Naughty Dog has finalized an important stage of work on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, but the studio had to go through the first crunch to achieve its goals.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is another extremely ambitious production by Naughty Dog – the studio responsible for The Last of Us and Uncharted series. So far, the creators have been very sparing in sharing details and we didn’t even know the approximate debut window. However, new information was revealed by Jason Schreier in Bloomberg, shedding a lot of light on the current status of the project.
According to the journalist’s findings, Naughty Dog has just finalized an important stage of work on the game. The studio has prepared an internal demo of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which is to be presented to PlayStation authorities. It was this fragment of the game that caused the first serious crunch in the project. For the past seven weeks, employees have been required to work mandatory overtime to meet the deadline for internal review and make up for previous production delays.
Bloomberg sources say that from the end of October, developers had to work at least eight additional hours a week, reporting overtime in the internal system. At the same time, a limit of 60 working hours per week was introduced, and the team returned to stationary work five days a week – instead of the previous three. For some employees, this meant the need to reorganize their private lives, including the care of children and animals. Sony and Naughty Dog refused to officially comment on this matter.
Crunch has been highly controversial in the gaming industry for years, and in recent years many companies have tried to limit it. Naughty Dog also tried to change its approach after the release of The Last of Us: Part II, as the studio struggled with team burnout and employee attrition. A new team of producers was even established to better manage the workload, but – according to sources – some of these people no longer work in the studio.
Importantly, This is the first time in several years that mandatory overtime has covered almost all of Naughty Dog. Previously, a similar situation concerned only selected teams, including when preparing the first game trailer, which was shown in December. This time the pressure was much greater, all to complete the demo on time.
According to Bloomberg Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is currently scheduled for a mid-2027 release. This is still a distant date, which raises concerns among some employees – they fear that the closer to the premiere, the intensity of the crunch may even increase. For now, however, the overtime is over, the demo has been completed, and the studio is back to standard work with three days in the office.
The whole situation takes on an additional, almost symbolic dimension thanks to the commemorative metal coins previously distributed to the production team. On one side is the Naughty Dog logo, on the other is a quote from the game’s announcement: “The suffering of generations must be endured to achieve our divine purpose.” It’s hard to find a more eloquent comment on the current atmosphere around one of the most anticipated PlayStation games.
