For decades, Naughty Dog was the king of triple-A, pushing Playstation hardware to its absolute technical limits, from detailed environments and expressive characters on the PS1 with Crash Bandicoot, to cinematic masterpieces on PS3 and PS4 like Uncharted and The Last of Us. But at this year's summer showcases, Sony's most legendary first-party studio was completely missing in action – leaving fans wondering exactly how far away its next title, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, might be. So, in an era where the current-gen consoles have been spinning their wheels, why has Naughty Dog been benched?
From Sony’s multi-billion-dollar obsession with chasing the live-service trend to a mass exodus of its top team, Naughty Dog has seemingly been caught in a perfect storm of publisher hubris and a big chunk of its talent simply leaving for pastures new. Can Naughty Dog recover from this, and are they set for a major return to form on PlayStation 6?
Jim Trinca is a Video Producer at IGN, and when he isn't fawning over Assassin's Creed, he can be found watching Star Trek and eating stuff. Follow him on  @jimtrinca.bsky.social , and check out  The Trinca Perspective  playlist over on IGN's YouTube channel!
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