8 Naughty Dog Games That Had The Longest Development Cycles, Ranked

Since it was founded in 1984, Naughty Dog has developed some of PlayStation's biggest and most successful franchises. Jak and Daxter, Crash Bandicoot, The Last of Us, and Uncharted all originate from this single studio. Pretty impressive.

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The best Naughty Dog games are known for their iconic characters, engaging stories, and epic world-building. All things that take time to create. While not as notorious as other high-profile studios for making gamers wait, Naughty Dog's development cycle can be on the long side. Thankfully, most of us can agree these games were all worth waiting for.

8 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

22 Months

Most of Naughty Dog's early games didn't take that long to produce. On average, the Crash Bandicoot games and their other early works took 12 to 18 months to develop. It was only with the studio's move to the Uncharted series that their development time began to expand.

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Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is arguably one of the best games about hunting for treasure. It didn't take quite as long to develop as the original since many of its improvements were iterative - slightly more complex level design, a better story, and improved graphics. According to Naughty Dog, the incredibly impressive train level slowed down production, being the first level they worked on and the last they finished. Still, 22 months to create one of Sony's highest-reviewed exclusives isn't bad at all.

7 Jak 2

2 Years

When releasing a sequel, studios have two options. They can either make a load of small iterative improvements and push the game out quickly, or reinvent the wheel. Despite the original Jak and Daxter being a hit, Naughty Dog decided to take a big risk with the sequel and change pretty much everything about it.

The franchise went from a light-hearted platformer in the vein of Crash Bandicoot to an edgier, more story-driven action-adventure that is one of Naughty Dog's darkest games. There was still platforming, but now there was an open world to explore, flying cars to steal, and a large arsenal of guns to fire. The fact that it only took Naughty Dog 2 years to develop the game is deeply impressive (and likely down to some pressure from Sony). Unfortunately, Jak 3's production was even more rushed. It only took a year to develop, and many fans would say it shows in the final product.

6 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

2(ish) Years

Naughty Dog can be a bit cagey about how long it takes them to make their games, but it seems that the original Uncharted took just over 2 years to develop. The PS3 was notoriously hard to develop for, and Naughty Dog admitted back in 2007 that they took their time on Uncharted rather than rush and make it a launch title. They made the right decision.

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The game didn't just introduce the world to one of Naughty Dog's best heroes; it showed off just what the PS3 could do in the right hands. The graphics were gorgeous for the time, the gameplay was exhilarating, and the story was surprisingly good for a shooter. Later entries in the series went on to improve upon the original in every way, but most fans still have a soft spot for Drake's first outing.

5 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

2.5 to 3 Years

There's a bit of debate among fans surrounding Uncharted 3. Some feel it's one of the best games in the series; others feel it offers only minor improvements on Uncharted 2. The fact it garnered "perfect" review scores from some outlets upon release also rubbed some gamers up the wrong way.

In many ways, despite being one of the best games worked on by Amy Hennig Uncharted 3 was just more of the same, with slightly improved graphics. The set pieces were bigger but echoed those of Uncharted 2 (Drake falling out of a crashing plane vs. Drake falling out of a crashing train), so why did it take longer to develop than the second game? The answer is that during the second half of Uncharted 3's development, Naughty Dog split its attention to work on another game, The Last of Us.

4 Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

3 Years

Jak & Daxter may not have become as popular as their older brother, the mighty Crash Bandicoot, but their first outing easily blew his games out of the water. Everyone knew Naughty Dog could make a good platformer, but The Precursor Legacy was still shockingly good.

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Instead of choosing levels from a glorified menu, players had a beautifully detailed, almost open world to explore, with areas linking seamlessly together. While the Crash games were fun, their stories weren't exactly complex. Jak & Daxter on the other hand, had world-building and a proper story. Naughty Dog clearly had something to prove with their first new IP after Crash Bandicoot, and they took their time making sure Jak & Daxter was as good as possible.

3 The Last Of Us

4 Years

Once upon a time, Naughty Dog used to release new games rather than just remasters and remakes of The Last of Us. Back in 2013, gamers knew that Naughty Dog could make "adult" games, but no one was really prepared for The Last of Us. It wasn't just the best horror game published by Sony; people were claiming it was one of the best games ever, period.

For a start, the game had gorgeous visuals that nearly pushed the aging PS3 well beyond its limits. On top of that, the stealth gameplay was nail-biting, the level design was enthralling, and the world-building was unrivaled. But the icing on the cake was the story and how Naughty Dog built up the relationship between Ellie and Joel. Anyone who has spent five minutes with the game can tell you why it took four years to make.

2 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

5 Years

After the success of the first three games, Naughty Dog could have rushed the release of Uncharted 4. Instead, they wisely took their sweet time. They listened to the criticisms fans had of the third entry, took franchise fatigue into account, and decided to finish the series with one last banger of a game. In particular, they focused on making Uncharted 4 much less linear than its predecessor.

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Uncharted 4 was the first entry in the franchise to add a semi-open-world structure. At some points in the game, the player can drive around and explore different areas, taking on optional side areas or hunting for hidden relics. These areas were both beautiful to look at and vast, and most likely accounted for the game's long development time. The game also features the franchise's best story, and Naughty Dog clearly took their time to make sure they gave Drake the best ending possible. However, it wasn't all sunshine and roses. The game did spend some time in development hell after Amy Hennig's abrupt and rather dramatic departure from the studio.

1 The Last Of Us 2

6 Years

The Last of Us Part 2 is easily the most controversial game Naughty Dog has ever released. It took six years to make, and despite being critically acclaimed and a masterpiece in myriad ways, plenty of fans absolutely hated it. Why? Because it wasn't the original.

Presumably, Naughty Dog spent a good bit of the 6-year development time wondering if they should even make a sequel. How do you top one of the best games ever made? Well, Naughty Dog opted for a similar approach to what Rockstar did with Red Dead Redemption 2: lots and lots of detail. The Last of Us Part 2 was a ridiculously pretty and detailed game, and the fact it ran on the aging PS4 was a minor miracle (optimization likely took a long time). Naughty Dog also spent a long time working on the story, which cemented Ellie as one of t he best horror game protagonists ever created.

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