jason Schreier recently talked about the subject in a YouTube video.
According to him, Naughty Dog only had a small portion of the staff working on Intergalactic at the beginning. This is because most of the studio was working on The Last of Us Online, a live-service multiplayer experience based on the acclaimed single-player franchise. After it was cancelled in December 2023, all the staff working on the online game transitioned over to Intergalactic.
In other words, Intergalactic's development only really took off at the end of 2023/start of 2024.
Schreier explained that Sony was trying to put most of its studios on the live-service game trend around the time the PS5 came out, hence why Naughty Dog was mostly focused on this multiplayer The Last of Us title.
The game was eventually cancelled because the studio realized that supporting its live-service component would've taken all of the studio's resources for years, making it impossible to release new games. On top of that, most PlayStation Studios haven't seen success with their live-service adventures, with Concord being the prime example. This has resulted in Sony/PlayStation pushing less and less for this kind of game.
Intergalactic still doesn't have a release date, but industry insiders, like NateTheHate, have hinted that the studio is aiming to release the game sometime in 2027, barring any delays.
The game will be released exclusively for the PlayStation 5, as Sony has also backed down from their tactic of releasing exclusive titles on PC.
READ MORE: Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet Might Reportedly Release in 2027 After All
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