A job listing from Naughty Dog suggests that a multiplayer game with live service elements is in the works. According to their careers page, Naughty Dog are looking for an economy designer, someone who can “design, implement, and tune game economy and player progression systems” with “experience designing successful economies in PC or console multiplayer games.”
The successful applicant is further expected to work “extensively with Live Ops team to optimize economy and respond to player needs” with a “robust knowledge of multiplayer action games” and an understanding of “how player progression systems and economy systems interact.”
At present, the most popular theory surrounding this unspecified multiplayer game would be a long-awaited Factions Mode to The Last Of Us Part II, as Factions to the first game is still highly popular, seven years later.
To support this theory, alleged leaked multiplayer footage, since deleted by Sony on grounds of copyright, surfaced online last year. Come what may, Naughty Dog could be working on something entirely new. According to Neil Druckmann, game director for both The Last Of Us and The Last Of Us Part II, several new projects are in development at the studio.
Since August 2020, several senior developers within Naughty Dog have been promoted to new positions, and these have been attributed to a new IP in development. Plus, Naughty Dog are advertising job vacancies via their careers page, from gameplay animators and environment artists, to AI and gameplay programmers.
Elsewhere, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were recently cast as Joel and Ellie in the upcoming HBO adaptation of The Last Of Us. Pascal recently starred as Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984 and the titular character in The Mandalorian, while Bella Ramsey played Lyanna Mormont in HBO’s Game Of Thrones.
