In the past, Naughty Dog has discussed how it struggles developing multiple games at once, but that can be broken down as a quality over quantity approach. Not that any other studio doesn't struggle or does it wrong, but Naughty Dog's sheer amount of detail in The Last of Us 2 was considered a real benchmark by many.
Still, many are ready for what comes next. The Last of Us 2 multiplayer is reportedly still in the works, while The Last of Us 3 is written but not ready to go, and a rumored Last of Us remake could be in development. Beyond that one franchise, though, there is supposedly work being done on a new Naughty Dog IP: a sci-fi game codenamed Stray's Cross. While that could be a big shake-up for Naughty Dog, it would also be a welcome one as long as it avoided one issue seen in Starfield, another sci-fi game.
Stray's Cross Rumors
For the uninitiated, it's worth discussing the various Stray's Cross rumors out there, but it's not much. As with all rumored titles, a lot of rumors have taken the idea of a Naughty Dog sci-fi game and run with it, making up their own idea of the game. The simple truth is, outside its existence, very little has come from "reliable" sources. In fact, its very existence is somewhat questionable, but a new sci-fi game from Naughty Dog is a bit too savory to pass up.
Perhaps the most consistent and likely rumor, though still requiring a huge grain of salt, details the game as a sci-fi first-person action-adventure game with steampunk elements. Like The Last of Us, which makes it an easy attache to any Naughty Dog rumor, it is said there will be two protagonist: one being a brilliant scientist obsessed with space-time studies, the other being a "criminal" who is innocent. All of this supposedly ties into to some story about a space conflict dating back ages. Once again, all of this is very iffy, but needless to say, it hasn't been denied and it has gotten the attention of many.
Starfield Reveal
The thing is, on the assumption that Stray's Cross is real, it will need to eventually be shown. There's likely some temptation then at Naughty Dog to show off the game and say, "hey, here's our new project! See you in 2023!" But it should wait until something of substance is ready to show, without repeating the mistakes of a potentially similar game: Starfield.
Starfield has been at E3 twice now, and fans know its exact release date in 2022. The premise made available by Bethesda details the game as set "300 years into the future, [players must] embark on an epic journey amongst the stars to answer humanity’s greatest mystery." And that's about it. Fans will likely learn a little more by the end of the year and even more building up to its release next year, but fans have been waiting for answers for quite some time. Yet, the rumors of Stray's Cross provide more potential details that Bethesda has for Starfield. .
As such, if Stray's Cross is going to break into the sci-fi game world, its best bet is to bide its time and show off its best sci-fi game world with solid details as the game actually nears. There's always a tendency to announce a game year before, although that has become increasingly too long, but sometime the best game are the surprising announcements that set a release date in 6 months. Stray's Cross would do well to fall into that camp.
Naughty Dog is rumored to be working on Stray's Cross.