Naughty Dog reportedly lays off dozens of contractors

The Last of Us Part II might be getting a remaster, as accidentally stated by a developer at Naughty Dog. First spotted by Resetera users, Lead Outsource Artist Mark Pajarillo referenced the version in a now-updated LinkedIn experience post. “Responsible for overseeing the production of all outsourced environment art assets, weapons and interactive props for two iconic titles The Last of Us: Part One and The Last of Us 2: Remastered,” the original post read, proving its existence. Hints of an enhanced PS5 version first dropped in July, when composer Gustavo Santaolalla alluded to some new features being added to the remaster.

A Naughty Dog employee has listed "The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered" on their LinkedIn profile, giving more evidence that a re-release for the PS5 is on its way.

The Last of Us Part II is still one of the most visually-impressive games ever released, and yet, oddly, despite releasing only months before the launch of the PS5, the game has never been properly updated for Sony’s latest console. Or ported to PC, for that matter. No, The Last of Us Part II remains stranded on creaky old PS4 hardware to this day.

The Last of Us 2: Remastered has been spotted on the LinkedIn profile of a Naughty Dog developer.

It appears The Last of Us 2: Remastered is on the way, as accidentally confirmed by one of Naughty Dog's developers. 

A high-level designer leaves Naughty Dog as the company pauses development of the untitled multiplayer game. Most of the studio’s recent layoffs targeted part-time employees from the quality assurance department. Now the game’s Principal Monetization Designer, Anders Howard, has also left the company.

Naughty Dog has laid off a key employee alongside the recent round of reported layoffs.

A developer brought in to work on the upcoming The Last of Us multiplayer game has left Naughty Dog after less than a year.

Naughty Dog’s attempts to create a live service multiplayer game set in the Last of Us universe don’t seem to be working out too well. Recent reports have claimed that the developer’s standalone multiplayer The Last of Us project has been put “on ice”, which in turn followed reports from earlier in the year that the project’s development team had been scaled back after an internal re-evaluation by Sony.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 fans are already cooking up Venom theories ahead of the sequel's launch in a couple of weeks. 

The Last of Us maker Naughty Dog is reportedly among the latest game studios to be hit with layoffs. As per Kotaku, the first-party PlayStation studio is cutting off at least 25 developers, with the most affected members being quality assurance (QA) testers, whose contracts have been shortened. Affected workers are expected to continue working until the end of October, and they allegedly won't be receiving any severance payments. Turns out, the full-time staff — last recorded headcount being 400+ in July — are not being laid off, with employees in general being ‘pressured' to keep the news internal.

Naughty Dog, developers of Uncharted: Legacy Of Thieves Collection and The Last Of Us: Part 1, are cutting back on contract developers. According to a report on Kotaku, the studio is cutting contracts short for at least 25 developers, with most having worked in quality assurance.