A former Call of Duty: Modern Warfare lead could be headed back to Naughty Dog.
Late last month, Infinity Ward's narrative and design directors both announced they would be leaving the studio for a new venture. In the tweet just below, former Call of Duty: Modern Warfare narrative director, Taylor Kurosaki, points to a return to Naughty Dog, where he helped develop a slate of games including Uncharted, Jak and Daxter, and more.
Same thing, different decade. pic.twitter.com/PM8E1z4gtqJune 7, 2021
This tweet - a shot from the development of Uncharted 3 - is certainly a pretty hefty hint that Kurosaki has gone back to the studio where he established his career all the way back in 1996. After joining Naughty Dog in the 1990s, Kurosaki helped develop Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Jak 3, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. Kurosaki eventually departed Naughty Dog to develop both Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare at Infinity Ward over the next decade, before eventually leaving last month.
Joining Kurosaki in switching to Infinity Ward from Naughty Dog was Jacob Minkoff. After working on Uncharted 2, Uncharted 3, The Last of Us, and The Last of Us: Left Behind, Minkoff would depart Naughty Dog to join Kurosaki at Infinity Ward. When the two developers left the Call of Duty studio last month, they released a joint statement, hinting that whatever they were going to do next, they were very much in it together.
At the time, this led to speculation that the pair were going to form their own development studio. Just as Respawn veterans Drew McCoy and Jon Shiring departed the prolific studio last year to establish independent studio Gravity Well Games, some believed that the duo from Infinity Ward were also leaving for a similar venture.
Now though, Kurosaki is certainly hinting that he may have returned to Naughty Dog. Last month, a Bloomberg report claimed that 2013's The Last of Us was being remade at Naughty Dog, after beginning life at another studio before transferring back to the development studio that created it. Additionally, reporter Jason Schreier went on to claim that development of The Last of Us remake was transferred back to Naughty Dog because the studio's other projects are still in the pre-production phase. There's no clue right now as to what these other projects could be, but Kurosaki could have re-joined the developer to helm one of these projects in its early stages.
For a full list of the games confirmed to be coming to PlayStation's next-gen console in the near future, head over to our upcoming PS5 games guide for more.
