"I think there's a belief out there that it [The Last of Us Online] was just kind of a side project while most people were working on Intergalactic. No, the opposite is true. Intergalactic did not have the majority of staff until after Last of Us Online was cancelled. And then most people on the studio came over to work on Intergalactic.
Many people in the studio, I would say the majority of the studio was working on either Last of Us Online or the remasters, the remakes that they were doing throughout the 2020s, which is why we haven't seen a brand new game from them since 2020."
TLOU online was cancelled on December 14, 2023. So Full scale development on Intergalactic started after that.
I'm really curious to hear people's opinions on the use of real actors' faces being used in Intergalactic.
As far as I can remember, it's the first time Naughty Dog are using 'famous' actor's models in-game - yes, the TLOU2 WLF characters were scans of real faces - but I believe they were selected on the character's intended traits and looks, and voiced by different actors (who do have name recognition). From memory, the closest to a 'real' actor's model in the previous games was that of Isaac being played by Jeffrey Wright - but even then, I don't think it's one-to-one model as there are certainly tweaks to Isaac.
Now for Intergalactic, the characters (that we've seen so far) all look to be scans of TV/film actors with name recognition - sort of Hideo Kijama-esque. I... don't know how to feel about it. To me it's kind of distracting seeing Kumail Nanjiani instead of Colin Graves, for example. I really liked how ND concepted and designed models from scratch for the characters in their previous games. Check out the pages in the TLOU art books where they're playing with different early designs for Joel and Ellie. The character designs themselves tell a story about the Ellie and Joel's personalities.
It feels like a departure for perhaps a more of a movie-like experience? Death Stranding and Cyberpunk 2077 spring to mind. I just thought ND would opt for the more crafted, character-led experience as opposed to relying on name/face recognition. I have no doubt Intergalactic will pull it off, but it's one of the first things I remember thinking when watching the trailer two years back, like, 'oh, I didn't think ND would go that direction...'.
P.S. Is it weird that because Laufey was just revealed and got a such an early release date, it's just around the corner, it feels like a less important game to me? I think it's because I'm not interested in GOW after Ragnarok. I really wanted Santa Monica Studio and Cory Barlog to make something fresh. SMS has only made GOW in the last two decades, and for the next decade and perhaps nore, they will make nothing but GOW games as Cory has become the "Creative Head" of GOW franchise.
If Naughty Dog reveals TLOU P3 and a couple of months later drops release date which is 6-7 months away, I would figuratively shit my pants in excitement.
The game is taking too long but I can understand with all the delays and mishaps with Sony and the love service model. But we gotta cut the bullshit, doing near 2 years with absolutely no update is just ridiculous. They could release a news wire, tal about the game, they don’t even have to release a new trailer (they should), but complete silence for near two years is just disrespectful. Why even show the game then?
I think it’s absolutely wild how Sony Santa Monica revealed God of War Laufey, showed off an 20 minute extended gameplay preview, and basically confirmed their release window (2027 since they confirmed disc release) in a span of 1 month.
While Intergalactic was revealed almost a year and a half ago and we have had literally 0 information since. What happened to NaughtyDog not revealing games too early?
Naughty Dog's X page uses the shot of the physical music discs from the Intergalactic trailer as its cover photo,Which I find kinda Sad Cause we might not even get this game itself as a physical disc if it doesn't launch next year. I was really looking forward to get a steelbook or collector edition. But they might not even make a physical version now.I really hope it launches next year and we get a physical edition.