Real Reason Neil Druckmann Thought The Last of Us Will Be a Brutal Disappointment for Naughty Dog

Just a decade ago, developer Naughty Dog found incredible success with The Last of Us. It’s a game that tells the story of a hardened smuggler and a loud-mouthed teenager who must team up to cross a treacherous, post-apocalyptic United States.

The Last of Us series has been a massive success for Naughty Dog, as it has swept multiple accolades and even has a TV series that has gained positive receptions from fans. However, the series’ creator, Neil Druckmann, initially believed that The Last of Us would be a blunder for the studio.

Why Neil Druckmann wasn’t sure about The Last of Us

In an interview right before the release of The Last of Us Part II, Naughty Dog’s Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann opened up about the The Last of Us franchise. The developers gave fans insight into many things, such as the naming, alternate storylines, and the entire development history.

While chatting, Druckmann stated that The Last of Us is a polarizing game as compared to Naughty Dog’s previous hit, Uncharted. When asked why he felt like that, Druckmann stated that he wasn’t sure about the idea of the game due to many reasons.

I really felt that with Uncharted, we kind of hit that summer blockbuster, all that spectacle and the collapsing building, we knew we had something that was going to wow people. With this, I was more unsure.

According to Druckmann, while Naughty Dog was developing Uncharted, they were always sure of the game due to its spectacle appeal and knew that it would “wow” gamers. However, he wasn’t sure how gamers would take in the subtle elements of The Last of Us, as it wasn’t something that traditionally worked for games.

Even though Druckmann and Naughty Dog had doubts about the project right from its inception, they carried on regardless and decided to stick to their vision instead of appealing to players. The development team crafted a game that they personally would love to play and didn’t give in to pressure. Clearly, that worked out in the favor of Naughty Dog.

Is Sony trying to kill The Last of Us franchise?

It’s been a while since we’ve received a brand-new entry in The Last of Us franchise, and gamers can’t wait to see what’s coming next from Naughty Dog. However, it looks like Sony is trying to kill all the hype and force players to leave once again.

If you’ve forgotten, the original game remastered as The Last of Us Part 1 has been available for PC gamers since 2022. Sony is one-upping that incredible launch by debuting The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered on PC on April 3, 2025.

It’s surely an exciting move, as the sequel broke rewards and was only available for PlayStation gamers. However, when one looks at the Steam page of the title, an immediate realization hits that a PSN account is required to play the game.

Gamers have been frustrated about this small requirement for all the previous PC ports of PlayStation gamers. Last year, things got so heated that Helldivers 2 was forced to move the PSN requirement before bringing an update that would introduce it.

You could say that PSN requirements make sense for multiplayer games such as Ghost of Tsushima. However, The Last of Us is a complete single-player game, and none of the network features and crossplay would make sense.

With that said, do you agree with Druckmann’s comments on the subtle aspects of The Last of Us series? Let us know in the comments below.