Naughty Dog Developers Undergo Mandatory Overtime to Finish Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet Demo by December

Developers at Naughty Dog have reportedly been under the pressure of mandatory overtime for the past seven weeks, racing to complete an internal demo of their bounty hunter game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, by December.

According to sources, team members at the studio behind The Last of Us have been encouraged to log at least eight extra hours each week since October. This push is in preparation for a demo review by their parent company, and the Intergalactic team has already missed several deadlines.

This intense overtime, often referred to as “crunch” in the gaming industry, has drawn criticism as more developers voice their concerns about it. Naughty Dog has a history with crunch, which they acknowledged in 2024 when quality assurance lead Patrick Goss stated, “When we onboard people, we tell them that we have a reputation as a studio for crunching, and it’s something that we don’t want. And it’s something we’re not going to do anymore.”

Studio head Neil Druckmann echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the goal to eliminate crunch at Naughty Dog.

Recently, developers working on Intergalactic have been required to come into the office five days a week, shifting from a previous three-day hybrid model, although they are limited to a maximum of 60 hours per week. Reports indicate that this is the first instance of mandatory overtime at Naughty Dog in years, and it was preceded by a commemorative gift for the Intergalactic production team earlier this year: metal coins featuring a quote from the game, “The suffering of generations must be endured to achieve our divine end.”

While the crunch at Naughty Dog appears to be easing, there are concerns it may ramp up again as Intergalactic aims for a mid-2027 release.

Regardless of whether Intergalactic slips past 2026, the prospect of a new cinematic action-adventure from Naughty Dog is enough to spark excitement.