Neil Druckmann, the co-writer, and co-director of The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part 2, has recently stated that he could see himself transitioning into something that’s more “low-key, and lower stressed” because he doesn’t know how many more big games he has in him.
In an interview with rapper Logic, Druckmann was asked how long he sees himself working in the games industry. Druckmann responded, “I guess that I don’t see myself doing this forever at this scale.”
“It’s just a lot, and it takes a lot out of you. It’s very stressful to manage that many people and multiple studios worldwide.” Druckmann said. “So, you were talking about how you’re entering this new phase in your life, where your kids are number one, and I’m in a similar place where my kids are number one. And I know that, especially my daughter’s now 13, and I feel like life is pulling her away from me. I know that time is limited, so it’s very precious to me, and I don’t want to waste it when they do want to spend time with me, and that’s number one.”
Further in the interview, Druckmann explained that he’s reaching a point in life where he’s asking himself,’What’s the end game here? When is it time to call it?'” At the same time, he could see himself working on smaller projects that still allow him to be creative.
“So, I could see myself transitioning to something that’s like more low-key, and lower stressed, that still allows me to have this creative outlet,” Druckmann said. “But you know, I’ve started thinking about how many more of these games do I have in me, and it’s not that many.”
As the interview continued, Druckmann said everything began to change following the success of Uncharted 2.
“Uncharted 2 was the most fun I had making any of the games I’ve worked on because Uncharted 1, a lot of people loved it, but it wasn’t this huge success. It was successful enough again that we made Sony happy. We made enough money. But with Uncharted 2 we felt like we had something really special, like we all knew it, and we knew we were flying in under the radar, and no one was going to expect what we were about to deliver.”
Druckmann continued by saying, “There was just this camaraderie and the stress wasn’t there, and afterwards everything has been incredibly stressful, after Uncharted 2, because now you’re no longer flying under the radar, now everybody is expecting something to be great.”
“And you have to think, ‘How do we make it great, and how do we do it in a way that doesn’t feel like we’re just repeating ourselves?’ So you always have to make it great and new, which is really, really hard.”
Druckmann has recently teased that The Last Of Us 3 is more likely than ever. But as of yet, nothing has been officially announced.
