US EditionNaughty Dog Devs Are Reportedly Working Mandatory Overtime for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
Most staff worked a minimum of eight extra hours weekly under a five-day onsite mandate to meet Sony’s internal demo deadline, with overtime capped at 60 hours per week.
- Earlier this week, Naughty Dog required most Intergalactic developers to add at least eight extra hours per week and work onsite five days a week at the Santa Monica studio, Bloomberg reports.
- After missed deadlines, the studio required overtime to get production back on track, but many producers hired to alleviate workload have since left, and some staff worked long hours last year to finish the trailer.
- Operationally, management required developers to log overtime in an internal spreadsheet with a 60 hours per week cap, forcing employees to scramble for children and pets care arrangements.
- The crunch period has ended and management said the demo was finalized earlier this week; the company will return to a 3-day in-office requirement through the end of January, with details on the 2026 schedule after the new year.
- Historically, Naughty Dog has faced reports of crunch dating back years, including during The Last of Us Part II, while leadership previously said it wants to prevent burnout and Neil Druckmann called Intergalactic `ambitious` `expansive` and `expensive`.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Naughty Dog Reportedly Ordered Mandatory Overtime to Get Intergalactic Back on Schedule
A new report claims that Naughty Dog staff were asked to clock overtime for the last seven weeks as the team wrapped up work on an upcoming Intergalactic demo for review by the parent company. Intergalactic: The heretic prophet team pushed into crunch Screenshot: Sony Interactive Entertainment The new report comes from Bloomberg, whose sources claim that staff working on Intergalactic were asked to begin working a minimum of eight extra hours a …
Naughty Dog Devs Are Reportedly Working Mandatory Overtime for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
Naughty Dog is allegedly requiring most of its developers working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet to work a minimum of eight extra hours per week, in an effort to meet a deadline for an internal demo that will be reviewed by Sony.
Naughty Dog Devs Face Crunch for Intergalactic The Heretic Prophet's Mid-2027 Launch
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 …
Jason Schreier: Naughty Dog mandates overtime after missing...
Employees at Sony Group Corp.’s Naughty Dog studio are working mandatory overtime to finish a demo for their next video game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, reviving an infamous workplace tradition that is increasingly frowned upon across the industry. For the past seven weeks, the Santa Monica-based studio behind The Last of Us has been pushing its... Click to expand...
The last time Naughty Dog released a new series of games was just over twelve years ago, when they released The Last of Us in 2013. But now they are working hard at Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which was announced at The Game Awards 2024. While the previous studio games were immediately considered to be highly anticipated, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet received a less enthusiastic welcome, and the trailer was flooded with dislikes on…
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