One of the most well-known game development studios is reportedly not immune to the latest wave of layoffs. Kotaku reports, according to unnamed sources, that Naughty Dog, the Sony-owned developer that has created the hit PlayStation game franchises Uncharted and The Last of Us, will be cutting "dozens of workers" who were contracted to work at the company.
The story stated most of the contracted workers were in QA testing at Naughty Dog, but art and production team members were also affected. The article stated the number could be about 25 total developers that will be affected. The story stated that there are about 400 developers working at the studio.
No full-time Naughty Dog employees will be affected, according to the story. The contracted workers are reportedly being asked to stay on the job until the end of October and won"t be receiving any severance pay.
While Naughty Dog"s last full original game, The Last of Us Part II, was released over three years ago for the PlayStation 4 console in June 2020, the developer has released remastered versions of Uncharted 4 in 2022 for the PS5 and PC and The Last of Us Part I in 2022 for the PS5 and 2023 for the PC.
In May, unconfirmed reports claimed that a multiplayer game based on The Last of Us that was in development had hit some snags. Kotaku"s new story today now says that the game, while not technically canceled is now "is basically on ice".
Naughty Dog did confirm in a X (formerly Twitter) post in May that the team is working on other projects, "including a brand new single-player experience." Right now, there"s no word, officially or unofficially, about the status of this new game, nor whether it is an all-new IP or a continuation of a previous Naughty Dog franchise.