The Last of Us, much like Uncharted, remains one of the most popular video game franchises from Naughty Dog. Since its initial release in 2013, the franchise has maintained a steady grip on the video game community. With the recent release of its live-action TV adaptation, The Last of Us has opened the doors to new fans from a more mainstream audience. Despite this success, Neil Druckmann, CEO of Naughty Dog, told Buzzfeed in an interview that the future of the main The Last of Us storyline depends on the quality of its story.

The Last of Us Part 3 has yet to be officially confirmed by Naughty Dog, despite Druckmann confirming a completed story outline for the game in April 2021. Since then, news about the third part of the series has been hard to come by, with many fans debating whether or not it will be made. Druckman’s recent interview with Buzzfeed has put even more weight on those speculations due to Sony giving Naughty Dog more leeway in their creative ambitions.

“…at Naughty Dog we’re very, very privileged that our publisher is Sony — which means Sony funds our games, supports us, and we’re owned by Sony.” said Druckman. “They have supported us every step of the way to follow our passions — meaning that just because something is successful, people think there’s all this pressure and we have to make a sequel. That’s not the case. For us, Uncharted was insanely successful — Uncharted 4 was one of our best selling games — and we’re able to put our final brushstroke on that story and say that we’re done. We’re moving on.”

While it might seem unfair to some, Druckmann’s statement shows fans that there is still hope for The Last of Us Part 3. Naughty Dog is known for their ability to craft rich narratives alongside compelling visuals. It should be up to them whether or not to continue the series despite its immense popularity. Druckmann later restated that Naughty Dog would reuse the same process used when making The Last of Us Part 2, being if they came up “…with a compelling story,” they would tell the story otherwise Part 2 would be the end of Ellie and Joel’s story.

Outside of the main narrative, Druckmann gave some brief insight into the unnamed multiplayer game set within The Last of Us universe. While the information on the title will be revealed later this year, he told Buzzfeed that players would ”…get to experience the tension and the brutality of that world — and a brand new story and cast of characters that live in another city that we had not seen yet in the world of The Last of Us.”

Regardless, due to the success of the TV show and the second season likely to be adapting Part 2 of the series, Druckmann believes that there might be more story to tell from an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

While the same can’t be said for Uncharted, Video Games Chronicle (VGC) noted that there might be a continuation in some capacity due to a job listing last October hinted at the collaboration of a new studio and Naughty Dog on a “beloved franchise.”