With insiders recently revealing that The Last of Us Part III is set to be Naughty Dog‘s third project in development, it joins the latest flurry of hints surrounding the highly anticipated sequel. Earlier this month, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann himself hinted at there being a “few stops” left on the road when it comes to The Last of Us‘ journey. Could all this mean that Ellie’s story is not yet over?

At the time of writing, The Last of Us Part III has not yet been officially confirmed, but with The Last of Us Part II offering fans an ambiguous ending, the story has been left open for whatever Naughty Dog decides to do next. In the meantime, fans have been discussing when we can expect a third installment, if it was ever to come to fruition.

If The Last Of Us Part 3 Is Real, It’s Ages Away

Put simply, if The Last of Us Part III was ever to be released, we would have to wait quite a few years until we could dive in. At the moment, Naughty Dog is working on development for its brand-new IP, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and with the action-adventure title not yet having a release window, it gives us some insight into how long development takes on projects of this scale. As such, The Last of Us III may be years away from launch.

Over on r/thelastofus, fans have been discussing the recent The Last of Us Part III leak, which reveals that the third installment will be released after Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and Uncharted 5. However, it is also worth noting that Uncharted 5 has also not been confirmed, and so this leak as a whole should be taken with a big pinch of salt. Nevertheless, a discussion kicked off over the hypothetical release date for The Last of Us Part III.

Naughty Dog Is Pretty Busy Right Now

“Great. See y’all in 10 years!” One fan said simply. However, another user replied to this, saying, “That’s not a bad thing. I prefer they spend an insane amount of time writing a sequel that doesn’t suck, doesn’t dishonor Part 1 or Part 2, and is still a great game. Otherwise, they could easily cash in on some BS story, somewhere else, that has nothing to do with Ellie, and is mediocre.” Another shared, “No joke, I think 10 years is too generous. Intergalactic probably won’t be out for at least another two years, and Uncharted 5 is probably another 7–8 years away after that. I expect TLOU 3 in like 15 years.” As mentioned, neither The Last of Us Part III nor Uncharted 5 has been officially announced by Naughty Dog, but if this leak is true, then we are in for the long haul when it comes to two highly anticipated sequels. Better buckle in, folks.

Released

June 14, 2013

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language

Publisher(s)

Sony

Engine

Proprietary (overall), Havok (physics)

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Cross-Platform Play

No, The Last of Us Part 1 does not have crossplay

Cross Save

no

Expansions

The Last of Us: Left Behind