When The Last of Us Part 2 came out, it wasn’t received very well because of some of the decisions Naughty Dog made with the story. A lot of people including studio head Neil Druckmann believed it was a fitting conclusion to the franchise.
Druckmann himself admitted that the game could serve as the “last bite of the apple.” But still, even though the game didn’t sell as well as the first one, a third entry might be inevitable. Almost a year to this day, Druckmann appeared in the documentary of the making of TLOU Part 2, and there he hinted at a potential third entry.
The Last of Us franchise has been one of PlayStation’s biggest success stories. The studio revealed in 2023 that TLOU had sold over 37 million copies across all entries by December 2022. In addition, the Insomniac leaks from 2023 showed that the first game had sold 26 million copies across all platforms. This means that TLOU Part 2 only sold 10 million in comparison.
The Top 30 Best Selling PlayStation Published Games of All Time
Since not all the sales are up to date for every game this list would probably look a bit different, but this is the best we have to go off of.
Horizon Zero Dawn was a juggernaut, though I doubt FW catches up to it pic.twitter.com/WLRz75dVW0
— Radec (@realradec) December 27, 2023
The HBO adaptation of The Last of Us has been a big part of why the franchise has gotten even more attention in recent years. Season 1 was a massive success and Season 2 is gearing up for a release in 2025. So it’s prime time for a third game because PlayStation is unlikely to shelve it anytime soon.
In the Grounded 2: Making The Last of Us Part II documentary for TLOU Part 2, Druckmann revealed that, for years, he couldn’t find a concept that would justify a third game. He was adamant that Naughty Dog wouldn’t force another game unless there was a compelling reason to continue.
One Year Ago Neil Druckmann said this on a potential The Last of Us Part 3!
Let him cook 🍿🔥 pic.twitter.com/fzanTThjsM
— DomTheBomb (@DomTheBombYT) February 3, 2025
The first game focused on unconditional parental love, while the second explored justice and revenge. Druckmann felt that if the series had to end with Part II, it would be a satisfying conclusion. But he also noted that he had a shelved concept for a third game. He then says “there’s probably one more chapter to this story.”
One of the concepts that Druckmann considered for a potential Part 3 was a smaller-scale project focusing on Joel’s brother, Tommy. In the documentary, he clarified that this story was never intended as a full-fledged sequel but rather a side story of sorts. Honestly, it does sound like a cool little story that we’d have loved to see in a DLC.
But due to internal restructuring at Naughty Dog and a focus on improving work-life balance at the studio, the Tommy story was shelved. Druckmann still believes the concept could see the light of day someday, though it’s unclear whether it would be a game or another form of media, like a TV show.
Naughty Dog is in a comfortable place under PlayStation’s umbrella and doesn’t face pressure to churn out sequels. And it is with this luxury of creative freedom that the studio is making a new IP. Recently announced at The Game Awards 2024, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is the studio’s current project.
So even if there is a Part 3 to the franchise, it’s either being developed in secret of will only be focused on after Intergalactic releases.
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