Thursday, December 18th 2025

Naughty Dog Devs Face Crunch for Intergalactic The Heretic Prophet's Mid-2027 Launch

by
Cpt.Jank
 Discuss (12 Comments)
Naughty Dog started development of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet back in 2020 and announced the game in late 2024, but the studio has yet to publish a launch date for the upcoming sci-fi action-adventure game. Now, a new report out of Bloomberg claims that Naughty Dog is planning to launch the Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet in mid-2027. However, it also seems as though Naughty Dog has once again fallen into crunch in order to meet that planned launch date and "get production back on track after several missed deadlines." The gaming industry is no stranger to long work hours, with games like CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 famously requiring months of crunch time ahead of the game's launch.

According to Bloomberg's insider sources, employees across Naughty Dog have been forced to work at least eight hours of overtime per week for the last seven weeks, with a maximum of 60 hours weekly. This new policy also saw developers at the Santa Monica studio return to the office five days a week, and it has been reality for Naughty Dog employees throughout the last year. That crunch-time period has been attributed to extra work as a result of needing to complete an internal demo. Supposedly, the studio will announce a new work schedule in early 2026, returning to its standard three-day work-from-home policy through at least the end of January.
Sources: Bloomberg, Via Twisted Voxel

Related News

Add your own comment

12 Comments on Naughty Dog Devs Face Crunch for Intergalactic The Heretic Prophet's Mid-2027 Launch

#1
scottslayer

If I were them I would be incredibly worried.
Posted on Reply
#2
Dr. Dro
Every time there's a crunch season, the results are invariably sloppy. Overworked developers usually result in substandard products. If I know the crunch conditions are that bad, I tend to avoid purchasing the end product, not that I buy Naughty Dog (or Sony) games to begin with. Bad enough I bought the PC versions of Horizon. Zero Dawn was an excellent game with major potential, marred by an asinine corporate policy of making games completely sterile. I didn't even bother playing Forbidden West that much further, since it ran very poorly on the RTX 4080. I've upgraded since, but my interest waned.
scottslayer
If I were them I would be incredibly worried.
The CEO after calling to order these from the local sweatshop:

Posted on Reply
#3
Vayra86
Hang on, they release mid 2027 and have to start crunch in start 2026.

Merry Christmas bois, remember to give a special thank you to your project lead for their meticulous management skills. I believe you've got enough time though to actually just adjust the project so you can get your MVP within planned time. You know, change the scope instead of asking for over a full year of crunch, because this ain't gonna last. Or, you know, hire a few extra hands, spend 3 months to get them up to speed, and enjoy their benefits for another 12?

Its quite telling that the devs haven't collectively stood up against this - its something I've seen in a few companies now. People quietly endure until they can't, and then everyone has a problem - and since we do, you and I get a poor release.
Posted on Reply
#4
N3utro
Games that take too long to develop often lead to failures.

Technology evolves quickly, if you start developping something in 2020, 7 years later the engine which you started using at the beginning is obsolete.
Posted on Reply
#5
Gameslove
Hope release to PC as well in mid 2028, 1 year after a PS5 release.😊😊😊
Posted on Reply
#6
watzupken
N3utroGames that take too long to develop often lead to failures.

Technology evolves quickly, if you start developping something in 2020, 7 years later the engine which you started using at the beginning is obsolete.
Games is not about fancy graphics in my opinion. While there may be game engine improvements, how many gamers can actually the extra eye candies since it’s so taxing on the hardware? I also don’t agree that games success is tied to the time to market. Ultimately, it boils down to the quality of the game. For example, the most successful title this year, Expedition 33, took something like 6 to 7 years in the making. I believe it’s the same for Baldur’s Gate 3. Instead, it’s those AAA titles from mega developers that falls flat because they are poorly designed, and/or, rushed out in a bad state.
Posted on Reply
#7
FierceRed
N3utroGames that take too long to develop often lead to failures.

Technology evolves quickly, if you start developping something in 2020, 7 years later the engine which you started using at the beginning is obsolete.
Expedition 33
Posted on Reply
#8
Fokker
N3utroGames that take too long to develop often lead to failures.

Technology evolves quickly, if you start developping something in 2020, 7 years later the engine which you started using at the beginning is obsolete.
With everyone using UE5 and the games looking worse, I'd argue nothing is evolving.
Posted on Reply
#9
N3utro
watzupkenGames is not about fancy graphics in my opinion. While there may be game engine improvements, how many gamers can actually the extra eye candies since it’s so taxing on the hardware? I also don’t agree that games success is tied to the time to market. Ultimately, it boils down to the quality of the game. For example, the most successful title this year, Expedition 33, took something like 6 to 7 years in the making. I believe it’s the same for Baldur’s Gate 3. Instead, it’s those AAA titles from mega developers that falls flat because they are poorly designed, and/or, rushed out in a bad state.
FierceRedExpedition 33
I said "often", not always.

My point was more related to the article: The Heretic Prophet development started in 2020, they plan for a mid-2027 release (which means it could be released even later) while still needing for people to crush things out, it doesn't look good.

I hope i'm wrong because i usually like Naughy Dog games.
Posted on Reply
#10
KLMR
It is a crunch when they plan to make it last an year and a half?
Posted on Reply
#11
Warigator
AI is the only viable near-future solution to the crunch problem, high costs problem and taking too long problem. Other solution (coming later) would be to finally upgrade humans to have much higher congnitive capabilities + brain-computer interfaces. If not these solutions, people will suffer.
Posted on Reply
#12
VoidRunner96
Vayra86Hang on, they release mid 2027 and have to start crunch in start 2026.

Merry Christmas bois, remember to give a special thank you to your project lead for their meticulous management skills. I believe you've got enough time though to actually just adjust the project so you can get your MVP within planned time. You know, change the scope instead of asking for over a full year of crunch, because this ain't gonna last. Or, you know, hire a few extra hands, spend 3 months to get them up to speed, and enjoy their benefits for another 12?

Its quite telling that the devs haven't collectively stood up against this - its something I've seen in a few companies now. People quietly endure until they can't, and then everyone has a problem - and since we do, you and I get a poor release.
Bingo, because Sony probably don't like the state its in (as in they probably taking their sweet time), and they want it out for the ps6 launch window.. So its a rough hint that this will be a ps5/ps6 release and expect ps6 in 2027. Crunch is regular but this far out can signal they were too cozy and would probably miss 2027
WarigatorAI is the only viable near-future solution to the crunch problem, high costs problem and taking too long problem. Other solution (coming later) would be to finally upgrade humans to have much higher congnitive capabilities + brain-computer interfaces. If not these solutions, people will suffer.
You can still become too relaxed even with Ai. Sure CEOs will love that they can "produce more" with less persons needed but those said persons that is using the tools still can become too complacent.

These guys were basically given a generation off (or most of it) because Sony live-service gamble never came to fruition. Now Sony has lit the fire and basically say get it done in time for ps6
Posted on Reply
Add your own comment
Nov 14th, 2026 16:43 CST change timezone

Latest GPU Drivers

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

TPU on YouTube

Controversial News Posts