Developer Naughty Dog has confirmed that Performance capture for their upcoming title, Intergalactic: The Herald Prophet, has wrapped. The studio confirmed this via a social media post; they have concluded their “cinematic shoot.” While this news doesn’t mean the game is done, it indicates the project is in or near the final stages of development. Performance capture can take years, with actors being brought in to film the game in chunks while ongoing development progresses.
In context, The Last of Us 2 wrapped with performance capture in April of 2019. The game was ultimately released in June of 2020, little over a year following that. It should be noted that Naughty Dog had initially planned for release in February of 2020, but was ultimately delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic before being delayed once more. 2027 has been rumored previously to be the planned release window for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, so this timeline would suggest we will get the game sometime next year.
The timing of this news is interesting as well, given that Sony has just announced not one but two State of Play events for later this week. Obviously, with Marvel’s Wolverine, Sony’s next big release, only weeks away, the company is most likely looking to build a picture for 2027, and Intergalactic is most likely a part of that. While we recieved a teaser trailer for the game back at the 2024 Video Game Awards, very little gameplay was shown, and the game has remained quiet since.
Sony has announced an end to physical media by January 2028. Previous leaks have similarly suggested the game will be receiving a physical release, placing its release at least before 2028. It has been six years since Naughty Dog’s last major release, which is a significant gap between releases for the first-party studio. That wasn’t the original plan, with Naughty Dog having planned to release The Last of Us Online sometime in between, before the project was canceled by PlayStation.
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